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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 […]

After decades of languishing as one of the nation’s least effective public education systems, New Mexico is making significant strides toward becoming a model for public education. Visionary leadership from Governor Lujan Grisham has resulted in significant investments in New Mexico’s chronically underfunded public schools, with state policymakers increasing spending on public education by approximately […]

5980 miles. That’s the distance between Shishmaref, Alaska and Boston, Massachusetts. That’s about the same distance from Boston to Mongolia. The cost to send a letter from one point to the other? 55 cents. The same cost to send a letter from Boston to Cambridge. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented economic and financial […]

At a typical graduation, you often hear advice preceded by a small, innocuous phrase, “As you leave this place and go back out into the world…” But for the graduating class of 2020, we will hear strange new epithets like, “As you remain isolated from the rest of the world…”  It feels strange to say […]

Drew Madson is an award winning illustrator, educator, and entrepreneur. He studies Technology, Innovation and Education at Harvard Graduate School Education when he’s not in class at HKS. See more of his illustrations here. Instagram @drew1drew2drewyou

Image Credit: DonkeyHotey   The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) challenges students to “ask what you can do” in honor of the late president for whom the institution is named. While HKS is as diverse as any in America in terms of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, and life experience, one aspect is sorely missing: diversity […]