The attacks on free press continue but Desis (and others) persist

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This past week I attended the South Asian Impact Summit in Washington, DC. As much as it’s great to be in those spaces with other AAPIs, and especially in DC, the energy in Washington is not great right now.

I lived there during the lame duck end of Clinton 2, Bush 1-2, and into the Obama 1 eras and even during Bush 2 - when I knew people being shipped off to Afghanistan and Iraq - the city felt better than it did on this last, short trip. [Although, the food scene is great. Shout out to Yellow and Laos in Town for being welcoming and delicious].

I was hoping this Summit would give me some glimmer of hope in what has been a fraught and rather dark news landscape of late and it delivered on that. Deepti Sharma (full disclosure, she’s a friend!), a serial entrpreneur, activist, speaker, and Queens borough diehard; and Palak Sheth, who co-founded Post March Salon and was part of the organizing team for the South Asian Women for Harris zoom call last summer, talked openly about their failures and overcoming them both in the politics arena and outside of it. Or rather, ‘failures,’ because these exceptionally accomplished women really learned from things that didn’t go their way (like elections and business ventures) and persisted. It was refreshing to see Desi women living on their own timelines, honestly sharing their trials outside of a group chat on Whatsapp, and seeing them continue their work and moving forward in professionally and personally despite those setbacks. I think I deeply needed that as I navigate the last quarter of this year that’s been forcing a lot of changes and re-thinking. But, it also made me think of what persisting looks like for the desi community writ large right now and for those fighting for a right to exist, transparency, and freedom here and all over the world.

Another positive note for me was attending a packed session for desis wanting to run for elected office. Our people really are everywhere. To wit, I was excited to see Priya Sundareshan, who leads Democrats in the Arizona Senate. Her former Arizona House colleague Dr. Amish Shah spoke about the labor and mechanics of campaigning (tl; dr it’s a hell of a lot of work and my personal Functioning Introvert nightmare) and is now running for U.S. Congress. Both of these politicians come from a science background, especially interesting to me given the recent spate of resignations from the Centers for Disease Control and what doctors have told me is ‘deeply troubling’ news about vaccines coming from a panel hand-picked by Health Secretary and notable non-scientist RFK Jr. Expect more exploration of Science Desis turning into Politics Desis in a future post.

Speaking of which, we also heard from another scientist: Shri Thanedar who has a doctorate in chemistry and is now a U.S. House Rep. for his Detroit district. He spoke on a panel alongside Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi from Illinois, who is now running for Senate, and freshman Congressman Suhas Subramanyam from Virginia (whose former seat in the state Senate was taken over by Kannan Srinivasan.) Honestly, they should have just been serving dosai and idli during the morning panel with all the Tamil presence. But, that’s about all I can write on this panel so here’s a gratuitous pic of some food.

I wish I had a good synopsis for people who couldn’t attend and it isn’t for the lack of conviction and commitment of these elected officials. Their resolve to serve and fight for their constituencies and us, as a larger community of South Asians, seems real in most instances. But, I would have asked some more targeted questions and while it was great to hear from them in person, I’m not sure it had much to offer those who live outside of the Beltway where the inside baseball of Capitol Hill has been equal parts illuminating and infuriating, but means little else right now as we see protections, rights crumbling, and prices skyrocketing.

Perhaps I felt that way because my mind is on the New York mayoral race and my work here that helps support ethnic and hyperlocal community media, but I think you can turn to MSNBC or NPR to document the grinding wheels of national Democratic politics just for today.

Point is, the tide of South Asians in American politics is rising and while we’ve documented the members of community like FBI Director Kash Patel or erstwhile Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy (who is from the worst part of Ohio, not-Cleveland) - and even former Vice President Kamala Harris - it’s more heartening to see there are many of our people trying to affect change in state and local politics right now. I know there will be some who say I’m sugarcoating this or naive, but I also do not want to be part of the Joyless No-Luck Club right now. It isn’t turning a blind eye to the atrocities of the world at the moment to find a few bright spots where you can.

We’re still a relatively young diaspora, still grappling with respecting our own national, ethnic, cultural, religious, and socioeconomic diversity but I think there’s some small hope for that if more of us are seen and heard in civic life; held accountable to one another and others.

Being held accountable, whether by press or comedians, is the bedrock of a functioning, democratic, free society. We have a right to report on what elected officials do with our tax dollars and laugh at them, too. I tried to hold on to the sense of purpose and warmth from attending the summit, but this past week ABC fired late night host Jimmy Kimmel and the Washington Post let go of global opinion editor

Karen Attiah

, both for presenting facts about a man who was, at the end of the day, an influencer. His children did not deserve to lose him, but he was nevertheless an self-proclaimed and vocal racist and misogynist who did not believe in the multicultural project of America.

Those public firings are part of an increasingly terrifying attack on the free press, good comedy, and accountability. NPR got a hold of what looks like a forthcoming directive from the newly-rebranded Department of War that essentially bans any criticism of U.S. defense policy. It is an extension of what the White House press team began doing earlier this year alongside the continued dismantling of Voice of America.

This is part of why I think it’s so important to keep this newsletter going, to get back to my reporting work, and to continue sharing links to work from my South Asian journalist colleagues, which I’ll start up again later this week so stay tuned.