Ann Kalayil is the Co-Founder, President, and Board Chair of the South Asian American Policy and Research Institute (SAAPRI) and was appointed by President Barack Obama as a Regional Administrator of the General Services Administration. She currently serves as the Bureau Chief of Asset Management at the Cook County Government in Illinois.
Harvard Political Review: What inspired you to establish SAAPRI?
Ann Kalayil: A couple of other women – Padma Rangaswamy and K. Sujata – and I were all involved in the greater Chicago community, particularly in the political arena and in domestic violence prevention. As we were looking at issue-based causes and social services, as well as developing a collective identity in terms of political empowerment, we realized there was a lack of data, data that could be used to push for policies beneficial to the South Asian American community. One of the earlier things we did was look at census data. We looked outside of Illinois, particularly on the East and West Coasts. But the census does not define ‘South Asian,’ so we had to tabulate that ourselves. As we started to do that, we found that in Illinois, the South Asian community was the largest within the pan-Asian community. We started to think about what that meant. We discovered that although we are lumped under an Asian American umbrella, when we are in a coalition with East Asian and Pacific Islander communities, knowing our numbers means we are able to drive the conversation so it also benefits us in terms of policies that help our communities. We thought that having this data was important, so that is how we ended up establishing SAAPRI.
HPR: What are some of the issues SAAPRI focuses on?
AK: One of our earlier projects involved looking at economic development. Some people say there are no politics involved in this, but access to public resources is all about politics. Other projects we worked on included overcoming barriers to healthcare. For the pan-Asian American community, we definitely looked at this. We have also done work on immigration, as well as research on civic engagement. The essential question is: how do we get our community to understand the importance of civic engagement? We all like to move into neighborhoods where the school system is good and it is safe to live. All of this happens because there is a community in place that works for it. They volunteer their time with the local school council or library board or they run for local positions, and that is how they are able to build these communities. Yet, we go in there and often think that it magically happens, but it does not if you are not engaged in the community.
HPR: In your opinion, what are some of the more specific political or social issues facing the South Asian American community today that your group focuses on?
AK: Issue number one is definitely the fact that [the South Asian American community] does not have a strong political voice. In other words, we do not have a large amount of representation at all levels of government: local, state, and national. We just have very few. Being able to have increased representation at all levels of government is a significant issue. The other issue is that whenever there is a major event – 9/11 or the Iran crisis or now – it ends up impacting us as a community because we are lumped in with ‘the other.’ People do not know whether we are South Asian or Middle Eastern or whether we are Hindu or Muslim. When they see us, they think of us as brown people, which they feel are all the same. As such, we have this perpetual foreigner identity, and that leads to the rise of biases, which can lead to violence: for instance, the Oak Creek tragedy.
HPR: In what ways do you think that linguistic and religious diversity of South Asia could contribute to internal divisions within the South Asian American community?
AK: We are so diverse. If you look at Indian Americans, we are so diverse. Even Pakistani Americans are so diverse: there are several different provinces in Pakistan. While we should celebrate diversity, the fact of the matter is that our issues are all the same. We came here to the United States, and we have a high foreign-born population. We should focus on biases against South Asians that cut across race. If you look at economic disadvantages and language barriers, they cut across subcategories, whether you are Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Malayali, or Tamil. SAAPRI looks at common issues that exist across the population.
HPR: In what ways do you think that the more recent hate crimes have galvanized the South Asian American community to consolidate a political identity?
AK: We need to come together as a community. When tragedies take place, it is because the perpetrator does not realize who we are. It is not okay to carry out hate crimes because people are Muslim, Sikh, or Middle Eastern. After 9/11, my nephew was in high school and kids in the school called him “son of Bin Laden.” He had to defend himself until they backed away. This is happening among students who do not know about South Asia and perceive their South Asian and South Asian American classmates to be ‘the other.’ As such, our children are also becoming victims of biased incidents even though they are Americans.
HPR: What are some of the biggest obstacles to the formation of a collective South Asian American political identity?
AK: We do not focus on commonalities. We focus so much on differences. When you have a political candidate – for instance, Raja Krishnamoorthi – who runs in a place with a sizable South Asian community, Muslim and Hindu communities come together because they see a candidate who can represent them in Congress. There, the differences do not work against our political empowerment. They work towards it and help us discover what we can do to increase our political representation.
HPR: In what ways do you think that South Asian Americans can increase their political engagement and advocacy and implement this into their lives?
AK: We have to do some homework and make sure our community feels integrated. When you feel integrated into the society you are living in, you feel like you belong. When you feel like you belong, you are invested, and you will actually exercise your rights such as voting. For example, in Illinois, we just got automatic voter registration passed, so people will not have to go register to vote anymore. That is important to get people to go and cast their vote. Furthermore, right after the last census in 2010, the Cook County government said that there is a substantial South Asian population with limited English proficiency. By federal law, we have to provide voting ballots in a South Asian language. They came to SAAPRI and asked us for help. We helped them and worked with the city of Chicago and got the ballot section translated in Hindi, with the recommendation that they should also do it in Urdu and Gujarati. The voting ballot is now available in Hindi. That is an example of how we can get otherwise-marginalized populations to the polls. Now, they can vote in the languages they are familiar with. That is a great example of how you can get people integrated in the community.
HPR: Any final thoughts?
AK: SAAPRI has done research work, as well as collecting and interpreting data nationally. We have partnered with SAALT and done some work with Karthick Ramakrishnan. Right after the Oak Creek tragedy, we worked with the Sikh Coalition to put together an event in the Wisconsin and Illinois areas to commemorate it, as well as talk about these issues and how they impact our communities. Ultimately, we are trying to develop a pipeline for leadership in the South Asian American community. To do so, we are hoping to get the first and second generations to work together.
Image Credit: Flickr/Chicago Federal Executive Board
This interview has been edited and condensed.