|
Namaste Dear Friend,
We hope all of you are safe, healthy and happy!
We send you this monthly newsletter as we celebrate our second birthday. It has been two rollercoaster years of strident advocacy and joyous community building, all in service of an India and a world where everyone's human rights is sacrosanct. As Hindus of conscience, for us this means standing up against Hindutva and the caste system.
In just two years, HfHR has become well-known as the only Hindu advocacy organization working towards a truly inclusive Hindu identity, one that rejects the bigotry of both Hindutva and the caste system.
An anniversary is a fitting time to reflect on our achievements. Here is just some of the work that each of you has supported in the past two years:
- GROWTH: We have grown beyond our small founding board to a committed and hard-working group of board members and volunteers, and a full time Advocacy Director, Nikhil Mandalaparthy, who has hit the ground running. We have recently seen a global aspect to our growth with new members and chapters in Australia and New Zealand, the UK, Europe, South Africa and Canada.
- ADVOCACY: Nikhil has been leading us in DC: organizing congressional briefings and meetings with government officials; pushing the Biden administration to be more vocal about human rights in India; educating US Congressional representatives, policymakers, entities like United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on the challenges facing minorities and activists in India today.
- MEDIA: We have published bold opinion pieces and nuanced reflections in many media outlets including The Nation, Foreign Policy, Religion News Service, The Wire, The Print, Scroll, American Kahani, and more, and more. We are soon to appear on the Mehdi Hasan show on MSNBC.
- RECOGNITION: Our cofounder Sunita was chosen by Center for American Progress one of 21 faith leaders to watch in 2021.
- CONVENING: HfHR was the main organizer of a major online conference we held in October 2020, Reclaiming India. High profile speakers and participants included Rev. William Barber (Poor People's Campaign), Rajmohan Gandhi (grandson of Mahatma Gandhi), Hamid Ansari (former VP of India), Shashi Tharoor (current Indian MP), Arfa Khanum Sherwani (leading Indian journalist), Mallika Sarabhai (leading Indian dancer and activist), Roja Singh (Dalit community leader), and so many others.
- BRIDGE-BUILDING: HfHR was deeply honored to be on the organizing committee of the 37th anniversary of the Selma Bridge Crossing. It was a virtual event, and two board members and one advisory board member participated in panels. We also organized an art and essay contest for South Asian youth, on the topic of civil rights in the USA. It was very important to us, particularly in the year after the murder of George Floyd, to partner in a very concrete way with the Black American community. We plan to be at the 38th anniversary leading an Indian-American civil rights group, in Selma, Alabama. We have been building relationships with Indigenous activists and groups through our climate justice work.
We will soon be launching a special grassroots media project, as part of our commemoration of two years of Hindus for Human Rights. Please look out for the announcement and support the project.
Now for our June updates!
June has been a month of relief for our Indian community as CoVID second wave has tapered and a universal vaccination scheme was announced by the Indian government. This month we celebrated Pride and Juneteenth, which have inspired us to push forth with greater strength in the fight for inclusivity and justice. We want to share this strength with all our supporters through the following updates:
|
