Kamala Harris, Several Indian Americans Participate In White House Initiative On Asian Americans

India-West News Desk

WASHINGTON, DC – The White House and the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI) on May 3, hosted an all-day event here, at The George Washington University that featured a slew of high-profile Indian Americans and drew more than 1,300 AA and NHPI community members from over two dozen states and U.S. territories. The forum’s live stream also generated 253,000+ views across White House-branded YouTube and social media accounts. 

Through more than a dozen breakout convenings, panels, and artistic performances, attendees celebrated the diversity, inclusivity, and visibility of the community. 

On policy-making issues, there were discussions with Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval and Neera Tanden, Senior Advisor to the President and White House Staff Secretary. Karthick Ramakrishnan, Co-Founder and Co-Director, AAPI Data was in a discussion on Advancing Justice Through Data Equity, and Raji Sankar, Co-CEO, Choolaah Indian BBQ spoke on entrepreneurship.

Remarks on mental health were made by Sejal Hathi, WH Senior Policy Advisor for Public Health, Trina Dutta, Senior Advisor from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and Sahaj Kohli, Founder of  Brown Girl Therapy.  Rinku Sen, Executive Director, Narrative Initiative featured in the session on Advancing Equity Through Storytelling and Narrative Change; Versha Sharma, Editor in Chief, Teen Vogue on The Power of the AA and NHPI Voice and poet Rupi Kaur on advancing creative excellence.

Rohit Chopra, Director, of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Kiran Ahuja, Director, U.S. Office of Personnel Management were on the panel on equity across government; Vanita Gupta, Associate Attorney General, Department of Justice and Gautam Raghavan, White House Presidential Personnel Office talked about leadership in public service.

The focal point was what was billed as ‘A conversation with Vice President Kamala Harris,’ and was  moderated by actress Poorna Jagannathan and Jerry Won, Founder and CEO of Just Like Media and Always Be Creating.

The Vice President shared the impact her Indian American heritage through her mother Shyamala had on her life. Harris said she realized early on that her mother’s accent had people making false assumptions about her abilities and intelligence and that she learned early “how these disparities and stereotypes could attempt to define and marginalize.”

Pointing to how forward-thinking her grandparents had been in letting her mother immigrate from Chennai, Harris said she was influenced by her grandfather’s stances on the importance of fighting for equality, independence, and identity.

“You can’t expect other people to fight for your rights. We build community and we’ll build a coalition. But one must also step up and make sure that we are all in the room when these fights occur so that each person can offer their voice based on their experience,” said the Vice President.