Harris’ acknowledgment of her Indian identity seems opportunistic and rooted in little more than a desire to pander to the diaspora for its vote, and its deep pockets. By Madhuri Sastry After months of thumb-twiddling, dillydallying, and Twitter punditry, the Biden campaign announced a Vice Presidential pick: Senator Kamala Harris. This announcement marked a historical...
Tag: Indian American
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“Master of None” Brings Diversity and Empathy to Entertainment
Master of None promotes a vision of America that is enriched by the complexities of its immigrant communities, instead of persistent racist narratives. In Aziz Ansari’s Master of None, Dev Shah is an aspiring actor living in New York City. He’s cute, charming, and a gourmand obsessed with pasta. His love life is equal parts...
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Desi-Founded, Women-Run Luminoustudios is Fighting the Film Industry’s Patriarchy Problem
“At Luminoustudios, we’re very passionate about shattering the glass ceiling and giving more opportunity to women in the film industry.” Meet Reema Dutt, one-half of the powerhouse Desi duo behind all-woman-helmed independent production company Luminousstudios. She drinks her coffee black like Special Agent Dale Cooper, and she’s here to develop and produce “original films that...
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The Complicated and Sometimes Racist History of Referring to South Asians as “East Indian”
“East Indian” is a remnant of archaic geopolitical Eurocentric positioning and shouldn’t be used at all in a modern context, unless you are talking about people from the eastern part of India. Once upon a time, in the year 1492, a Portuguese sailor set off into the west, convinced that he had found a new...
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Explaining the Seemingly Bizarre Indian-Americans for Trump 2016 Movement
During this most insane of election cycles, I wake up every day thinking that things can’t possibly get any more surreal or bizarre — and somehow, each evening when I watch the news, I find myself surprised at what new rabbit hole we’ve gone down. And then I saw this headline on NBC News: Indian-American PAC Forms...