The Asia Issue

With articles on...

Gender and Fast Fashion Re-examination of Racial Identity VP Kamala Harris Interviews with...

Uyghur advocate and writer, Munawwar Abdulla Musical Artist, Avanti Nagral

Dear OM Readers, From the first issue of Overachiever Magazine, I was sure that this was going to be a magazine for all Asian women - not just those in the United States, or even just in North America. This issue reaffirms our commitment to that mission. We believe in uplifting the voices of all Asian women, and while we are always pushing ourselves to be better, this is a start.

We hope to continue to expand our coverage of current events in Asia, more closely follow the women doing incredible work in human rights, and keep a closer finger on the entertainment pulse - and we hope you’ll join us. Thank you to the team at Overachiever Magazine, especially our editorial team for making this issue come to life. We have a great issue for you. I hope you enjoy it.

Love, Rehana Paul Editor in Chief and Founder

My mother was a diplomat too even if she was just a housewife Written by: Dea Safira Having the chance to live in a diplomatic household, I’ve had the privilege of traveling and living abroad. I also had to tell my friends of my life’s story of how I was able to live abroad and why I took International Relations as my master’s degree.

They would resort into asking me, “Who was the diplomat, is it your mom or your dad?”

I would say “Both.”

During childhood, I was accustomed into listening my dad talk about politics. He would comment on the news and share his views. My late mom who died on December 2019, was a housewife who works side by my side with my dad. My dad goes to office and my mom would take care of the household.

Even though my mom was a housewife, she has been involved with the Embassy’s events and functions. She prepares and was a part of the committee in certain events. Indonesian diplomat’s wife has an association called Dharma Wanita. Every Indonesian Embassy or Indonesian Government institutions has the wives’ association that was set up to serve the needs of their husbands at work. Though this women’s organization was first used as a tool to control the narrative of Indonesian women through motherhood and domestication during Seoharto’s regime (who ruled for 32 years in Indonesia), but we cannot deny that they had an impact in making sure diplomacy works.

Diplomats’ wife association is not something new. Cynthia Enloe in her book, Bananas, Beaches and Bases has described how British diplomats’ wives demanded that the British government pay them for the work and functions they do for the embassy. Until today we barely talk about the role women as housewives play to make sure diplomacy works.

I understand that putting women’s roles only as housemakers is a form of domestication, but we need to take into account the soft power work housewives do in diplomatic reception. They decorate where the events take place, they made sure Indonesian food was served on the table, and they made sure guests can experience Indonesian culture be it through cuisine, fabrics, music and dancing.

Their works also involved in making sure their husband is taken care of so they could negotiate deals with the host country they are it.

Housewives are diplomats too. They made sure diplomacy works well and that comes from making sure they made their home. My mom was far from what you called feminist. She was the sixth child and only one out of seven children who did not get a bachelor’s degree, though she still went to a community college and got a lower diploma. Other siblings got a bachelor. She felt that she would rather work and let her younger sister get a better education.

Since becoming a diplomat’s wife, the structural and systemic climate of Indonesia’s government, made her oppressed.

She was instructed to dress and act in a certain way to please the senior staff’s where my dad works in order to secure my dad’s position at work.

She internalized the patriarchal values and become a victim of structural abuse. My dad was not perfect either, but he would never physically or sexually abuse her. There were times where my dad does not get how his situation at office affected my mom’s circle at the wives’ association. And he won’t realize how he can be emotionally abusing her by not caring for his job in the office as it would affect her at the association. It was obvious that the toxic atmosphere at the wives’ association affected my mom’s wellbeing. I could say she suffered from mental health issues which then would affect how she raised me.

My mom was as much of a diplomat as my father was, she just had a different desk job. She also had to face the similar repercussion that my father had to face at work. She endured more stress than my dad and took a toll on her health.

She may not be a feminist, but her suffering made me a feminist. Her role as a housewife, a homemaker and a representative in the wives’ association in every country post she goes, made her an awesome diplomat. Without her, my dad and my family would ever survive living abroad.

This is a tribute for my mother, who was no feminist, but made me a feminist.

“The Plight of Elephas” by Manya Awal // IG: @manya.awal5 Medium: black pen and red inks on canson paper

“Moved by the dwindling population of elephants, this piece depicts the bloodshed and the edging of the species of elephants towards extinction.”

A letter to my long distance love, Asia Written by: Katrina Romero Tan

Fourteen hours away by plane—a whole world away—and yet a world I love to call my own every time I get to return...

I love you, Asia, and all the sights you have to offer. From the smoky fields of Mom’s probinsya town to the bustling back alleys of Bangkok and Tokyo, you always leave me wanting to explore more, to do more, to know more about you.

I love you, Asia, and all the delicious treats that tantalize my senses. I long to hear the sizzle of dakgalbi and ramyun on the cast-iron grill, to slurp on savory laksa as motorbikes whizz past, to snack on chilled red beans and fruits over shaved ice in the hot, humid air.

I love you, Asia, and your mishmash of faces: of gruff businessmen suited on their way to work, of beckoning street vendors inviting me to view their wares, of the madcap cackles of aunties in the morning, midday, or evening.

I love you, Asia, and your sense of fashion, be it your flashy prints, subtle elegance, or anything in between. Your inspiration elevates me to new heights every time I visit, and I leave with a greater sense of self-confidence every time, brimming with new ideas.

I love you, Asia, and your customs, practices spanning beck eons, making me a proud citizen to partake in honor, respect, and tradition. Regardless of whether it’s bowing deeply at the waist or blessing to “mano po,” we know how to take care of our elders, our family, and everyone around us to make them feel like family.

Like any lover, I know you’re far from perfect: your poverty lines blur even more these days with an ever-increasing gap between rich and poor, haves and have-nots. Your politics aren’t always PC, with leaders who are sometimes (often?) questioned, perceived as dictatorial, seen as unforgiving and selfish, especially when compared to Western values. Your morals, idealized and upheld as hardworking, may also be perceived as harsh, collectivistic to an extreme, unforgiving to those who don’t fit its molds. Your indigenous are often pocketed away, relegated to smaller and tighter corners while mainstream culture seeps in and supersedes. There is plenty to work on, and so much to do, at least in my Western eyes.

Regardless of this Asia, I still love you. You are the ancestral home I wasn’t born in, the place my heart and soul constantly long to come back to. You are the place where I know that even if I can’t speak the language, I at least look like I belong without having to open my mouth and say a word. Thank you for your cities, your counties, your archipelagos. Thank you for being unforgivingly, unabashedly you.

I love you, Asia, and I’ll be back soon.

“Coffee shop” by Nina Song // IG: jinjoojpeg Medium: Digital and print

“Halo-Halong Singkit” by Nikiya Kiara // IG: @paintandpalate.nkbc Medium: Watercolor & Acrylic on Mixed Media Paper “Halo-Halong Singkit” dives into my colorful culture, heritage, and identity (including the good and bad that have come from colonialism, history, and politics) that all very commonly get diluted, in the face of non-Asians, into the stereotype/categorization of “Asian” simply due to the appearance my “singkit” eyes.”

“Hey, can I just call you D? Divita is too hard to pronounce.”

by Divita Pandita

प्रिय (Dear) every uneducated Tom, Dick, and Harry | Had I been crafted a little more perfect you all would have stood witness to goddess शक्ति (Shakthi) herself delivering you to the afterlife and back with just one smile | Every utterance of my name holds blessings of Hindu ancients that flow out of each sacred syllable to enlighten some consciousness within you; A true स्त्री (woman) commands your presence | Mispronouncing my name is the very sin that leads you in your ignorance and erasure of my being my people my ताक़त (strength) | Do you know what is hard, Tom? Listening to my parents lament over loved ones lost during terrorist attacks spearheaded by the very Anglo-saxon culture my family is forced to assimilate to | Do you know what is hard, Harry?

Being part of a population branded as beastly because of media broadcasting bullshit where the brown narrative is always labeled as backwards | Do you know what is hard, Dick?

Watching my people being recounted as uncultured savages “second rate persons who needed colonization to survive”

in my high school history class when the real history is that:

Indians were the first warriors, emperors, scholars, artists in the entire world

even prior to some irrelevant white man’s manifest destiny | Do you know what’s not hard, Tom, Dick, and Harry?

Pronouncing my accented name | My identity is absolute and forever and you, you uncultured *भेनचोद with your stubborn tongues/minds that try their hardest in gentrifying my name and being, even you, will never be capable of extinguishing my दिविता (divine light) | *भेनचोद (this is a bad word in Hindi so I’m not going to translate it... fill it in with your own bad word if you would like to!)

‘Subtle Elegance’ by Kritika Negi // IG: @thequirkyart Medium: watercolors and digital This is piece is inspired by Rupi Kaur’s poem: “I am of the earth, and to the earth, I shall return once more, life and death are old friends, and I am the conversation between them, I am absolute, I am exquisite, I am their late-night chatter, their laughter and tears, what is there to be afraid of, if I am the gift they gave to each other, This place never belonged to me anyway, I have always been theirs...”

“I choose this Rupi Kaur’s poem as a representation of my artwork because I wanted to highlight the beauty of women in a more natural way. To me, this poem instantly depicts the connection between mother earth and the existence of a woman’s body and soul. Despite any religion, area, caste, creed, or color, a woman is an exquisite gift that an epitome of beauty, elegance, and love. “

Keidi Teng

IG: @keiditeng // Website: www.keiditeng.com

“Juicy” (digital) “Oranges are a symbol in Chinese culture of gold, affluence, and prosperity. I created this piece to illustrate the tension Asian-Americans experience when faced with the choice to toss away certain segments of their Asian identity and embrace Western ideals.”

“Send Noods” (digital) ”"You're Chinese? Huh. You don't look Chinese. That wasn't my guess." So many patronizing implications in one ostensibly innocuous exchange. Only it's not one. And it actually can be very harmful. What characteristics must one possess to qualify to "look Asian"? Asian and Asian-American womxn have historically been painted with broad strokes: Exotic. Submissive.

Hypersexual. But their beauty and sexuality is seldomly their own. I seek to redefine what it means to "look Asian" and to depict my subjects as sensual beings, in hopes that all womxn can feel empowered to express and embrace their sexuality on their own terms rather than those laid out for them by society.”

Rachel Cheong

IG: @rachelsummercheong

Pieces (Top to bottom): “Virgo” and “Aries” // Medium: digital

Let Asia Sleep by @kai.laniii Let Asia sleep Let her close her eyes and count her sheep Count the days where She felt most weak And watch her shake the world Let Asia breathe Let her take in air and plant her seeds Plant in fields where She stands to see The red sun light her world Let Asia eat Let her swallow her success and feast Yes, succeed where She will be free To go and seize the world For when she wakes Oh, mercy when the world quakes You will have never dreamed You kept her silent while your flags streamed

LIU ANN “not ur asian babygirl” Mixed Media (12x18 in.) 2018 “The stereotype of the “asian babygirl” or as abbreviated, “ABG”, has been used to label asian womxn of a particular aesthetic (i.e. wearing heavy makeup, going to raves, and drinking bubble tea). Ann Liu’s work confronts this fetishization and categorization of an entire group of womxn, and demonstrates that not only is “ABG” not a valid identity, but is insulting and demeaning. As a result of stereotyping and colonization, Asian womxn have already suffered thousands of years of abuse and hypersexualization; though times have changed, the modern day equivalent of discriminating womxn based on appearance and other characteristics still perpetuates. The artist refuses to succumb to this gross idealization of her ethnic group and expresses her true identity through this work. She demonstrates pride in her cultural heritage; it gives her strength, and she renounces the stereotype that society might be eager and quick to label her as. “

ANN

LIU “Death” Acrylic paint, enamel paint, & glitter on canvas (16x20 in.) 2020 “When the Death card shows up in your life, it serves as the entry point into a new phase of enlightenment. Light needs Dark, Joy derives from Pain, & Life exists alongside Death. Death may be scary but it is NOT bad, it marks a REBIRTH, the end of a path, relationships, or patterns that do not serve your Higher Self. A time for spiritual growth, recalibration, metamorphosis, & deeper meanings. After losing someone deeply beloved to me, I had fallen into a very stagnant place - reliving many traumas, addictive patterns, karmic cycles... existing in a limbo. Death confronted me & coerced me through a painful phase of healing & rebirth.”

"Acrid Brutish Grace,"

by Sophia Bahadoor

"Acrid Brutish Grace," a play on the acronym ABG. It discusses typical Asian personality stereotypes as well as the expectations that are brought upon us by our families.

A sunday night.

Couch-cushioned chats And uncomfortable wishes.

“Make something of yourself, Something we could finally be proud of.”

A monday night. acrylic polish on sweat lined love and sucralose lust. light yourself on fire, strip your glossed eyes onto the dance floor. rock your rugged corpse to the music, perfect and used and juiced to a pulp.

Would they be proud of you, with your hands in his hair?

A tuesday night.

Bloody retinas and tapping to the tune of insanity. noses stuck in textbook fairytales, midnight lullabies sung by melancholic manic panic, Trixie pink and bubblegum anxiety disorder.

Eraser bumps stained red, lips cold and thirsty.

Would they be proud of you, With your “B”roken facade?

A Wednesday night.

Heads set to the Pixelated characters that shut out reality.

Dreary faces controlled by the glee Of obsession.

Idolizing over idols Who don’t exist.

Would they be proud of you, Glued to your screens?

A thursday night. fingers tracing over

lace-stripped bodices and silk paint brushes. smiles of graphite, porcelain and plush paint.

Would they be proud of you, Wasted on artistic abilities?

A friday night. they rocked your wretched limbs, wept as your fragile frame bent to fit their hollow cores. guilty slews turned to anger and rage.

Would they be proud of you, Skinned to a crisp?

A saturday night. locked doors, Messy mascara, sippy cups.

Slippy behaviour turned into Serenity.

When I describe myself as an “ABG”, It is not because I am your picture-perfect dream girl, dreamboat daughter o’ mine.

It will be because of the taste I leave on your tongue when I disappoint you for the seventh time this week, failing To be the person you pictured me to be.

It will be because of the cruelty of my defiance, my Resilience to repeat the histories of my ancestors, Coming undone.

It will be because of the light that grows within Myself, learning that I never needed to fit The character you drew up for me.

A sunday morning. burnt toast, acidic orange juice and mellowed out Memories of home.

Would you be proud of yourself, Becoming the person you were meant to be?

“Translation Fallacy” by Rukhsar Ali (she/her) It is not that I cannot speak It is that the colonizer’s lexicon has no words for my story my plot is inherently invalid and translations lose the colour of my tale like water splashed onto a painting bodies dance on the canvas submerge and slip off the surface outlines withstand the onslaught enough to recognize that beings were here but the vibrancy dulls and skillful strokes become splotches our enemy is clever he steals our souls but graciously leaves the remnant of a body behind to say Look. You’re Still Here. so no complaints are valid and my existence is a blessing but years of trauma handed down like heirlooms are clothed in ignorant dressing and paraded like the painting of an abstract idea displayed in a museum, a showcase of the far gone past opened up for interpretation after the true meaning is doused with revisionist history Because A Picture Speaks A Thousand Words

Meghana Narayan

IG: @paint.the.r

“Unve

20 x 24 Acrylic on Birch

“Unveiled II”

24 x 36 Acrylic + Sari Fabric on Canvas

rain // Website: www.meghannarayan.com

eiled I”

c + Sari Fabric h Panel

“Wanderess Waiting”

23 x 26 Acrylic + Charcoal + Oil Pastel on Canvas

“Labor Day for Viet Americans”

by Christine Yen Tran

We have forgotten, Distracted by the fruits of our labor.

Its sweetness and plentifulness and privilege Too distractingly delicious to honor their work.

Vietnamese people labor every day.

Their instincts for survival keep them from having weekends, days off, or vacations.

They work hard each day to share beers and food together.

Opportunity and hard work are in abundance in America.

On Labor Day, the nail salons are still open.

The aunties, hunched over other people's feet, breathe through their masks, the stinging smell of acetone and nail polish pierces through while their necks and backs ache for that extra few dollars of tip.

When she was a young, single mother, my mom took all the odd jobs: An admin at the sheriff's department, A seamstress by night, A dental technician by day.

I never heard her complain about being tired. I've never seen her cry or sweat.

She does the work.

On Labor Day, no bánh mì shops remain closed. They can't afford to turn their back on profit.

I remember my father telling me about his mornings at 3am, delivering fresh baguettes for only three dollars a day back in the early 90s as a new immigrant in the States.

I recall giant trash bags filled with fake acrylic nails and how my aunt convinced my grandmother, cousins, and I to pre-package 10 pieces into tiny ziploc bags, that would make us ten cents per bag.

A penny for a nail.

My grandmother stayed up late into the night to make the extra cash.

Holidays like Labor Day are best for businesses.

When our restaurant was open, my mother still woke up early to shop for fresh ingredients.

My grandfather still managed the shop. I still set all the tables with placemats, chopsticks, and cutlery, at eleven years old.

The smell of cá nướng Still lingers and haunts my memory.

But I do see her worry about insurance or lack of a 401k, or a retirement plan.

No one in our family has planned for the future or thinks about inheritance.

This is the constant by-product of surviving and survival, day by day.

They've worked so hard, Yet it takes them twice as long and twice as much effort to build generational wealth.

I want to honor their labor I recognize my own privilege To have warm meals and a roof over my head.

To have access to education.

To be able to have time to think and plan for the future.

To appreciate and participate in the arts.

To question and to vote.

To act and begin building a better, more inclusive, and beneficial community for people who labor. "Ăn quả nhớ kẻ trồng cây." - a Vietnamese proverb When you eat the fruit, remember who planted the tree.

White People, Please Pick Me Wr itten B y : Da n ic a Pick-me. It’s a term most are familiar with at this point regarding women.

Most often, it’s used to describe girls who desperately seek attention from men for validation, wanting to “be picked.” This ideology often comes with internalized sexism and the shaming of other women which unsurprisingly makes it frustrating for other women to encounter this sort of person. So when a girl says, “I think women should clean the house and make dinner for their husband”, it won’t come as a shock when they’re called a pick-me girl.

Like all terms, it's developed from and adapts with our society. Hence, why you might see a pick-me comment under an Asian person’s post when their caption is “People need to stop taking the fox-eye thing so seriously, it’s just a joke.”

This modernization of the expression is used in a racial context where rather than concerning the relationship between a woman and a man, it’s BIPOC trying to get praise from the white community. Often this includes downplaying situations where white people are demonstrating racist conduct/ micro-aggressions, making excuses for these actions, or claiming others are too sensitive about it. Social media culture enables this type of rhetoric to be shared on almost all platforms, notably targeting younger audiences, allowing those with pick-me tendencies to be widely recognized. Although the conversation about the harm this causes could go on endlessly, I want to discuss the main issues with this behavior when dealing with race in 2020.

1. Normalizes White People Saying Racist Comments/Jokes The most obvious consequence of BIPOC acting as a pick-me is their role in normalizing racism for the benefit of the white community. You’ll hear the phrase, “But I have a (insert minority here) friend, there’s no way I’m being racist” tossed around. It’s a weak excuse for white people to justify any racist behavior saying that it’s acceptable since their friend thought it was all right.

Pick-mes are ideal for the role of the token minority friend since they often fall in line with racist beliefs used against their own community. This might be presented through them taking the side of their white friend, again to seek validation, rather than calling them out for it. When discriminatory or hateful actions are left unchecked, it condones the increase in casual colorism, stereotyping, and microaggressions. All are gateways that have significant potential to lead to intensified racism, resulting in risking the safety of BIPOC (too well known are the threats, assaults, hate crimes, racial profiling, etc minorities are still facing).

2. Oppressive Groups Use Them as an Example of what a Marginalized Person Should Be It shouldn’t come as a shock when a racist sees someone who’s BIPOC agreeing with their racist beliefs, they’ll jump at the chance to take advantage of them as a model for the rest of the community. Why wouldn’t they want support from those they’re oppressing? It gives them a perfect opportunity to use this other person as a shield to defend whatever they’ve done, while the media gorges on any bit of encouragement they can get from a BIPOC person. I’m sure the issue with this is quite apparent, but for those who’ve had the privilege of never witnessing this happen in real life, it’s more often than not a gross misrepresentation of the greater community’s view of the situation. Take Candace Owens, a Black conservative author most famously known for her pro-Trump activism. On June 3, she took to Twitter in a 17-minute video giving her thoughts on George Floyd. I personally don’t believe everything she said was horrendous and that’s up to you to decide, but I can say, her arguing, “Everyone is pretending that this man lived a heroic lifestyle. We are embarrassing in that regard. Nobody wants to tell the truth in black America.

Our biggest problem is us.” is disgusting in every way possible. In her statement, Owens portrays George Floyd as a violent criminal who shouldn’t be acknowledged as a “martyr” for the Black Lives Matter movement. Altogether neglecting to mention that he was also a father, also a human being. As much controversy as her video stirred, many far-right Republicans predictably used her position as a way of saying this is what all Black people should be responding to which is as removed from the truth as it comes. It reinforces the idea of certain BIPOC as “one of the good ones” or reasonable, only if their opinions coincide with a white person’s narrative.

3 .

P i c k - m e

T r e n d s

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F o r m u l a t e

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When being raised in an area where the majority of your peers don’t look like you, BIPOC more often than not conform to those they’re around. This method of imitation is used as an approach to fitting in and avoiding racial tensions. It can be done subconsciously, for instance code-switching between languages, or purposefully like bringing a sandwich to school compared to a homemade dish people will ask about. For some, this behavior is so ingrained as a result of the environment they’re in, it becomes second nature to want to change themself so they’ll appeal to their peers. At some point a line is crossed from wanting to blend in, to actively chasing after their approval. Being conditioned to conform leaves a long-lasting impact on adolescents who are the most susceptible to social pressure and lack experience in this matter.

Therefore enabling “pick-me” tendencies, sets a harmful precedent in terms of how to handle racist or uncomfortable situations. If we refuse to even acknowledge how offensive something is, how are youth expected to identify racism, colorism, etc., much less respond to it?

4. Promotes Internalized Misogyny and Self-Hatred In my opinion, the most horrific product of acting as a “pick-me” is the internalized self-hatred it encourages. The desire for validation from the white community is not uncommon and I don’t think it’s untruthful to say most BIPOC have at one time or another, wished for it themself. So to see a person in a minority community cast away their self-value and respect for their own culture, I find it profoundly sad. Some are brought up to demonize their race and traditions while others grow into the ideology. Either way, they’re doing what they feel is necessary to tear down their own people in an attempt to achieve this unattainable dream. It’s difficult to realize that no matter how much you act like white people, talk like white people, think like white people, there will always be one who will never see you as an equal. Most come to accept this despite its complications and learn to appreciate everything that comes with their race without the need for approval from anyone else.

The unique thing achieved through “pick-mes” is the perpetuation of racism from one of those it affects the worst.

What we’re now left with is the question of what are we going to do about it?

I hope I’ve made my point clear that “pick-mes” are simply another outcome of modern racism. The huge factor they play in continuing to defend prejudice should be seen as an example of what internalized racism looks like in the world today. They are an example of what racism has done to generations in the 21st century who are still not truly free in America. How can BIPOC truly be free when some are still being taught to despise where they came from, what color their skin is, who they are? At its core, “pick-me” ideology is something made of ignorance and self-interest, but it’s also made of fear. Fear inherited from ancestors locked in chains, and that fear is what’s experienced by millions who continue to fight it every day.

Gender and Fast Fashion: The Feminization and Globalization of Garment Labor Written by J. Faith Malicdem Faith Malicdem is a freshman studying journalism at Emerson College and is Overachiever’s Editorial Intern. She is also the creator and curator of the PieFace Column. Aside from writing, Faith has many creative endeavors, including film photography and music-making. She hopes to further media coverage on mental health as well as music and the arts.

INSTAGRAM: @johannafaith THE PIEFACE COLUMN: piefacecolumn.com/

https://www.

There was a point in time where women were expected to do nothing but learn to play the pianoforte, become well acquainted with painting or drawing, and submit to the expectations of a homemaker.

However, in the mid to late ‘90s and early ‘00s, women became a new source of inexpensive, “flexible,” and “passive” labor.

According to Harriot Beazley and Vandana Desai in The Companion to Development Studies; Gender and Globalization, this is because women were more likely to manage well in mundane environments doing repetitive tasks. This was when the globalization of transnational (TNC) and multinational companies that produced clothing, shoes, accessories—pretty much anything you could find in your closet—became the norm. Expansion to countries overseas meant cheaper labor and no established unions or worker rights—the perfect target for capitalism.

While globalization is defined as a complex

process involving the social, political, and cultural approaches to mobilizing ideas and practices on a global scale, in Valentine M. Moghadam’s Gender and Globalization: Female Labor and Women’s Mobilization, she asserts that economic globalization operates on a quicker agenda with more efficient transactions between economies.

This is why today there are many women in South, Southeast, and East Asia who work in sweatshops for companies like H&M, Forever 21, and GAP. Of course, these garment work job openings were marketed to Asian women as opportunities—a way for them to support their parents’ household income and rise in the social hierarchy of their homes and families. Women were, and still are, heavily reliant on the availability of garment work, and TNCs were keen to take advantage of this need. According to Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine, women who enter the labor force in developing countries tend to do so for survival. They aren’t likely to be independent women separate from their families as one would imagine. They are still working to support their parents, and they are entering workforces that reward them with little pay and little respect. Once these young women become married, pregnant, or sick due to a work-related illness, they are often let go. Growing old doesn’t help one’s case for entering the garment workforce, either.

However, writer Leslie T. Chang argues in her TED Talk, “The Voices of China’s Workers,” that these opportunities are good for

women and their advancement in society and in the workforce. TNC’s expansion, while targeting women of lower-income classes overseas, does really enable and empower these women. So then, what else could be so wrong with the feminization of labor and the globalization of TNCs? Aforementioned, sweatshop and factory expansion overseas meant no established unions or worker rights. In Factory Daughters: Gender, Household Dynamics, and Rural Industrialization in Java, Diane Wolf notes that the women employed in sweatshops are subject to inhumane working conditions, and “strong discipline” was given to those who complained about said conditions. Wolf found numerous health and safety regulations, ones that have led to countless reports of injuries and deaths found in the news today.

Just one of the tragedies took place in May of 2013, according to BBC News.

An eight story factory in Bangladesh collapsed with an unknown amount of sweatshop workers still inside, and only 2,437 people were rescued. Over 1,000 workers died, and in result, protesters took to the streets to fight for the lives that were lost. The factory had been evacuated because of cracks appearing on the walls, but workers were welcomed back to work shortly. In another case, just four years later also in Bangladesh, European textile company Multifabs owned one of the 4,500 garment factories in the country—one with a faulty boiler that blew up the entirety of the structure, killing 13 and injuring 50 in 2017. At the time, four million women worked in garment factories, earning just $68 a month.

The most recent factory accident occurred in December of 2019, just nine months ago. A factory fire killed 43 Indian sweatshop workers in New Delhi

. Reuters stated that the accident prompted stricter labor rules to prevent illegal factories from putting thousands of migrant workers at risk, but no notable changes have been made to these laws since.

These are just a few of the incidents that have taken place at the hands of TNCs and multinational corporations that have resulted in a profound number of deaths and injuries alone; not exclusive to women, but considering that women do make up the majority of sweatshop and factory workforces, it can be assumed that they were likely more female injuries and deaths.

They are on the frontlines in a literal sense, working with the knowledge that their beings are not valued or protected in their places of work.

On top of inhumane conditions, gender discrimination is a feat women all over the world, in all lines of work unfortunately face. In garment work especially, there is a “fundamental lack of recognition of women’s skills not only sets their value and income at low levels,” says Tara Fenwick in Women Learning in Garment Work: Solidarity and Sociality. “It also can render them effectively faceless and voiceless: they become interchangeable machine operators in a denial of their subjectivity, their personal knowledge, and struggles.”

Endless reports of sexual assault involving male higher-ups mistreating the women who work below them are just one major extension of gender discrimination in the workplace. In Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: A Report from Field Research in Thailand, researcher Ubon Kompipote found that 90% of the respondents admitted that their employment conditions do not protect female workers from

sexual harassment, over 90% of the respondents are unfamiliar with the concept of a workplace code of conduct, and most women working in Thailand sweatshops do not have a common understanding of what constitutes sexual harassment. In turn, they often ignore the acts that are damaging to them.

So, what happens exactly when sexual harassment takes place, and when a woman takes initiative to speak out against it or report it?

In most cases, women know not to attempt even telling their families about the harassment, as working in garment factories is seen as a privilege according to an article published by Human Rights Watch. Beazley and Desai found that women would lose their jobs when reporting the incidents, or in extreme cases, would be kidnapped and murdered, especially if the woman were to spearhead the increasing awareness of female exploitation and harassment among her fellow colleagues, such as activist Marisnah who suffered the undeserving fate.

To combat this injustice, there have been multiple non-governmental organizations, non-profits, and initiatives worldwide that have prioritized providing the education and unionization tools to disadvantaged women in the garment industry. These organizations include but are not limited to:

Labour Behind the Label, the only UK campaign group that brings public awareness to garment workers’ struggles.

The Fashion Revolution Foundation, a global movement that is “action oriented and solution focused” that raises money for garment workers through partnerships and community engagements.

Remake, a community of millennial and Gen Z women who have pledged to actively challenge fast fashion and inform others of its repercussions in order to put an end to it.

Asia Floor Wage Alliance, an Asian labour-led global labor and social alliance across garment producing countries in South and Southeast Asia that addresses poverty level wages and gender discrimination specifically.

All of the above organizations can be scoured for more information on the movement to protect and empower garment workers, especially female garment workers.They also offer great insight into how you can get involved in the movement remotely, and how you can implement slow fashion practices into your lifestyle. In the next installment of Gender and Fast Fashion, we’ll be dissecting the fight for female garment worker rights and safety, how it has progressed over just the past few years, and what it’s accomplished thus far. Stay tuned!

2020 Election Coverage: VP K a ma l a Ha r r i s Ashley Chen is the political columnist for Overachiever Magazine. She’s an undergraduate student from New York majoring in Political Science. Her activism is centered upon voter education and civic engagement. Her other areas of interest would include educational equity, reproductive rights, gentrification, climate change and the list goes on. In her free time, she loves to watch films and create collages.

INSTAGRAM: @ash.leyyyy Kamala Harris’ name has been at the forefront of all news outlets over the past month as it was announced that she would be Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden’s running mate. There is no denying that this is a historic moment as she is the first African-American and South Asian female to be in this position. Nevertheless, this historic moment was met with opposition on all fronts given her track record as California’s attorney general. This component of the conversation is a testament to the flaws within electoral politics as we are forced to be complacent with the lesser of two evils. By idolizing her as someone who broke the glass ceiling, we perpetuate a narrative that allows the general public to excuse all of her wrongdoings during her time as attorney general. As many folks on social media claim to be progressive, we cannot claim that title if we fail to call out the wrongdoings even within the party that we support. For there to be any progressive future, we must center our conversations on how we can empower our communities and that includes accountability.

Written by Ashley Chen

Harris’ track record is not necessarily squeaky clean as progressive media and celebrities have portrayed her to be. She has made deliberate decisions that would impact communities of color. In 2011, Harris supported legislation that would prosecute parents if their children are continuously missing school. There were concerns that this would disproportionately impact low-income, communities of color. Nevertheless, she advocated for this bill and claimed that it was successful in San Francisco (Hing, 2011, para. 3). She cannot claim to be an advocate for communities of color if she enforces a system that criminalizes poverty and families who have their own obligations.

Leftists and several candidates during the Democratic debates have pointed out Harris’ complicity in the mass incarceration of Black and Brown folks. She has consistently stood on the side of the oppressor as she has interfered with cases that would keep Black and Brown folks in prison. An example of this involves the case of a death row inmate, Kevin Copper. The trial was “marred by racism and misconduct” and Harris tried to stop him from “getting a DNA test to prove his innocence. It wasn’t until this act of injustice was broadcasted to the rest of the nation that Harris allowed the DNA test to be performed (S.A. Miller The Washington Times, 2019, para. 28). This is only one example in a long list of major errors made during her time as attorney general. Harris is not an exception to the list of politicians who have masked their mistakes with their “progressive reforms.”

Others may argue that individuals are able to change their stances and perspectives on specific issues. While I do believe this

to be true, there needs to be a level of acknowledgment and accountability that demonstrates this personal growth. She has continuously changed the narrative when one criticizes her about the issue and diverts the conversation to discuss her accomplishments.

As a student activist, I recognize the importance of voting and making sure that folks head to the polls. I encourage folks to head to the polls and participate in our democratic process. However, I am also someone who personally dislikes electoral politics. The “settle for Biden� campaign that is evident on social media reinforces the flaws of electoral politics. Especially the white folks who amplify this mantra, please do not harass BIPOC folks who choose not to vote because we deserve better. I look forward to the day where we do not have to choose between the lesser of two evils because our communities have suffered enough.

Bharatanatyam: A Dance Form with Lessons to Share Written by Ananya Ohrie

Ananya Ohrie is a grade 12 IB student who is ambitious about poetry, art, dance, cooking, and helping her community. Ananya aspires to be a businesswoman and computer programmer in the future and hopes to travel to countries like France, Greece, Russia, and Thailand.

So listen to the lessons that: Instagram: @ananya.o History is powerful. Knowing where cerOn a regular day, we often hear the tain values and ideas originated from and sounds of cars rushing by at the crack how they have been transformed to adapt of dawn, birds whistling in the morning to today’s climate shows that we are not breeze and people talking to each other forgetting our roots, but rather forging with ease, just as we would on any other them. When we compare this idea to isday. With our routine set in stone while sues of social justice, we understand that missing the people or places we call Satya - which is truth - and Ahimsa - which home, we live our lives blindsided by the is non-violence - are not only Indian valtasks on our to-do-list and never take a ues and beliefs that have been integrated second to just breathe and listen; listen into Bharatanatyam, but are also points to the lessons of the universe. Whether we fight for in areas including feminism, that be through whispers in the wind or racism and police brutality. By transferthe ghunghroo on our feet, dance forms ring such values, we create a stronger unlike Bharatanatyam have stories and lesderstanding of where we were in the past sons to share, for which without them we and where we want to be in the future. would be incomplete.

Being gentle does not equal being weak.

Bharatanatyam is a classical Indian dance Bharatanatyam is the perfect example that originated in the Tanjore district in that vulnerability and strength can coexTamil Nadu, South India. It was originally ist - society’s rules of masculine or femitaught by Nattuvanars, who were dance nine were meant to be broken. Whether it gurus, and practiced by Devdasis, a group is a man who wants to dress in skirts and of temple dancers who would perform wear makeup, or a woman who wants at ceremonies and festivals. The beauty to lead meetings and lift weights, one is of this dance form is one that cannot be not stronger or weaker than the other, seen, but rather must be experienced as it and being gentle certainly is not a dictatmerges rigorous dance steps with unique ing factor for either. When one is true to hand gestures and soft facial expressions themself - that is where real courage and to tell incredible stories about Hindu Gods strength lies. and Goddesses.

Beauty is present everywhere. From soAfter learning Bharatanatyam for more cial media platforms such as TikTok and than seven years, I believe that this dance Instagram, we are force-fed unrealistic form has far more to offer than just beaubody standards and told that if we do not ty, it provides lessons to those who are hate ourselves on a daily basis, we are dowilling to listen, to learn, and to grow. ing something wrong.

Yet what Bharatanatyam teaches us is that beauty is not a physical characteristic that can be bought, it originates from within ourselves and the way we treat others. Whether you are large or small, tall or short, everyone has the ability to harness their own beauty and create their own story.

Never give up. When dancers enter Bharatanatyam classes, we do not know every single step or routine, but we are taught it and told to practice and practice and practice again. And although sometimes we may forget the order of the steps or the facial expressions, we remember that no one would improve if they just gave up. So we take a break and try again until we finally make it to the end.

Be unstoppable. In a world that is always telling you that you cannot do this or that because you are too demanding or quiet or different, remember to always break the glass ceiling and conquer your battles. Know your worth, work hard, and value what you bring to the table - your success will follow.

So after listening to the lessons that Bharatantyam has to share, for just a moment, release the pressures of your daily life; your family, your friends, your future, and be present in the air. We all have incredible stories and passions to share with the world, but sometimes, remember to just pause and take a moment to be whole.

T h e sp ora dicall y n a rra ted da rk t al e o f an In du stria l c ity : t h e S ie g e o f Cawnpore an d th e s ucce edin g eve n t s .

By:

Avishi

When the humanities department of my high school came up with the proposal of a ‘Historical Walk’, I didn’t know what to expect. I grew up in the industrial city of Kanpur where debris from leather factories collects along the riverbanks faster than dust on windowpanes and popular topics of conversation are mostly politics and pollution. Most of the people here are either into commercial jobs or are techies. To be honest, my school didn’t even have a humanities department until 2018.

If you were to book a tour of all the places of historical importance in this city, it would be more of a scavenger hunt than an itinerary. In a city where social sciences are virtually dead, it’s not surprising that very few people know about the Siege of Cawnpore (as the city was called during the British era).

In 1857, there was a mutiny and within a matter of weeks, it turned into the most wellknown revolt in the Indian history. Indians put up a collective resistance against colonial rule for the first time and like the French or Russian Revolution, this near-attempt of overthrowing the government was violent. The authors of history textbooks love to summarize the details with words like violence, heroism, and sacrifice. However, history feeds on a storyline to keep itself alive and demands accountability from all the concerned parties; the

Gupta

The Siege of Cawnpore: In June 1857, the rebel army under the command of Nana Sahib laid a siege on the British entrenchment where as many as a thousand British troops, their families, and loyal Indian soldiers had taken refuge including the British general at Cawnpore, Hugh Wheeler. The Siege lasted from 5th to 25th June and in the course of which the British suffered heavy losses owing to the lack of supplies, outbreak of cholera and dysentery due to unsanitary conditions, and heavy firing and bombardment from the rebel army that weakened their defenses.

The Satichaura Ghat Massacre: On 25th June, General Wheeler formally surrendered in exchange for a safe passage to the neighboring city of Allahabad to which Nana Sahib obliged and by the morning of 27th June, an evacuation via roughly forty boats was arranged. Owing to the shallow depth of the river near the Satichaura Ghat, the departure was considerably delayed as the British found it difficult to get their boats to float. While the British were grappling to set course, gunshots were heard in the perimeter and within moments of paranoia and apprehension, the entire convoy was fighting with the rebels overseeing the evacuation.

It is still ambiguous as to whether it was a planned attempt to instigate an attack or a mere misunderstanding. While some first-person accounts deem it as a ploy, others negate it. However, a large number of British soldiers as well as rebels were killed. The captured Brit

ish soldiers, along with women and children, were then moved to Bibighar (a villa in Kanpur) and were incarcerated under the care of a woman called Hussaini Begum. The ghat was later renamed as Massacre Ghat.

The Bibighar Massacre: As the fighting between the rebels and the British progressed on other North Indian fronts, Nana Sahib decided to use these captives for bargaining with the East India Company. However, his attempts failed and a large chunk of the British army penetrated within the considerable distance of the city. There was news of brutal violence against the villagers at the hand of the advancing British army.

It has been speculated that the Bibighar massacre was a reaction to this news.

Nana Sahib’s associates were growing impatient and suggestions were being passed around to kill the captives. On July 15th orders were issued to execute all the prisoners, including women and children. Women in Nana Sahib’s household went on a hunger strike against this decision but it was all in vain. It is unclear as to who issued the orders, however, Nana Sahib left the building, unable to bring himself to witness this gory massacre.

The rebels executed the four surviving male hostages first, including a fourteen-year-old boy. However, despite repeated orders and threats from Tatya Tope, they could not bring themselves to execute the women and children. The women barricaded themselves in a room and refused to come out. The first round of soldiers open-fired however, after witnessing the clamor and bloodshed, the second group threw their weapons and stood their ground, refusing to execute women and chil-

dren.

What ensued was one of the most brutal acts of violence ever committed in the course of the Indian freedom struggle. Hussaini Begum denounced the rebels as cowards and ordered her aide to finish the task. She hired butchers who murdered the captives with cleavers and their bodies were thrown into a well. Those who had managed to hide beneath the dead bodies were thrown alive into the well, including children aged four to seven.

When the British recaptured Cawnpore and arrived at the scene, the graphic and disturbing scene of mass murder infuriated them. They followed a policy of brutal crackdown and violence against the city’s population and that of neighboring villages. Those who tried to protest were either shot down or burnt alive.

At one such instance, when a village of two thousand people protested, it was surrounded and set on fire. Those who tried to escape were shot dead. There were reports of mass rapes and most of the rebels who had been taken prisoner were insulted and hanged directly facing the Bibighar well.

The details of the incident are way gorier than mentioned. The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre of 1919 continues to remain the most documented mass murder in the country’s history while the Massacre of 1857 is seldom talked about.

AFTERMATH: After the revolt was suppressed, a memorial railing and cross at the site of the well were constructed. The inhabitants of the city were forced to pay reparation of 30,000 pounds for the construction of the memorial. The Angel

of Resurrection, one of the most famous statues of British India, was constructed as a memorial in 1865.

The statue incurred certain damages during the Independence celebration of 1947 and was later removed from the original site over the Bibighar well to the All Souls Memorial Church (built-in 1875).

Today, the well has been sealed off and a skating court has been constructed over it. A small wooden plank near the banyan tree overlooking the well where approximately 135 undocumented rebels were hanged recalls the incident.

This untold chapter of my city’s history had a profound impact on me and I guess it is alarming that even after spending years in this city no one ever taught us about it until an exclusive field trip.

The Power of a Name By: Meghana Narayan

My parents chose a beautiful, Sanskrit name for me. I loved the way it sounded as a small child. I loved that the meaning it carried symbolized clouds and purity. It connected me to rain, to storms, and nature. I was proud of those seven letters.

As I reached elementary school, my name was no longer a source of pride. When I introduced myself, children laughed at my name and mocked it, and I was filled with confusion and embarrassment. I could no longer recognize myself. I began to feel like someone else; someone different; someone that wasn’t the rain.

I would dread the mornings when my teachers would do roll call. Snickers. Whispers.

As I got older, new teachers came into my life. “That’s too hard to say,” they would tell me. “Can I call you something else?” What else? I was only the rain.

When I was out in public with my mother, people would struggle to say her name.

“What? Can you say that again?” “Oh, I can’t make that sound--I’ll call you this instead.”

My mother never backed down. “You can say it, if you try.” “Practice.” She would stand there until her name was said correctly. My mother, a goddess, her name--the wife of Shiva.

As an adolescent, this seemed like work, a struggle, a burden on others. Why not just change my name? Why not just be someone else? Within my beautiful seven letters sat another name. A name that was not mine, a name that carried another meaning. A name that the world could so easily say. How convenient. If I just drop this last letter, I won’t be a burden.

So, the last letter in my name disappeared. I lost it for years. I lost it in my adolescence and into my adulthood. Not too long ago, I shared this story with my Kindergarteners.

They cried, some were angry, most were confused. “Why would anyone make fun of your name? It’s beautiful.” “What they did was not kind.” I agreed. I used that space to teach them to be proud of their names.

The next day, the children walked in to see my “morning message” written on the easel with my name signed below a little heart. Confusion, anger, questions. “Why did you do that,” one child exclaimed. “Do what?” I asked. “Why did you not write your REAL name?” At that moment, I was thrown into memories from my childhood. Memories that I had tried to wash away with denial in adulthood. The children stared, demanding my response. What was the answer? Fear, embarrassment, shame? One minute of silence and a lifetime of pain. “You should be proud of your name,” a child said. And just like that, it started to rain--I was drenched in comfort, shelter, and freedom. A group of five and six years olds! I was finally liberated by a group of five and six year olds.

It took me almost twenty years to realize that I did not just lose a letter all these years-I lost a part of who I was. I think of my mother and how to this day she never gives in to someone dismissing her name. Though my name was celebrated at home, I was put down and made to feel embarrassed by my peers and those that were supposed to be protecting me at school. I think of all the children who are experiencing shame in this moment because someone is not taking the time to see them for who they really are. I think of the power behind a young child’s voice when they are taught to love and embrace those who are different from them.

I have become so comfortable with my new six letter name that it is a part of my identity. But I am proud of my REAL name, too, and this story.

I am now a mama. My daughter’s name means moon. I will forever tell her to be proud of her name and that she was and will always be a gift from the stars.

The Deprivation of Rainforests and the Loss of Living Space of Dayaknese People in Borneo Island Written by Ghina Nazia

Ghina is a last year college student, who loves to write and buys book that she may or may not read. An unexperienced, yet avid observer of social and political changes in her country, and trying to learn as much as she can from the dynamic changes that happen with the modernization.

Instagram: @ghinans Perhaps you have heard of the name somewhere, the third-largest island in the world with one of the oldest and most diverse rainforest ecosystems and wildlifes, a home for the great ape of Orangutan, and maybe a place where man-eating Anacondas snakes live, such as depicted in the Hollywood movie Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid?

I can personally tell you, there are a variety of snakes here, but no Anacondas for as long as I can remember, and for the forest and the Orangutan, I don’t know if I can say much, I don’t know if I can boast and write lengthy description about how exotic and incredible they are, without having to force myself to ignore the fact that the current state says otherwise. Both are seriously threatened and endangered.

Deforestation has been one of the main causes of peril to many aspects of life and environment in Borneo. According to Gaveau et al, in 2017, Borneo’s old-growth forest has diminished by over 14% or 6.04 million hectares (14.8 million acres) since 2000.

WWF has also noted other remarkable factors to the deprivation of the biodiversity of the Borneo forest, such as land conversion, climate change, wildlife hunting, and mining. The most prominent issue of

land use change is from the rapid cultivation of palm oil plantation. Indonesia and Malaysia accounted for the 90% supply of the world palm oil.

Another large issue is the coal mining activity that is rampant and proven to have heavily afflicted many aspects of life around it, from environment to humanity.

Coals that are unearthed from the mountains leave many trails of destruction on its path, from the process of digging it up, transporting it through the river, to its utilization for the fossil fuel power plants, and even after the extraction process is completed and the party or corporations that are responsible for it has finished their deal.

This menace doesn’t only affect the environment, but also impacts the indigenous people of Borneo. One of the native groups of Borneo is the Dayaknese people that scattered all around the five provinces of the island in Indonesia and Sarawak and Sabah of Malaysia.

For millennia, Borneo Island and its people have always been shrouded in the kind of mystification and isolation. The Dayaknese have a very close relationship with nature and some of them still uphold the faith of animism and shamanism, even integrating it with the general religion that

most of the people have converted into, like believing in the spirits and entities that protected the forest and the river.

The Dayaknese were divided into almost 200 subgroups that are unique to their location dwelling--mostly on the land/forest or the river coasts. The Dayaknese are also generally bilingual and each of the subgroups have their own languages and dialects. There are some other differences in habits, customs, and religions, but that added to the medley of harmony of Borneo Island and especially, Indonesia as a whole.

The Dayaknese people is one of the 633 recognized ethnic groups of Indonesia that relied most on the existence of the rainforests and with the bulldozing modernization and capitalism, most of the Dayaknese people have to amalgamate with the new trends, and those who decided to resist and hold on to traditional value, can’t help but become more and more marginalized.

The case with the indigineous people of the Laman Kinipan Village in Central Borneo is the current, prime example of how destructive the force that pushed for the clearing of land for palm oil plantation is. For years, the people of Laman Kinipan has been trying to protect and preserve their land from the trampling feet of corporations and oligarchs--agriculture conflict is inevitable, usually ends up with criminalization of the weaker party that the public of Indonesia was aghast from seeing a viral video of the police roughly dragging the indigenous community leader of the Laman Kinipan people as though he was a terrorist when he was accused of stealing chainsaws from the corporation that tried to take over his land.

Another conflict that occured recently was between the Dayaknese farmers of East Kotawaringin in Central Kalimantan and Best Agro Corporations over the ownership of land where they grew palm oil, with three of the farmers and activists also imprisoned for ‘stealing the oil palm fruits’.

In 2017, Konsorsium Pembaruan Agraria (KPA)/Agriculture Reform Consortium in Indonesia reported as many as 659 cases of conflicts, although in 2018 it decreased to 410 records, but it is important to note that 60% of the 144 cases on the plantation sector was generated by the commodity of palm oil that staked its claims on community’s lands all over the country, and a lot of them still can’t find resolve.

This concerning reports aren’t only emerging from the Dayaknese community, in Borneo island especially, the ongoing issue of the environment affect the locals as a whole that from 2011 to 2020, 39 people have died, mostly from drowning that occured in the unrectified holes of coal mines in East Borneo, and almost all of them were children or teenagers under 18. No one was charged for their deaths, only receiving the inconsiderate and absurd responses from the East Borneo’s Governor who claimed the tragedy as ‘fate that they died in the mining basin’ and that the basin ‘might be haunted that it took the lives of many children’.

Although Borneo Island might see the promise of a better future such as infrastructure development and thriving economy after President Jokowi announced that the capital of Indonesia is going to be relocated to Penajam Paser, East Borneo itself from the overcrowded Jakarta, these dire issues are going to plague every waking moment of the people and the nation until they find their rightful resolve, and will remain a dark history of a hostile land, as the increasing wealth of a country doesn’t mean anything if even a single life was loss unjustly to gain it and only a handful of people with power can benefit from it.

Female GazeFemal

“Hi I’m Asia I’m a 17 year old gay girl from Utah and I’m proud to be Vietnamese!”

“My name is Aditi and my pronouns are she/her.

I’m Indian-American and a social rights activist, feminist, and anti-racist. i’m especially passionate about racial/gender inequalities and climate change, and am apart of the activist group @theblueactivists. Also, i am currently starting a nonprofit to help girls in Bangladesh get an education, and give them more opportunities. In my free time, i enjoy writing (i’m currently writing a novel!), listening to indie music, and baking!”

le GazeFemale Gaze

“Hi my name is Gracelynn and I’m a Chinese-American. I’m an outspoken feminist and anti-racist who founded a teenage activist group with my friends, @theblueactivists. I want to use my voice to fight for social justice causes and human rights issues.”

Ishani is a medical student living in Chicago who likes to write quotes about philosophy and human emotions. // IG: @_womanofwonders_

The Re - examination of R acial Identity Written by: Jasmine Francoeur Lately, I’ve been feeling like a little fish living her life in a great, round fish bowl.

Now I know that sounds far-fetched and strange, but let’s say I’m a fish. I know I’m not; I’m a fine, living breathing human.

But for metaphorical purposes let’s pretend I am a little, turquoise-colored fish with glinting, silvery scales and fluttering gills that open and close as I swim in my glass bowl. My swimming is confined to the rounded, hollowed insides of this watery, translucent cage but life is calm; there’s no real danger, and all I need to do is float and swim calmly and life is good. As long as I swim in my bowl as I always had, I can ignore the recent headlines that almost seem to exist in a sci-fi novel. Headlines that create a story of racial tensions, death and disease, hopelessness and confusion, and a world where terror and change threaten our perception of a “normal” life.

I grew up in a mid-sized town in Massachusetts and after graduating high school attended my first year of college in Boston. Unfortunately, like the rest of the world, once March hit, I was asked to leave my usual daily schedule of school and work and had to hunker down and stay indoors while a deadly virus raged on outside my window.

I had already come home for the first time from college for the holiday season but this time felt different, and perhaps it was because I was here for a longer period, but that wasn’t the only reason. I guess I always grew up a bit caught between two worlds as a half-Korean girl in a predominately white town.

During some of our summers, my par-

ents would take me back to my mother’s hometown in South Korea and I would resume my ‘other’ life speaking Korean amongst my friends and cousins there, eating traditional spicy soups and dishes, and even attending concerts to my favorite Kpop artists. But, I also grew up in a world of Cape Cod vacations, Diet Coke and Mcdonald’s hamburgers, and trips with friends to the mall shopping at Brandy Melville and American Eagle.

I’ve always felt a disconnect between these two halves. There were these two worlds I had that seemed to me like two balloons, held in my one hand, but floating apart from each other. I attended my high school as the only Korean and the only half-Asian girl in my grade, and while I was friends with several of the other Asian Americans at my school, I still felt a slight disconnect with trying to connect with my Asian culture in a conformist high school environment. Most of my close friends were white and I felt a bit strange oftentimes talking about my Korean culture even though I couldn’t really place why I felt that way. Perhaps it was because I didn’t like talking about a part of me that set me so blatantly apart from my other peers.

After Breonna Taylor’s, Elijah McClain’s, and George Floyd’s deaths and the BLM surge, I started reading other POC’s messages about unpleasant racist experiences within my town, and I grew depressed and angry. Never before had I felt so aware of the societal meaning placed upon the colors of our skin. Nev-

er before did I truly start to realize that POC’s existence was threatened because of the shape of our eyes, the melanin in our skin, the different languages that we spoke from our lips that were passed down through our ancestors’ tongues.

This depression grew into a fiery seed of anger inside that I had never felt before.

I began to question my own racial and personal identity after learning more about the BLM movement. I became more aware of the world’s harsh realities.

I started wondering if I could be ‘whitewashed’. I wondered if I actually chose the clothes and style I had because I genuinely liked them or because I was trying to assimilate to the style of most of my white peers.

I started asking myself why I felt uncomfortable talking about my culture and why I would even sometimes make jokes about being Asian. I re-examined all the times I just let things slide: a teacher commenting about my exotic look or a driving instructor asking if my mother is Oriental. about the BLM movement. I became more aware of the world’s harsh realities.

I started wondering if I could be ‘whitewashed’. I wondered if I actually chose the clothes and style I had because I genuinely liked them or because I was trying to assimilate to the style of most of my white peers. I started asking myself why I felt uncomfortable talking about my culture and why I would even sometimes make jokes about being Asian. I re-examined all the times I just let things slide: a teacher commenting about my exotic look or a driving in

structor asking if my mother is Oriental.

Once I started to hang out with my friends during the summer, I felt like that fish in her fishbowl who watched the world she used to know. All the places and people that once felt so familiar with now felt so disconnected from her. While the wall was thin, it felt like even if it eroded away in the future I would never forget the wall was once there. The bowl I swam in allowed me to stand back and gain a shifted perspective - - more demanding and inquisitive, no longer assimilating or accepting the world neutrally.

How will I come to terms with my own racial identity and do my part to change a world that I wish would be more accepting of my BIPOC brothers and sisters?

Color is important. Representation is important. And most of all justice is important. This time we live in may seem scary, terrifying, and uncomfortable, but I believe that without it I would never have truly started to really question the world I live in or see it in a new harsh light. Now is the time to not only take action and gain perspective, but especially for POCs to be reminded to love ourselves for who we are and to be gentle with ourselves.

Never forget that our beautiful skin was passed down from countless men and women that came before. So while we continue to live in this strange new reality, I urge us all to hug ourselves and love our unique beauty, and to keep looking forward to a future that we must hope will be different from yesterday.

Munawwar Abdulla is an Uyghur advocate and writer moonlighting as a scientist. Her poetry and writings have been published in various literary journals and online magazines based in Australia and the US. In her free time these days, you can find her geeking out over a particularly well-translated sentence, her chillies, the idea of starting karate again, or a newly acquired Switch, all while being afflicted with tsundoku.

Instagram + Twitter: @uyghurcollective Instagram + Facebook: The Tarim Network Instagram: @me.never Charlotte Drummond is a part of Overachiever Magazine’s Editorial and Outreach teams. She is an Indian-American student and writer from Los Angeles, California. She is currently attending Emerson College, and studying Writing, Literature and Publishing. At the moment, she is working for multiple on-campus publications as a part of their writing and copyediting teams. In her free time, she loves reading, taking pictures of plants, getting emo over female singer-songwriters, and hanging out with her dog.

INSTAGRAM: @charlotte.drummond

Interview with Munawwar Abdulla Written by Charlotte Drummond

Introduce yourself!

Hello, salam, yaxshimusiler! I’m Munawwar. I have been involved in Uyghur advocacy, and community building work in its various forms for most of my life and consider it to be my passion. I am also a lab manager and RT for a neuroscience lab at Harvard.

What do you love the most about your background and culture (ex. traditions, food, family gatherings, etc.)?

I do love the food and tea; there’s such a wide variety of dishes and tastes, and the practice of sharing food and entertaining guests is so integral to our culture. That sense of community makes me feel really warm. (Although it is taxing at times when you’re the eldest daughter and have to help with all the cooking!)

I am reading more of the literature lately and have been really, really enjoying it, especially the poetry and short stories. I grew up listening to my uncles tell me and my brother so many folk tales, and I think there’s a treasure trove of excellent modern literature as well that needs to be translated and shared with the world.

Who are your greatest inspirations in activism and everything?

My family for sure, and particularly my mum, who always said I could be anything I put my mind to. She left her home in a village outside of Ghulja at the age of 16, with the support of her parents, to study at university. Now, she does everything in her power to help fight for the rights of all Uyghurs while also being a great person to talk to. You can check out her work at uhrp.org.

How did you come up with the idea of Uyghur Collective? What’s the story behind visualizing Uyghur culture?

I got the idea from stumbling upon a very niche section of the internet where someone had shared some great pictures of their own under-represented culture. I realised all you saw when searching “Uyghur” at the time were the same few pictures over and over again: Uyghurs as victims of violence, or as happy dancers and farmers. I wanted to share images of Uyghur people, culture, history, and geography that were good quality, interesting, and gave a new perspective – and one that reflected my reality as Uyghur.

As I found those photos, I also learned more about these topics and just felt so excited to share that information, not just with non-Uyghurs but with Uyghurs like me, too, who was raised in diaspora and did not have the cultural or linguistic education that Uyghurs growing up in East Turkistan may have had. Conversely, those coming out of the region tended not to know much about Uyghur history because of censorship from the government. So, it

became this learning hub and a place to connect for me.

With both Uyghur Collective and the Tarim Network, what do you hope for your audience to take away from those pages? What long-term goals do you have for them?

The Tarim Network came about because I managed to connect with someone on Uyghur Collective who shared the same vision I did. I want UC to continue to do that – connect like-minded people who are passionate about their heritage and community, be a space for people to learn and share, and also one where we remain optimistic, uplift one another, and make a positive impact on the world.

My goal for the Tarim Network is to be this resource for all Uyghurs – and others who share our dilemmas right now – to use to connect with others in a social and professional capacity. At the moment, we have programs to learn Uyghur, a podcast, avenues to connect to professionals or mentors in fields that the younger generation may be interested in, and a line-up of seminars introducing topics of interest. We want to continue working on bigger and better ways to “Unite, Inspire, and Advance” the Uyghur diaspora, both for the future of our people as well as for the communities we live in and interact with.

It would be great to collaborate with other non-Uyghur groups and networks who share similar goals!

There’s a lot of news going around about the concentration camps in China. How can non-Uyghur Asians and BIPOC best spread the word and offer the most efficient help?

The Uyghur Collective website has a bunch of projects people can help with – and do check out all the links in the “More” dropdown menu for a list of credible places you can either get more information from, donate to, or volunteer at, such as shahit.biz. The actions we can take are always changing with the situation. At the moment, one thing we can all do is boycott companies that are implicated in forced labour, be more ethical consumers and influencers in general, while also writing to those companies, and writing to your representatives (if you’re in the US) to pass the Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act. Part of what we lack is enough people to do all the work that needs to be done. We love seeing everyone raising awareness about the situation on social media – this is something I could never have imagined just a few years ago. I’m hoping this will create a new base of people who can dedicate some of their time to the projects and organisations who are in need of enthusiastic volunteers.

What do you consider to be your biggest accomplishment?

I’m not sure if I can pinpoint one big substantial thing I’ve done, but I enjoy seeing the gradual impact of projects like UC and the Tarim Network on our community, as well as in raising awareness of Uyghurs outside of a catastrophe/suffering narrative. I also like that I’ve managed to pursue my interests in science and literature while doing the best I can for my people. Most of all, I think I have managed to keep sane despite all the issues that have weighed heavy on my mental health, and I think that it is really important for everyone in advocacy/activism to take a step back and care for themselves as well, once in a while.

Any advice for other Uyghur/Asian women who are also looking to make a change?

My best advice is to just start. If there’s something you want to see in the world, if there’s a vision you want to bring to reality, just begin now. Some projects might flop while others will get buoyed and supported to new heights by people who shared that vision of yours. Either way, there’s no regrets. Another piece of advice that might be a bit trickier to do is to find a support network, friends, or a good team to help you out. You can achieve a lot on your own, but having that team just makes everything in life a little lighter, a little brighter, and will almost always maximise the impact of that change.

What do you think are the most frustrating challenges facing Asian women today?

It’s difficult to say since Asian women vary so much across the board. Perhaps one thing we all share to an extent is we seem to be dismissed a lot easier than other groups. Whether it’s our emotions, professional opinions, or hard work, we’re often not taken very seriously, which can mean anything from having the cries and suffering of displaced or persecuted women be disregarded or even normalised, or having to work extra hard and take on more emotional and mental labour to be heard and valued in the workplace.

What’s next for you? Any exciting projects?

Yes! Currently, I’m helping to raise funds for this new project in Turkey called the Atlas Media & Design program. UC and Tarim also always have mini projects and programs popping up that can use a bit of support. I have some ongoing translation projects on the side that you can check out here.

I am also heading a social media outreach, and networking platform for women scientists called My So-Called Lab and would love to feature more Asian women in STEM!

Interview with Avanti Nagral

Written by Charlotte Drummond

Bombay and Boston based artist Avanti thrives at the intersection of pop and soul. She is on a mission to create music that challenges societal norms. Avanti’s music bridges social impact and aims to reclaim the way young girls see themselves around the world. With songs in English, Hindi, Marathi, and Punjabi on the way - empowerment and global sounds are key.

To listen to her music click here.

Website: http://avantinagral.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/avantimusicofficial Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/avantinagral/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/avantinagral/ Charlotte Drummond is a part of Overachiever Magazine’s Editorial and Outreach teams. She is an Indian-American student and writer from Los Angeles, California. She is currently attending Emerson College, and studying Writing, Literature and Publishing. At the moment, she is working for multiple on-campus publications as a part of their writing and copyediting teams. In her free time, she loves reading, taking pictures of plants, getting emo over female singer-songwriters, and hanging out with her dog.

How has your musical journey evolved over the years? What motivated you to start, and how has music changed since then?

In addition to being a tech entrepreneur, my dad plays the tabla (Indian drums), so I grew up surrounded by it. Born in Boston, I did a lot of devotional music, and when I moved to Bombay at the age of eight. I started training in Indian classical music from my Guruji (teacher/mentor), Dr. Prabha Atre. I gravitated toward music pretty young, including playing the piano. As time went on, I experimented with different styles, including Broadway, as I did a lot of professional theatre in India. I also went to a Christian high school, so I was part of the choir and imbibed that sense of style as well. Of course, in recent years, I’ve been fortunate to learn from incredible vocal coaches at Berklee, as I was finishing up my dual degree at Harvard and the Berklee College of Music. You could say my musical background has been eclectic, but I see it all as a toolkit that I can draw from to continue to create and shape my sound. My sound is decidedly pop - but with a pinch of soul.

How has your South Asian background influenced your music/love of music and songwriting?

Having a strong foundation in Indian classical music has taught me more than just the fundamentals - it imbibed a sense of discipline in me, character, and respect for my heritage. I was surprised that even in my middle and high schools in India, learning and performing classical music was considered “uncool,” but to me, it was a way of having a deeper connection with my roots through a medium that I loved. My Guruji was also supportive of my experimentation with different forms, which has meant a lot to me. In South Asian culture, we have this concept called the Guru-Shishya parampara (teacher-student tradition), where traditional forms of knowledge are passed down through this system. I feel blessed to have been a part of it, and definitely think it has shaped both my musical and personal identity.

Who are your most influential inspirations in music and everything?

Definitely my Guruji, my parents, and mentors. I have a propensity toward strong female pop voices and soulful, unique ones. Tori Kelly, Kelly Clarkson, Reshma, Kavita Seth, Jasleen Royal, Demi Lovato, just to name a few. I am also incredibly inspired by folks who are able to use their voices and their platforms across the board - whether that is someone like a Selena Gomez, an AOC, or a Michelle Obama.

You recently graduated and earned a degree in the Harvard/Berklee dual degree program, where you got a BA from Harvard University and a master’s at Berklee College of Music in five years. Why do you think the program was a great fit for you, and how has it helped fulfill your educational wants and needs?

I am so grateful for the existence of programs like these that support creatives with intellectual passions or vice versa. I was able to have both breadth and depth across a variety of disciplines, with equal rigor. I think programs like these are great fits for people with interdisciplinary interests. For me, studying Psychology and Global Health at Harvard was feeding my mind while sharpening my craft at Berklee was feeding my soul. It was extremely important to me to have a well-rounded education and equip myself with knowledge, tools, and a community of like-minded individuals. I don’t think higher education is the only answer to that, but I do think that is is a wonderful option.

Your newest single, “The Long Way,” beautifully describes a long-distance relationship and how love prevails despite the pandemic and trials and tribulations surrounding it.

The music video perfectly encapsulates these feelings, and the final product is so adorable! What was the process behind the music video, and what do you hope for your listeners and viewers to take away from this song and the video?

Thank you for your kind words!! I’ve been in a relationship for the past four years, and we’ve been long-distance for two. Until the pandemic hit, being in a long-distance relationship was not necessarily relatable, because, for most, it was an active choice. Unfortunately, now it’s all too relatable, as we are all separated from someone we love - partners, friends, family. Distance is just one part of it, though; there are many other ways to go the long way for love. It was incredibly important to me to share different narratives, particularly those that we don’t often see represented on screen, and having Adi and Amit and Kerryanne and Mike Gordon alongside my partner and myself was like a dream. It felt so meaningful to be able to share three stories across three different countries of 3 couples who have all gone the long way for love.

What do you find most fulfilling about pursuing music as a career? What can be frustrating?

Music has the ability to reach someone’s heart, and if you can touch someone’s heart or soul, I think that is the most beautiful thing. I am extremely cognizant of the platform that you are afforded as a musician, and I don’t take that responsibility lightly. I hope to both use my voice and be a voice, and being able to build a community, particularly those of young women, is so beautiful when you can see your work, what you stand for, and your songs make an impact on someone’s day, personal narrative or the way in which they think. The frustrating parts are the lack of structure, control over the outcomes, rejection, the unknown, and the carving out of a totally unique path for yourself.

There are no guarantees in this line of work, so really loving it matters.

What do you think are the biggest challenges facing Asian women today?

Representation, across the board. And a lack of solidarity among the community. Asian women today grow up with the beautiful balance of access to education and opportunity that didn’t exist a short while ago, as well as a spirit of interdependence and community. Figuring out how to use that to our strength will be key. There is a LONG way to go when it comes to the gender equity gap, but the more women we have who are vocal and supportive of one another, the larger our collective voices will become.

Any advice you have for the talented Asian ladies who are trying to get involved in music?

There are so many ways to get involved - not just at the artist level! There are opportunities in management, business, publishing, entertainment law, and more. Remember that any creative industry takes as much, if not more, work than a traditional industry and that you have to be equally dedicated to your craft as you are to your business sense. It’s not easy, but there are incredible opportunities!

What’s next for you? Any exciting projects?

Yes!! I have a release next month, and several more in the pipeline, both in English and in Hindi and other regional languages. There is a lot happening in the content space as well, and I’m excited to talk about some new partnerships very soon. Stay tuned!

Japanese Spies in Ame

Written by: D Japanese Americans ( JA) were treated so poorly in the early 1900s. I mean, the US actually knew the Japanese were harmless and patriotic, they had an official survey and a 1984 lawsuit to prove that, but they still sent all these citizens to camps to basically take their land away from them. Obviously, it was because of their race, America be hella racist all the time (and also now). Race has always been a touchy subject, but systemic racial issues are being confronted in many different especially with a virus, fire, and an incompetent president; who recently admitted that Sytemetic racial structures existed on tape. There were problems that were not all solved after segregation was ended. It’s funny to think that in high school I was able to see the first black person who attended school with white children, Ruby Bridges. It’s depressing to think that it was that resent. My grandparents on my father’s side were put into Japanese concentration camps during WWII because I guess the government thought these people were the biggest threat to the US. I mean if you don’t know what happened to them and many other JA people in the 40’s I don’t blame you. Our educational system is apparently not that terrible. Look it up this piece is not about that. The government thought that these American born Japanese people were spies sent from Japan just because they were Japanese.

The US has and continues to be racist to this day but they weren’t wrong about the Japanese sending spies, just weren’t the spies the US thought of. There’s quite a bit of background, so I hope you have a few minutes to hear an American story about Americans traveling to Japan for the first time.

In Between Two Empires, Azuma writes about how the Issei, first immigrants from Japan, “sought to mold the Nisei mind, using education to preserve a “‘proper’ racial lineage and ‘uniquely Japanese’ qualities” (Azuma 113), which incidentally is also a very racist plan. So many

Issei started sending Nisei kids and young adults to Japan so they could have that Japanese pride and education to make sure they knew Japanese people were superior (hello racism). These trips seemed like the best way to create a connection, so many JA organizations started Kibe Programs that sent as many JA people who had never been to Japan back to the homeland. The Japanese Government saw that this was happening so they also decided to fund Kibe programs like this.

Young Japanese Americans had a hard time--not only did white Americans despise them, but also it really didn’t help that Japanese American elders were calling the next generation “half-baked Americans who are neither American nor Japanese” (Azuma 123). They also said there was a “real possibility of a Nisei(Second generation Japanese/American born) becoming a public menace and disgracing the entire community.”(Azuma 125) These community elders (who were all MEN) decided how they were presented to white people and how they should all be thinking.

As the government and community leaders forced this trip upon the youth, they never really stopped to think about how the Nisei were feeling. And sis, they were not feelin’ it! They were in a country they had never been to. Yes, they were finally in a space where they weren’t judged for their race. But now, they were being judged by their nationality. They went to Japan just to find out they could be bullied in even more ways. The Japanese government did eventually catch on and saw that these kids were straight up not having a good time. But, instead of thinking that maybe growing up in different environments can make adolescent experiences different, they just thought these kids were not Japanese anymore —WTF, WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING! This young man was being taken in for and “was questioned insolently about whether he was a communist, internationalist, pacifist, or socialist. Indignant over rude treatment and groundless imputation, the man

erica! It can’t be true.

Deena Umeda finally requested that his wife and he be admitted simply as Americans. The Japanese were so infuriated that they flatly told him to go back to the United States if he trivialized his Japanese heritage” (Azuma 156). This man and his wife were just trying to learn about their heritage but apparently saying that they’re “Americans” means they’re trivializing Japan? Sis, this whole thing is very sad, but also it’s incredibly hilarious that the government is acting like this. Like maybe if you let them in and treated them kindly they wouldn’t have a poor opinion of Japan, maybe yelling at them and accusing them of being communists wasn’t the best way to make someone like your country, I REALLY DON’T KNOW MAN. This guy showed no force or plan to destroy Japan but he was asked to leave. The word American was enough to get denied entry into the country.

Even after inviting and then uninviting the JA, the Japanese Government was starting to get a little suspicious of these nisei youths. I mean the Nisei weren’t really liking the educational programs that much but only some of them were most likely propaganda. They started sending spies; not just any ordinary spies, these were Korean spies. “The juxtaposition of Nisei and ‘dissident Koreans’ signified the extent of official distrust, for Korean nationalists had always been considered the most treacherous elements in the Japanese empire” (Azuma 155). The Japanese were so untrustworthy of these Japanese Americans that they started sending people they didn’t trust to go spy on them. I cannot express to you how ridiculous and hilarious I think this is. Japanese people hate Koreans, but apparently they hated Japanese Americans more. These nisei kids must have been so angsty because they didn’t just feel like they really didn’t belong anywhere, they were told they didn’t belong anywhere. Americans didn’t like them, Japan thought they were disloyal, Japanese Americans thought they were about to ruin the collective reputation. Literally no one understood

them, and everyone was actively bullying them.

So the Americans were right. Japan was sending spies, but they were being sent there because these Japanese American people were a little too American. Then a couple of years later they were being imprisoned in America for being Japanese. It’s absolutely ridiculous, especially because the spies were barely in the story and they weren’t even Japanese.

I got to read this entertaining American history because I had to read it for an Asian American study required class. I wish I could have had these events taught to me in my AP US History class but I can’t even think of a reference of a simile about how that class was so boring.

I just think the moral that could be taken from this event is that we should be treating everyone like people, even if they look like they’re from Asia and are actually just from California or they go on vacation to Asia and come back HOME. Just be open to hearing from everyone.

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