The James Irvine Foundation Leadership Awards, on Feb. 12, named Indian-American Manjusha Kulkarni, one of 9 honorees this year, for her trailblazing work to ensure the health and safety of Asian American and Pacific Islander, LGBTQ+, refugee, and immigrant populations.
As Executive Director of AAPI Equity Alliance, Kulkarni grew AAPI Equity Alliance from a behind-the-scenes organization to a coalition of over 40 organizations that serves the 1.6 million Asian American and Pacific Islanders in Los Angeles and beyond.
A co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, Kulkarni is a leading voice in the fight for the safety and protection of all AAPIs in America.
Acknowledging the impactful contributions of this year’s recipients to build a more vibrant, inclusive, and resilient California, Governor Gavin Newsom said, ”The California Way means finding new solutions to big problems, and that’s exactly what these leaders have demonstrated.”
In an exclusive interview with India Currents, Manjusha Kulkarni commented on her recent award, saying, “I think the award is a recognition of our communities, our struggles and challenges.”
She also chatted with India’s Currents Managing Editor Meera Kymal about her innovative work confronting hate and discrimination against AAPI communities with data, partnerships, and policy solutions.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
India Currents is a Cal State Library’s Stop the Hate initiative grantee. We asked Manjusha Kulkarni about the top challenges that immigrant and minority communities face today in trying to counter bias.
MK: The way that racism is often discussed in America, in a way to sort of de-legitimize the harm that people experience is to say that it’s simply prejudice, interpersonal bias, when in fact, what is happening, and what so many in our community are experiencing is institutional and structural racism. I think that makes it hard even to meet the challenges in daily life.
Our reporting shows that desi community groups lack knowledge or awareness, or maybe access to resources. What makes minority groups more vulnerable and how can we bridge the gap?
MK: I would say that while we often may see them as simple disparities, I think of them more as systemic inequities, how systems have been created that offer supremacy to one group at the cost of the other. You know, it is often because of immigrant status, individuals being low income, lacking assets, in this sort of Uber capitalistic nation that we live in, that they’re not able to have their needs met.
You’ve spoken before of roadblocks that AAPI communities face in terms of legislation or being under surveillance. How does that impact communities of color?
MK: Like other Asian communities, if we look at the desi community, we see over and over again ways in which institutional racism has denied people in our communities access to resources.
For example, the current land bans replicate what happened in the 1920s – then called alien land laws. Under alien land laws, thousands of individuals lost their property, it was literally stolen from them. Others were prevented from purchasing property. You have people who, in just a moment, were completely impoverished.
I don’t know if you’re familiar with the story of Mr. And Mrs. Bagai – you know, Kala Bagai. They had property. It was obviously an asset from which they derived income. They became penniless. And her husband committed suicide after that.
So that’s what’s happening again. Elected officials are using racist beliefs to then pass laws preventing Chinese immigrants from purchasing property. This is just really a redux of what happened in the 1920s.
After the US versus Bhagat Singh Thind case, the Supreme Court said Indians, and specifically Mr. Thind, could not become naturalized citizens, because he was not white.
You know, I think about my own family, when my parents purchased their first home in the US. They were both immigrants. Had they not been able to do that, it could have deprived us of living in a safe neighborhood, being able to go to public schools, and getting an education. So much comes out of where we live.
How about being under surveillance? Why are desis under surveillance?
MK: I think we saw it most explicitly after 911 but it hasn’t ended, right? Twenty years later, profiling happens most often against Muslim communities, but not solely against Muslim communities.
I think people who wear religious or ethnic garb, whether it’s a turban, hijab, or even wearing a sari, get profiled, and put on no-fly lists.
Even last week the U.S. Congress was set to vote on an extension of FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act), basically allowing the warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens. That is weaponized against individuals of color.
That type of surveillance was used against Martin Luther King, Jr. by the FBI. It was used against Muslims and Sikhs after 9/11. So, I want us to be very suspect of an ever-growing police state that goes after us, not because of actual factual evidence of planning to harm our nation, but just because of our race, national origin, and religion.
Because of the current Middle East conflict, both Muslim and Jewish kids are being bullied and harassed in school. How should parents and educators help youngsters deal with these instances of bias?
MK: We need to educate kids as well as adults about, for example, what it means to wear a turban. What does a hijab mean? So rather than ignorance, there’s knowledge. We need to make sure that we have policies and protocols in place so that there’s accountability when that happens. When somebody engages in bullying, what does the school system have in place, right?
I saw that when I was at the South Asian network. There was a young Sikh man who was told he had to take off his turban to walk during graduation. He was not allowed to participate in graduation with it on. That came from the administration – that didn’t come from another student. We need to have laws in place to prevent that.
Do school districts have a responsibility not to try to appease everybody, but just have a neutral stance?
MK: Absolutely! You know, we have laws in place – federal laws, and state laws to guarantee free and accessible public education, K through 12. So to the extent that students are denied that by being bullied and, not being able to fully participate in their education, then that is a denial. We have a Justice Department which has individuals who are in the education enforcement space. What they do is to challenge behavior by school districts that engage in discriminatory actions. You know, when we created Stop AAPI Hate, they came to us and said if there are cases, bring them to our attention.
You lead a Stop API Hate initiative that has four core strategies I’m curious about the community capacity-building initiative.
MK: You know, we were one of the first groups that really began to examine and interrogate anti-Asian hate that came specifically out of prejudice related to COVID-19. While our reporting center has not gotten a plethora of incident reports from South Asian Americans, we know from survey data that our community does, in fact, experience that. Too often I think, especially in the desi community, I’ve heard people invalidating or delegitimizing my experience.
You know, I didn’t experience this, so that must mean yours is not true. It’s it’s like the pizza slice test. If I tell you I’ve eaten a slice of pizza, are you gonna say, are you sure? Was it a triangle with tomato sauce? I’m a former civil rights attorney. I know what discrimination looks like.
I think community care and capacity is acknowledging racism, and validating the trauma that people experience. And then, of course, with research and data, being able to advocate for policy change.
We’ve been reporting on incidences of hate, sharing information on resources, how to report a crime, and how to recognize a crime. These incidents were brought to our attention by community members – they shared pictures, they told us what happened, but nobody was willing to go on record, and many were afraid to even go to the police. There seems to be a sort of inherent reluctance to acknowledge hate incidences. What else could we do apart from our reporting, to get people to engage?
MK: That’s a great question. In our Stop AAPI Hate Civil Rights Report, we did find that close to 50% of members of the broader Asian American community experienced something. Only 25% or so are willing to report it to any governmental body. And that’s because of a lot of factors.
One is based on some of the corruption back in the homeland. You don’t want to engage with police, you know? Back in India, you have to pay a bribe if you want anything, right? Things like that. But I think there are other issues where people feel like they will be sort of re-victimized by their community if they bring it up – be challenged.
I will tell you what in my case, I felt that I was discriminated against by Airbnb. It showed that the house was available, and after I submitted for it, the owner said, no, it’s taken. Just telling some relatives about it, their reaction was, oh, well, we haven’t had this happen – as if it didn’t happen.
That I think, is a problem, as people don’t feel like they’ll get support when they report it.
Let me say one other thing, though. Most of these incidents, we have found, at least in our data, are not crimes. Often I think the way they’re talked about is misleading and based on misperceptions. Most things are not a crime, so they shouldn’t necessarily even be reported to the police. So if in a school system, there’s bullying, that’s not a crime.
Another example – my husband and I were at a gas station, and the guy in front wanted us to move. He started to yell racial epithets at us. He said, effing Indians, effing Arabs go back to your country. That’s not a crime. It’s horrible, but not a crime. So these are the types of things people don’t want to report. They specifically do not feel like they will get the support, get any accountability or redress, and people will come after them.
So how do we reassure them in our reporting that they will be heard?
MK: I think there’s training and awareness building needed on both sides. The state California State Auditor’s report, in 2018, found that a lot of the reasons that there are no hate crime prosecutions is that police don’t identify it as such, and they don’t then go through the hate crimes process. Even at the very early stages, not identifying it, they don’t report it to the Department of Justice as they’re supposed to in California. So prosecutors choose not to prosecute it for that reason.
Our civil rights report found that community members feel more comfortable reporting to community-based organizations, which is why Stop The Hate is important, as opposed to governmental entities. I think on the community side, there needs to be training on what this is. If it’s job-related, you can go to EEOC, or you can go to the California Department of Justice; if it’s in retail and accommodations, you can go to the Civil Rights Department. (On their website) they have a full flowchart of how their process works.
How can we, as a media organization, leverage some of the ideas that you’re talking about?
MK: In terms of community capacity, it actually goes a little hand in hand with your work at India Currents – narrative change or strategic communications. They are making people aware of what is happening, acknowledging and validating when they do experience.
We’ve added another component which is the healing piece. People cannot just wait for policy change, right? Yes, it’s wonderful if Stop AAPI Hate could change laws and policies so that it doesn’t happen again. But what can be done to bring about healing?
In this sense, I’d be happy to offer people on my team talking about this. What does it look like? We can give you examples, really deconstructing for folks so that they understand. What otherwise happens is we’re told no, no, it didn’t happen. You’re imagining it. Just put your head down. It’ll all work out.
Often what happens is, that there are only stories being told about the very stereotypical kind of successes like the Spelling Bee, right? We’re Spelling Bee winners, we’re the heads of Fortune 500 companies. There are far fewer stories told of low-income folks, of undocumented folks, and the struggles of just everyday life.
This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library in partnership with the California Department of Social Services and the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs as part of the Stop the Hate program. To report a hate incident or hate crime and get support, go to CA vs Hate.
