Telling Stories: Fostering Compassion

“sharing stories...creating connections...changing perceptions”

Stories connect us. We want to uplift diverse voices, experiences, struggles, and victories. Your story can empower other and expose them to the new perspectives. Share your story today!

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 OUR STORIES SHOW COURAGE, RESILIENCE & HOPE!

Dismantling Bias

Written by E​she Lovely 

Tasneem Sultan is an American Muslim Pakistani woman currently living in mid-west. She has lived in various states in the North and South over the past two decades, including New Jersey, Michigan, and Alabama. While reflecting on her experiences, both in general and regarding her faith in particular, Sultan made an observation: "Misinformation led to mistreatment". People she had encountered "othered" people solely based on their ignorance. Notions were created due to negative portrayals in media, a lack of experience, and many more social and cognitive factors. To her surprise, Sultan experienced more tolerance in the South than in the North. Her experiences in Alabama allowed her to reflect on this form of bias as a concept. Continuing her career as an organizer, Sultan joined numerous interfaith groups in Alabama, groups that expanded her perspective. She witnessed people of different ethnicities, faiths, and backgrounds coming together to foster peace and global coexistence. They built community and stimulated personal growth simply through acceptance. These virtually perfect groups led Sultan to ponder the differences between the places she had resided in and what had ignited intolerance in people. She realized that many of the people she had known in each region were "living in a bubble." They were incredibly sheltered individuals living in suburban neighborhoods. They had grown comfortable in their own worlds and kept to their own groups, so much so that they had difficulty accepting differences in others. Now, Sultan uses her voice in an effort to dismantle harmful stereotypes that stem from these factors.
Her points can be simplified into three main ideas, the first being that education is important. It is up to individuals to teach themselves about different identities in order to dispel their biases and learn about policies that affect them. While education through research is necessary, Sultan equally emphasizes the importance of firsthand experience. We can deconstruct personal bias by starting conversations and becoming acquainted with people. Lastly, we must "accept people" for who they are." Sultan continues to exercise each of these virtues and encourages others to do the same. Her story motivates us to open up to change and accept each of life's novelties, for they have the ability to help us break the barrier to an ideal world. 

Abortion Rights

Anonymous

As of June 24th, 2022, Roe v Wade had been overturned and abortion rights were given to the specific government of each state. Currently 8 states have banned abortion. An anonymous middle-aged woman, who immigrated here from the Middle East finds these decisions completely outrageous. She believes that it should be the woman who should decide whether or not she wants to get an abortion. She had and still has many questions for “pro-lifers” some of them being whether or not the intentions of “pro-lifers” are actually sincere. She says, “It’s ironic that “pro-lifers” that want to save everyone's life don't support people of color or LGBTQ+ groups. In addition, if these pro-lifers care so much about saving lives, why don't they try to save people in war-torn countries?” She believes that this problem isn’t something only women should be concerned about. She believes that this problem is a human rights issue, “just like someone is able to tell a 16 year-old that they cannot adopt, someone should be able to tell a 16-year-old that they have the opportunity to abort their baby”.

 "Confidence" isn't universal

Anonymous

As an individual who doesn’t have a lot of fashion sense, it seems that everyone believes that I don’t care about how I look. Although this may be true for some people, it’s always been a struggle for me.. I always just wore what my mother gave me. On the first day of high school, I saw others looking like models, wearing things that actually match each other. Unlike myself, who just wore a random shirt and a pair of jeans that went along with each other. Even though this isn’t a huge problem in the grand scheme of things, I still believe that it shouldn’t be common to believe that we’re all confident. I remember the first class I went to, some of the people there said that I was brave to wear a gray shirt along with a pair of floral pattern pants. They didn’t even say it unkindly, they just seemed like they were genuinely impressed with my confidence. Even though this wasn’t a dreadful experience, it always led me to believe that I can never look pretty in the clothes I want to wear. I want people to understand that just because I wear something that doesn’t seem fashionable it doesn’t make me brave, and it certainly does not make me strong enough to take criticism. The main lesson I took away from that experience was never to assume someone is brave, and never make someone feel uncomfortable, as it feels horrible. I think confidence is about loving yourself. Instead of assuming others are confident, people should focus on being confident about themselves. Confidence is the key to loving yourself. I know all people deserve to love themselves. Next time you want to say something inconsiderate or rude, remember that you, yourself are taking away their confidence along with their self love.
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The Second Amendment in Perspective

​Anonymous

By virtue of the grim shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, this story aims to recount another emblem of America’s gun epidemic and its effects beyond violence. 
America’s inaction hasn’t gone unnoticed. Calls for safety measures and gun restrictions are loud and piercing. But so too is the fear and panic circulating the nation. Children buy bullet-proof backpacks, while adults dread entering mere grocery stores. 
     In light of this cascading fear, my friend requested this story be kept anonymous but hopes it still touches your heart. 
As he and his family explored the beach boardwalk, they encountered an art shop. When they were admiring its paintings, though, the store echoed with hostility. A middle-aged gentleman pointed out one painting’s offensive depiction of white supremacy. At first, the shop owner dismissed the man’s concerns. But after a brief but heated discussion, the owner went into the storage room only then to display a pistol.
The room went silent. Customers, including my friend’s worried family, flooded the store’s exit. Most importantly, there was no mention of the racist painting again. The owner’s second amendment right had effectively suppressed the gentleman’s first amendment right. 
      What’s more, the second amendment suppresses 20,000 lives every year. 
After this paradigm-shifting experience, my friend realized that both our speech and lives are under threat in America— a country with more guns than people. He never truly understood the magnitude of America’s obsession with guns until then. Now, he actively advocates for gun reform — whether background checks, age restrictions, or semi-automatic bans. In school, he spreads awareness and gathers support. This story changed him, and he hopes it will affect Americans as well. 

Finding My Cultural Identity through Friends

Akhil Yada 

As an Indian, you would expect for it to be a very different experience and that it would be hard for me to fit in with American society. Basically my entire family was located in India and we were first generation immigrants in America. Being an only child also meant my parents didn’t have experience raising a child in a new environment either. This, combined with other factors, would make you think that I would have a hard time fitting in and that I would be excluded from many groups. This however, was far from the truth as I was growing up. Going to a very diverse school district allowed me to have the same education and social experience as any other high schooler. The majority of my friends grew up the same way as me so I was able to relate to them. They helped make up for the fact that I didn’t have any family located near me. Not having direct contact with a majority of my family was still difficult but with the help of video calls and occasionally visiting India, I was able to feel connected and attached to the rest of my family. This taught me the importance of the people you surround yourself with and your environment in shaping your life. It also taught me that if I want to make friends and connect to people then I am going to have to go out of my comfort zone sometimes and make an effort to make friends. My personal school environment allowed me to fit in and experience a typical high school life. It also allowed me to make friends that I could relate to and talk to and ones that have helped me throughout my life. 

What does it Mean to be Indian Enough?

 ​Diya Rai 

Diya Rai, a rising sophomore studying finance at Miami University, dives into her relationship with her own South Asian cultural identity. Growing up in a school district with a diverse array of cultures, Diya did not experience racism or stereotyping on a large scale. However, the recent culture shock she experienced during her first-year undergraduate experience had driven her to analyze what it truly means to be South Asian-American. Diya recognizes that at times it can feel hard to be perfectly South Asian while growing up in an American society. For instance, not knowing her mother tongue Tulu fluently might have made her insecure about other members of her culture portraying her as “white-washed.” Furthermore, residing within a predominantly white campus community added stress to the internal battle between feeling American enough and feeling Indian enough. Despite these roadblocks in cultural acceptance, Diya acknowledges that “...there isn’t really a true ideal representation of what an Indian or an American should be”. It is more important to focus on how she carries herself as an individual, in terms of her morals, values, and passions, as these are the true characteristics that define her value.  

Connecting With my Dad Through Investing

​Faiz Raza

I have always been pretty close with my entire family but one person whose relationship was weakened as I entered high school was my dad’s and mine. It wasn’t like we were angry at each other, we just didn’t talk as much as I had been spending more time studying. As time passed the rift between us grew deeper and deeper until suddenly, the pandemic hit. We were shut inside with no telling when anything would be set back to normal. This was when my Dad decided to introduce me to something he enjoyed greatly, investing. It started with him explaining how the stock market and money worked and it quickly transitioned into me avidly researching how to make as much money as I could. Eventually, my dad opened an account for me and I stepped into the big league. From then on we had loads to talk about. From how the market was going to our predictions of breakout companies there was a load of conversation. My relationship with my dad had been repaired and a bridge had been built over the large void that high school had created for my dad’s and my relationship.
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My Cultural Experience as an Immigrant

Vivan Bistt

At the age of eight, I moved to the United States of America, the land of liberty, after living in India for my entire life. Moving here was a huge change culturally, as I discovered a whole new lifestyle that I never really thought could exist. I was amazed by the huge buildings I could see in the distance from the airport, the immense diversity of people coming to and going from the airport and a foreign language that I couldn’t understand. Adjusting to this new culture took such a long time, our family had to take up many new holidays and habits to conform to the great melting pot. Through this assimilation, we felt like we were part of America, we felt like we belonged and that even though we were still immigrants, at heart we were American. Though we adopted some of the USA's customs, we kept ours too, still celebrating our culture regularly. There were times when I would go back to India to visit family, and I could see the stark differences between lifestyles my relatives in India had compared to my families in the US. Even though everything had changed, yet it felt like nothing really did. Even though I had grown up, and at this point in my life had spent more time living in the US than in India, India still felt like a home to me. I realized that with me celebrating my culture in the US, I was still able to retain memories of India which in turn helped preserve the feeling of being at home. My culture is a huge part of my identity, and no matter how long I spend in a country other than India, I won’t forget the memories and impact it had on me.

 Finding my Palestinian Heritage Identity

​Anonymous

The confusing part about being Palestinian in North America is that, on the one end, you are so proud of who you are, and on the other end, you are told from a young age that your identity can hurt your career and prospects and should be hidden until you feel safe to share it…at least that is what I was told. This wasn’t because my parents weren’t proud, on the contrary, we always talked about our Palestinian heritage and struggle for freedom and dignity as a people. It was because we are all “realists.” We knew that exposing our identity meant blank stares, awkward silences, microaggressive humor, and sometimes blatant hostility. So when May 2021 came around, and Israel began its brutal bombing of Gaza yet again, I was at a loss. Do I tell my supervisor that I can’t concentrate at work because I am Palestinian and my heart is broken? Or, do I “put my head down” and keep going? I decided to share my identity, and I was very glad I did. It didn’t always go well in my past though. I’ve been met with awkward subject changes, with “where are you from,” followed by “that is Israel now so you are not Palestinian,” and once someone just walked away from me. I am in my 30s now, and I try to fight the conditioning that told me to hide where I am from. This means saying “I’m Palestinian” instead of “I’m from the Middle East.” Or saying “I’m Palestinian” instead of “I was born in Jordan.” It also means that, every time I share it, I feel a flood of anxiety and apprehension, and an urge to not say anything at all. I am working at it though, and I am hopeful it means that I don’t need to hide such an important part of who I am and what makes me, me. One day, maybe I can even submit this story with my name and picture attached. I hope that one day will come soon. ​

My experiences with art: Art an Expression

Jana Mohamed

Whether doodling on the pages of my tests or dedicating my soul to a piece for an art show, art has always been drilled into my stamina, proving that it's a force that I use to depict myself freely. Yet, the way I show my creative abilities isn't invariably with a pencil and paper. Since I was younger, my parents strived for creative outlets for me and my siblings to help us with expression and the articulations of our blooming personalities. Now, I unconsciously incorporate art, minor or extensive, into everything I do and everywhere I go. My bedroom, wrapped with a collage of my favorite moments, leaving no space whatsoever to reveal the coloring of the walls, is just an illustration of how art can be a secure and safe margin for individuals. The bedroom walls are covered in movie tickets, playing cards, past art class projects, cut-up fabric, newspaper pages, business cards, photo booth pictures, etc. They can be classified as visual core memories or represent my life, but I also categorize my moments with art as a granted lesson. Its’ experiences with defining as well as enhancing my imagination are considered as my most creative outlets. I love doing art – as simple as that. 

The Importance
of
​Sharing Stories

Eshe Lovely ​

As the daughter of a Ghanaian immigrant and a twelfth-generation African-American, the two cultures I experience simultaneously became one story; a story of a curious girl finding her own voice and where she belonged in a vast universe. In the summers, I would visit family, eat fufu and groundnut soup, learn new Twi (my mother’s language) vocabulary, and take trips to the craft market for new kente (cloth) and waist beads. In New Jersey, I would see my plethora of aunts, uncles, and cousins on my dad’s side. We ate my grandmother’s homemade cornbread and a variety of other hearty foods inspired by our southern heritage. From both sides of my family, I heard stories from each family member. Though they were from different parts of the diaspora, their morals corresponded. They taught me the importance of family, love, trust, honesty, and so much more. My story continues to write itself as I grow, and I hope to inspire others to share theirs.

Lack of POC in Visual Design

Written by Jana Mohamed for
​Yomna Mohamed

Settling on a Visual Design major felt uneasy for Yomna Mohamed. Despite the optimism she sensed every time she opened Adobe Illustrator on her computer, her love for Visual Design didn't go as far as finding a role model to admire. If you search for "Best Visual Designers," you're greeted by a quantity of white designers. Despite the captivating work produced by white artists, the lack of diversity can result in people like her believing that they can never be as successful since they are a part of a minority group. Pessimism revolving around success and appearance is a reality for some; since it may feel as if we're striving for failure all due to an uncontrollable aspect of our lives. She looks around her lecture class; considering they pay tens of thousands of dollars for the same degree, it baffles her that we still experience inequality and discrimination. Learning to embrace her Egyptian heritage within Visual Design and working alongside Middle Eastern clients is a success in itself; allowing her to improve her Visual Design skills while persisting and dispersing her love for her culture. The absence of mentors that conveyed resemblances and experienced the same prejudice surely hindered her discovered assurance of majoring in Visual Design. The way society claims success, as earned and worked for, is a falsehood needed to be adjusted for those who genuinely deserve it.

Identity Journey ​

Fasika Bekele  ​

I went to a boarding school the first year I came to the United States and attended a completely white school. It was extremely hard to embrace my culture and identity at a place where I couldn’t find anyone who looked closer to me. There was nothing I could relate to which made me feel like a stranger at a wrong place. Every day and night at the boarding school was a constant battle to try to fit in. Instead of embracing my difference, I was trying to forget it and be part of the new culture I was introduced to. Despite my efforts, I was the black, cultured kid to everyone at my school and a white washed Ethiopian to the Ethiopians who knew me. It wasn’t until I left the school that I learned to embrace who I am. Learning to appreciate my difference was a gradual change that I overcame and am so proud of. ​

Art a Creative Outlet 

Maryam Faruqi

Last year, I took Art Foundation as an elective. I didn't think this class would help me much or even have an impact on me; I only took it to fill up my Visual and Performing Arts requirement. However, this class let me express myself and get my creativity out in the dull monotonous days of the pandemic. One time, we were asked to make an imaginary person board, so I worked hard on a cerulean pirate board. I didn’t even have to take that long with this board, but I did because I genuinely wanted to make something creative. This class also taught me many techniques that I find myself using today, like shading, calligraphy, etc. Overall, this experience showed me the importance of a creative outlet and how we all can find that outlet for ourselves. 

“Go Out & Affect Change"

Kiran Kaur Gill

Kiran Kaur Gill is the Executive Director of SALDEF, the Sikh American Legal Defense Fund, an organization founded in 1996 as a taskforce to combat stereotypes and Sikh misrepresentation in Western media. SALDEF promotes civic and political engagement, leadership and awareness training, and hate-crime response, representing and working with Sikh American communities throughout the country.
Gill’s own story in many ways mirrors SALDEF’s- she is a leader, a community member, and an advocate. As a child, Gill was an active member of the various Sikh American communities her family was part of, living in Washington DC, Toronto, Florida, and New Jersey. In each of the places she lived, she was always active in the local Gurudwara and supported her parents as they taught Sunday School and ran Kirtan programs from their home.
For Gill and Sikh people around the world, the Gurudwara serves as both a place of worship and a community center, historically serving as a place to pray, but also a place of gathering, learning, and serving. Many attend Gurudwara to meet the Sangat, the congregation and community, for Langar, free meals, and to get involved as a volunteer. As a child moving around a lot, being part of the Sangat gave Gill the chance to be part of a community wherever she was.
SALDEF partners with Gurudwaras to implement leadership programs and conduct voter engagement. The places of worship also conduct outward facing community service, she shared, working with soup kitchens and other community organizations, and responding to current needs of other communities, like newly arriving Afghan refugees. During Covid, Gill explained, Gurudwaras’ ability to produce Langar at a mass scale allowed the institutions to serve meals to the outside community. In a number of ways, Gurudwara fill gaps in their local communities.
After running an environmental consulting firm in New Jersey for 15 years, supporting local non-profits, and starting the ONE Project, which brought interfaith organizations together for large-scale community service, Gill began her current role at SALDEF.
At SALDEF, Gill and other community leaders spearhead diverse programming, responding to community needs as they arise, and conducting prevention programming. In her interview with Connecting with Humanity, Gill provided a counter-perspective to the narrative that hate crimes and stereotypes against Sikhs begin with the 9/11 attacks, when Sikh Americans were often conflated with the Taliban or confused with other targeted minority groups.
The reality of anti-Sikh incidences, Gill explains, is that since Sikh Americans came to the United States, there has been discrimination against them. From early Sikh immigrants on the US’s West Coast to immigration policies at the turn of the 20th century, Sikh Americans have been targeted and excluded for over a century. Bhagat Singh Thind is an example of this targeting: after serving in World War I for the United States, he was denied citizenship. Upon taking the case to the Supreme Court, it was ruled that South Asians could not become citizens because they were not white, affecting so many in and outside the United States.
Sergeant Thind’s story is only one example of the exclusion and hate faced by many Sikh Americans throughout history. After a discussion of many similar stories, Gill posed the question, at what point will our communities be considered Americans? To her, so many immigrant and minority communities are considered “perpetual foreigners,” a label that can be connected to misrepresentation in media and social or legal exclusion. Through SALDEF, Gill and her colleagues are putting conversations about these themes on the forefront.
Based in Washington D.C., SALDEF works on policy and advocacy. Among the projects and issues the organization has worked on are the Jabara Heyer No Hate Act, which ensures more accurate hate crime data collection, TSA and FBI training to combat racial profiling, and collaboration with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to combat workplace discrimination. SALDEF also conducts research to support their work, and does hate crime response, providing mental health, legal, and language resources to those affected.
In addition to their responsive services, SALDEF uses prevention programming to develop community infrastructure. Gill believes this is where community organizations need to focus to get out of the ever-present “crisis cycle,” in which communities have to respond to incidents without having an environment that makes them better. These programs include Know Your Rights forums, Sikh leadership programs that support young Sikh Americans in becoming community advocates, and legislative internships that allow community members to understand how government and political processes work.
On a local level, SALDEF also conducts civic engagement programming, including voter registration and efforts to educate community members on issues so they can, as Gill explains, “go out and affect change.” For Gill, such community education and partnership can create dialogue and partnership, and is the groundwork necessary to move forward and take a more comprehensive view of the issues affecting Sikh Americans. 

Realizing the Importance
​of ​Families Ties

​Anonymous

I used to think about how Technology and Medicine have advanced while reading about previous pandemics like The Black Plague or the Spanish Flu. With no antivirals or antibiotics, no machines (ventilator, ICUs, etc.), these deadly epidemics caused millions of deaths. They made such an impact on modern history. One would think how much the mortality rate has improved ever since penicillin and other life-saving drugs were invented. And then COVID 19 happened. To think in this age and era, a disease can be so deadly and infectious that would bring the world to its knees is hard to believe. But here we are, in our 3rd year of pandemic, with the world standing still, living in fear. I believe the fear is also a little exaggerated by the media. These two years, people had to give up their activities, sports, vacations, the meeting between family and friends, etc. 

We, as a family, would drive up to Toronto twice or thrice a year to see my mother-in-law. That was a big family get-together, and my kids would look forward to it during holidays. Because of the pandemic and borders being closed for unnecessary travel, we got to see her after one and a half years; in summer 2021. And that turned out to be such a wonderful and exciting trip. That one and a half years of quarantine made me fully grasp the importance of family in life. It made me realize how staying close to family can create a lot of drama and issues on the one hand but at the same time can act therapeutically. You have somebody on your back in good and bad times. Earlier during our visits, there were instances when I would feel not that enthusiastic about the trip; instead, it would be a little overwhelming with the long drive and crazy meeting everybody in a short amount of time. I fantasized about us having a vacation in other spots like Disney, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, etc. Though I feel those getaways are essential, staying close to family is crucial to creating lifelong bonds. I would like my kids to understand and adopt such values to achieve other milestones as they are growing up; they should feel they have a strong family support system.

Aidan Chau

“If we don’t act now, we’re not going to have an earth to live on in the future"

“If we don’t act now, we’re not going to have an earth to live on in the future,” says 18-year old Aidan Chau, Columbia University student and the founder and president of Artfully Green, a nonprofit that strives to carry out innovative climate research while promoting climate awareness. The nonprofit takes impactful action against global warming and climate change through its initiatives. It carries out research surrounding algae, a class of organisms that Chau describes as “the future for carbon sequestration.” According to Chau, algae grows much faster and captures far more carbon than trees do. Furthermore, he states that algae can be repurposed as a clean biofuel, and can thus be used as an alternative to harmful fossil fuels. Artfully Green’s research surrounding algae involves genetically engineering it and growing it in the ocean to sequester carbon dioxide, which opens the doors to a method that can be used to sustain the earth for generations to come. To fund its research and to aid in funding humanitarian causes, the organization hosts fundraising events, such as art shows. Climate-inspired films, dances, and visual art pieces are presented to students who attend the fundraisers, creating community awareness for global warming in addition to raising the funds. 
While Chau puts an intense effort into research and promoting climate awareness through Artfully Green, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, his focus shifted to a new branch off of Artfully Green that he started called Jacksonville Against COVID-19 (JAC), which battled the pressing challenges that the Coronavirus presented to his city of Jacksonville, Florida. “In order to prepare Jacksonville for COVID-19”, JAC reached out to local organizations and public figures, and with their help raised twenty million dollars in funds to fight COVID-19 and gathered 600,000 masks, which were given to families and hospitals in the area. Additionally, JAC fed 500,000 meals to 80,000 people through 15 food banks.
Chau has undoubtedly made an enormous impact on his community and beyond, and he says the first step to making such change on a large scale as a young adult is believing in yourself and persevering. “You’re never too young to make an impact,” he states. “As long as you make do with what you have, no matter how small your initial impact may seem, you can definitely work hard and let it blossom into being a genuine impact on you, your community, and humanity as a whole.”

How Culinary Arts helped further connect my family during the Pandemic

Maryam Faruqi

In 2019-2020, I was in a class called culinary arts, which was about food preparation, cooking, and baking. I loved hearing fun commentary during class and working with my team members. Unfortunately, that didn’t last long as the pandemic hit and I was no longer in the school kitchens anymore. Instead, I was personally buying ingredients to make dishes on my own at home all while posting pictures of my work to google classroom. This was not as enjoyable as I was devoid of some of the pleasures that come with social interaction and teamwork. Some aspects of this class weren’t fun, like working on a project which required you to act like a consumer at a grocery store. For some time, I felt as if I were no longer able to socialize and make connections through cooking. However, this experience was a great way to connect with my family since we made recipes that we make even now, like fried chicken sandwiches and mac and cheese. I even made my mom’s birthday cake, which was even more heartfelt than a store-bought cake. Though the pandemic has undoubtedly been hard, my family and I shared happiness through these recipes and made connections that last.

Learning to Embrace my Identity

Spandana Bondalapati

​Growing up, it was a huge struggle to embrace being Indian and Hindu while also fitting with American society. All I wanted was to have blue eyes, blonde hair, and to overall just be part of another culture in order to fit in. My curiosity was destroyed as I did not like learning about my culture and religion as I attempted to assimilate myself into western society. It was a huge struggle to not feel Indian enough or American enough at the same time. This internal game of tug of war between my two worlds came to a beautiful balance as I started practicing Yoga. I reconnected with my Indian heritage through my practice, and I simultaneously became more religious and learned more about what it means to be Hindu. This caused me to start a community service project through the Girl Scouts of Central and Southern New Jersey. In the summer of 2021, I started teaching kids as young as 6 about the teachings of Hinduism. I wanted to foster their curiosity and eagerness to learn as I had self-sabotaged these traits in myself when I was young. I am thankful that I can help the next generation to feel more at peace with their Hindu identities.

Jacqueline Sun ​

Reconnecting With identity in the time of COVID-19

Jackie Sun’s interest in her Asian American identity was sparked recently as one of the unexpected consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has given many more time to introspect. “This past year in quarantine was actually a very formative time for me to embrace Asian culture, to do more research on it, and try to reconnect with my Chinese identity,” Jackie said. “I’ve been working on learning more Chinese, what’s going on in China, and how Chinese people perceive things. The American media is all about how bad the Chinese government is, but that doesn’t reflect the people and just leads to more racism, especially in the time of COVID-19.” Language is more than just a means of communication - it’s also a vessel of cultural pride. “It’s small,” Jackie admitted, “but sometimes I use Chinese in my Instagram captions. I don’t care of other people can understand it - it’s for me, and it’s just another small way I’m getting in touch with my roots.”
Jackie also recounted her experiences as a Chinese American growing up in a predominantly white community - from constantly being mixed up with the only two other Asian girls in her elementary school to not knowing if she had a right, as an Asian American, to speak up about Black Lives Matter when she was in high school, to experiencing burnout and emotional exhaustion following the racial and gender-motivated Atlanta shooting. “I found out from three different news apps notifying me at the same time,” Jackie said. “There was a pit in my stomach when I was reading those articles in depth - about how these women were targeted because they were Asian women, how the guy killed them and blamed it on his sex addiction like they were just objects. And people refused to classify it as a hate crime.”
Nowadays, Jackie is working on speaking up and holding others accountable in her own interpersonal relationships, like learning how to challenge bigoted behavior. “I’ve never been a super confrontational person,” Jackie said, “but I’m learning ways to start conversations or point out things that aren’t okay. With everything that’s happened, there’s no excuse to be pridefully bigoted or ignorant.”

Asquith Clarke II

Igniting Change: Tackling the Shortcomings of Public Education in the U.S.

​​What are the first steps to solving generational, systemic social justice issues? For Connecting with Humanity co-leader Asquith Clarke II, the healing process begins with truth.
Since he was a child, Asquith has been passionate about helping people. Initially dreaming of saving lives as a doctor, Asquith is pursuing a career as a truth-teller, which, in his own words, is “embracing and learning about the full history of my ancestors that isn't whitewashed.” As a truth-teller, Asquith hopes to advocate for diverse, inclusive, and equitable education globally. 
​A recent high school graduate, Asquith understands the shortcomings of public education in the U.S., and how disparities in education affect students personally. He has experienced the difference between his under-resourced school in Brooklyn, New York, and the violence and lack of motivation present there, and the opportunities and unique challenges at better-funded suburban schools in New Jersey. In Brooklyn, he recalls, “there was just so much work and so little guidance… you were trying to succeed in a system that was ultimately trying to fail you.” 
Coming out of high school, Asquith hopes to address the fundamental issues in the public school system. These goals connect directly to his passion for truth-telling. Both in education and social justice environments, Asquith believes that the first step toward healing is acknowledging trauma and the reality of our history. “If we want to change the future,” he says, “we have to understand our past.”
Asquith’s vision of an aware and engaged school system and public is clear in his work with Connecting With Humanity, where he advocates for an inclusive, supportive, and research-based organization. He hopes the group’s content and programming can ignite change while serving justice to the movements and histories it shares, and avoid reinforcing any harms or issues the group intends to aid in solving.​

Believe in Yourself

Dwight Wilson

Writer, advocate, pastor, educator, and father are only a few of the many titles used to describe Dwight Wilson, a man who has lived through pivotal moments and inspired countless people. Now, at the age of  73, Wilson resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Wilson faced a number of hardships and triumphs in his childhood, education, and career.
At age six, Wilson and his family were evicted from their home in the middle of the winter. His grandmother took them in under very strict conditions. They were forced to eat separate, less nutritional meals and had limited freedom. Forbidden from turning on the television and radio, and even playing in the yard. Simultaneously, his grandparents' love was evident. After being expelled from his grandmother’s house, his family of 8 lived in a three-room shack. He spent his high school years living in the projects of Ohio.
As he reflects on his upbringing, he remembers his mother, who inspired him in a number of ways. Wilson’s mother gave birth to him at the age of 17 and worked tirelessly to take care of him and his 5 siblings. Despite not having graduated high school, Wilson’s mother loved to read and “It seemed she knew every word in the dictionary”. She fostered a spark in him that allowed him to read at the fifth-grade level as a first grader. In eighth grade, he wrote his first book, and even began his own encyclopedias that included black people. Wilson emphasizes the vision his mother had for her children. When Wilson was a young boy, she told him, “You are my vindication”. She had a dream that Wilson would be the first in the family to attend college and be truly successful. A major part of her “master plan” was for him to get straight As and get involved in as many organizations as possible. As a high schooler, he did just that. He got straight As, was the president of 17 organizations, and was the vice president of 2 organizations.
Wilson was brought up in the Baptist faith, as his grandparents were founders of the church near the house he lived in. He “fell in love with Jesus at a very young age” and was the president of every club at the church. By senior year, he became an associate pastor of a congregation with roughly 400 families. After some reflection, Wilson realized that the Baptist faith did not truly resonate with him, and eventually was drawn to the Quaker faith. One main catalyst for this change was the fact that women were not considered pure. He vividly remembers being told that “women and children are not pure enough to set foot in the pulpit”, which absolutely baffled him. The most impactful figures in his life were women, including his mother, aunts, and grandmothers, who “taught him to be a human” and changed his life in different ways.
At the age of 21, Wilson discovered Quakers, who had been very instrumental in the underground railroad and believed in non-violence. During a time when opposing the Vietnamese War was considered unpatriotic, Wilson attended demonstrations in support, and saw Quakers there as well. Their similar values drew him closer to the faith. Years later he learned that he has Quaker heritage dating back to the first generation, which sparked his interest even more. In high school, Wilson was dissatisfied with the fact that the curriculum lacked black writers. While attending theology school in Maine, Wilson was also studying a curriculum that disregarded the black theological experience. He was offered the chance to teach a course in black theology but was only allowed to because a white man was accredited as an associate professor, despite not teaching anything. Wilson went on to teach for 40 more years, and served on multiple boards, ensuring that black history (both in the U.S. and African) was properly taught. Some unique courses he taught over the years were Pre-colonial Africa, Ancient Egypt, and Phenomenal Women (a course that highlighted black and white writers in the U.S. and Africa).
In 1969, Wilson was asked to pastor two small churches that had been sharing a minister since before the Civil War. One of the churches said they would “never have a Negro pastor”. The partner church, in turn, broke the tie between the churches in order for Wilson to become their first black pastor. In 1976, Wilson became the first and only person of color to head the oldest denomination of Quakers in North America. A significant lesson that Wilson’s mother taught him from a young age was that there is no such thing as an individual. Everyone is representative of the groups they belong to. All of his achievements were a reflection of all Wilsons and all black people. Through this value, he strived to be a role model and passed this on to his 4 sons who, in total, have 9 degrees. The knowledge that he has shared with his children has allowed them all to value and educate others about the black experience.
Wilson continues to spread wise and positive messages, saying “Believe in yourself and love everybody. Don’t ever try to hurt anyone. You don’t know what they’ve gone through. You don’t know what struggles they have. All you know is what your best looks like, so you bring your best in all situations.”