Over the past few years, scientists and experts have repeatedly warned the world community about the possibility of a new viral pandemic as a major threat to humanity. As usual, their voices were ignored. “Who was there to hear them anyway?” you might ask, when in the light of ubiquitously growing populism and nationalism, as […]

The current COVID-19 pandemic has placed a stranglehold on the world economy, and China has been no exception. Significantly, these effects have rippled across many countries that have benefitted from China’s lending spree over the past two decades, and whose economies have now taken a plunge. Many, if not all, are now in desperate need […]

Photo credit: Lamar Metcalf This article is re-posted with permission. It was originally published on Medium here.  Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd. We know what their last sounds were. Desperate for air, gasping, “I can’t breathe.” Knowing that the end was near, a desperate cry, “Momma.” I too found myself struggling to breathe. What if […]

Photo Credit: Justin Kiner A Commitment to Public Service is Consistent, not Convenient I’m scared and appalled by the recent surge in social gatherings that are completely ignoring public health guidelines. But let me be perfectly clear, I’m not talking about the recent protests that have erupted in response to the murder of African-Americans by […]

All fifty states in the U.S and over thirty countries around the world have participated in the protests initiated by the murder of George Floyd, a Black man killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis. As coverage of the protests continued through the first week, the conversation unsurprisingly moved away from the police’s disproportionate […]

I have always been appalled by the mistreatment of Black people in America and around the world, but the racist and cruel events on this past Memorial Day have made me sick to my stomach. That pain was intensified by the empty-worded emails from Harvard Kennedy School leaders that followed. This is because expressing empathy […]

My MPP cohort-mate, Nicholas Hanson, wrote a piece last week outlining the lack of “diversity of thought” and political discourse at Harvard Kennedy School. I want to use this piece to provide a teachable moment for my classmates, particularly my White classmates, at the Harvard Kennedy School.  My peer argues that HKS is isolated from […]

As I was completing my MPP, a faculty member at Harvard Kennedy School had written to the chair of a prominent North American foundation, confident they would be interested in my work. The chair, a man of South Asian descent whom I shall call Mr. X, sent back a pat response: The proposal focusing on […]

This article reviews unethical business practices in restaurants and nail salons vis à vis undocumented Asian American employees and suggests policy solutions to protect their economic justice and equity. Introduction The issue of labor rights for undocumented workers is a recurring topic in American political discourse in which we rarely question the identity or demographics […]

  The COVID-19 pandemic has left more than half of humanity confined to their homes. Governments have asked and, in some cases, enforced that individuals stay home based on the assumption that their citizens face the fewest health risks there. This is not always the case. Many governments have forgotten an already vulnerable group – […]

Madagascar is strewn with remnants of the French colonial period. From its French-style colonial architecture to its prized French restaurants, traces of the colonial era abound. One relic of the French colonial era that continues to significantly affect life in Madagascar is the country’s language and education system. In Madagascar, both Malagasy and French are […]

When your kitchen is on fire, you wouldn’t want a passcode-protected fire extinguisher, wrapped in triple-sealed packaging, sitting in your garage. Delays in applying your tools can be fatal. With the COVID-19 pandemic rupturing the basic fabric of the global economy, shops around the corner are closing down, and millions of people are starting to […]