February Newsletter: Black and Dalit Lives Matter!
February 28, 2021
Namaste Dear Friend,
Our second newsletter in this new year comes at a time when after more than three months, farmers still lay siege at the nation's capital waiting for their demands to be met. Hindus For Human Rights has continued to add our voice in solidarity with the protesting farmers. We signed a full page solidarity statement in the New York Times, and we were part of a diaspora Valentine’s Day campaign to tweet flowers, a symbol of peace, to the Indian government asking for the repeal of the three contentious farm laws.
BLACK LIVES MATTER Throughout Black History Month, HfHR has been steeped in work related to the US civil rights movement. We are honored to be on the organizing committee of the 56th Anniversary Commemoration of the Selma Bloody Sunday on March 7th, 1965 when a group of over 500 African Americans peacefully demanding their right to vote were met with horrific police brutality. Our advisory board member Rajmohan Gandhi and cofounders Raju Rajagopal and Sunita Viswanath will be speakers.
Today was the last day to submit an essay or artwork in our Civil Rights Art and Essay Contest, co-organized with Indian American Muslim Council, for students grades 6-12. Congratulations to the 50 young people who participated. Our accomplished judges panel will have a hard time choosing winners. Stay tuned for the announcement of an award ceremony with notable presenters!
DALIT LIVES MATTER We have played the role of supportive ally to our friends at the Dalit-led anti-caste organization Ambedkar International Center (AIC) who have filed an amicus brief in the California vs Cisco workplace caste discrimination case, whose next hearing date in March 9th. Here is an oped in which our co-founders Sunita and Raju share their perspectives.
RIGHT TO LAUGH Munawar Faruqui, an Indian comedian, was jailed over a joke he did not even crack. HfHR helped organize a solidarity comedy event which received a lot of press attention. Faruqui was released an hour after our event! Kudos to all the young South Asian comedians that performed.
ADVOCACY DIRECTOR
We have concluded our highly competitive search for our full-time DC-based Advocacy Director, and are delighted to welcome Nikhil Mandalaparthy to HfHR. Nikhil will start as our Advocacy Director on March 8th, International Women's Day, and we'll introduce him to you soon. We can't wait to ramp up our advocacy work under Nikhil's leadership. Our deepest thanks to all the other applicants--it was such a pleasure to meet you all, and we are grateful that you were interested in joining our team.
As Always, Get Involved.We would love to hear from you — write to us. Volunteer. Start a chapter. Hold a birthday fundraiser and raise both awareness and money!
And please consider a donation to HfHR so that our platform and movement for a Hindu resistance to Hindutva can grow stronger and more impactful.
Throughout Black History Month, HfHR has been steeped in work related to the US civil rights movement. We are honored to be on the organizing committee of the 56th Anniversary Commemoration of the Selma Bloody Sunday on March 7th, 1965 when a group of over 500 African Americans peacefully demanding their right to vote were met with horrific police brutality. Our advisory board member Rajmohan Gandhi and cofounders Raju Rajagopal and Sunita Viswanath will be speakers.
We have played the role of supportive ally to our friends at the Dalit-led anti-caste organization Ambedkar International Center (AIC) who have filed an amicus brief in the California vs Cisco workplace caste discrimination case, whose next hearing date in March 9th. Here is an 
We end by sharing two blogs from a Hindu perspective by our board members: Punya Upadhyaya has written in 
