“This is my choice, I make,” sang the performer and activist Arianna Afsar in Philadelphia, PA, as she fired up more than 200 South Asian volunteers who gathered to canvas for Kamala Harris in the battleground state on October 20.
Afsar had written the song, “Take a Breath,” in collaboration with the composer Raashi Kulkarni, to focus on the hardships of crossing state borders to get an abortion – one of the top issues of concern to the nearly 2.7 million Americans of South Asian descent who are eligible to vote, according to a recent survey by AAPI Data.
Accompanied by the Penn State Fanaa a capella group, Afsar appeared as part of a “Day of Action” event organized by the Indian American Impact Fund (IAIF), which was founded in 2016 to support candidates aligned with the interests of the South Asian community. For the current election cycle, Afsar is co-chairing – along with Simi Shah, the founder and CEO of the media company South Asian Trailblazers – IAIF’s Desi President Artist Ambassador Program, an initiative that has harnessed the voices of prominent South Asian artists to bring voters to the polls.
Since the program’s unveiling on September 10, artist ambassadors have actively canvassed in support of the Harris-Walz campaign within swing states. The Philadelphia event featured the author Padma Lakshmi as one of the special guests.
Afsar has been a key figure in the program, having initially pitched the idea to IAIF, said Sarah Shah, the organization’s senior director of strategic communications and partnerships.
“As we started thinking about how to reach voters outside our usual network, we recognized how important and integral art is to the South Asian community,” said Shah. “Art changes culture and culture changes policy. So we enlisted 18 artist ambassadors to use their platforms and talents to amplify South Asian voices and drive voter engagement in support of Kamala Harris.”
Hitha Palepu, an author and artist ambassador expanded, “Art has the ability to inform with heart and a sense of humanity that we might miss out when consuming news in the usual ways it is delivered.”
Across the United States, South Asian Americans have been one of the fastest growing demographic groups over the past few decades. Almost 400,000 South Asian American voters live in the swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, and North Carolina.
“Asian Americans have the potential to be deciders in contested states, because their numbers are big enough,” said Dr. Vishakha N. Desai, a scholar of Asian art who is the senior advisor for global affairs to the president of Columbia University. “IAIF has been around for a while, but there was never this much enthusiasm and action from young people, especially people who are designers and artists.”
While the arts initiative’s name uses the word ‘Desi,’ which denotes a person of South Asian descent, and IAIF sells T-shirts with the slogan “Lotus for POTUS,” referring to the Sanskrit meaning of the word ‘Kamala,’ IAIF is backing the vice president for more than her heritage; they share her stance on issues.
According to a Pew Research Center report, 62% of Asian Americans favor the Democratic Party. Nearly 66% of AAPI adults say that abortion rights is an extremely important issue in this year’s election, according to a survey released by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. In addition, 73% of AAPI adults hold low confidence in the Supreme Court’s handling of abortion. Other key issues for AAPI voters include the economy, crime, immigration, healthcare, climate change, and inequality.
“A lot of the artists are addressing issues that might have a perceived stigma surrounding them,” Shah said. “One of our artists is undergoing IVF treatment and is very vocal about it while others are discussing attacks on LGBTQIA+ communities. It’s really important for our community to see and hear fellow South Asians discussing real issues that affect them.”
The Desi President Artist Ambassador Program has also presented a fireside chat among South Asian entrepreneurs in Brooklyn, a virtual town hall about LGBTQIA+ rights, and an evening of stand-up comedy featuring Kumail Nanjiani, Liza Koshy, and Poorna Jagannathan, among others.
“Art breaks down barriers and connects us in ways that we may not expect,” said violinist and composer Trina Basu said.
Alongside her collaborator, fellow violinist Arun Ramamurthy, she was among the headlining performers at an October 9 IAIF virtual event titled “Voting for the Culture: An Evening of South Asian Music, Art, & Conversation,” which also featured performances by tabla player Nitin Mitta, and harmonium player Kedar Naphade accompanied on tabla by Neil Khare.
“Engaging folks through art is a beautiful way to connect different layers of the South Asian community while honoring tradition, creativity, history and progress,” Basu added. “Now is the time to stand together and vote for the protection of minorities, immigrants, climate justice, education, LGBTQIA+communities, and a woman’s right to choose.”
About the author(s)
Jerry Elengical
Jerry Elengical is an Indian journalist and M.A. Arts & Culture candidate who has covered architecture, design, and digital art for STIRworld and Ecogradia.