Indian American anti-racism activist Manjusha Kulkarni and Vice President Kamala Harris have been named on Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People,” released Sept. 15.
Indians on the list included Pune-based Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer of the Serum Institute of India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Kulkarni, the co-founder of nonprofit Stop AAPI Hate, which aims to target discrimination in the US that affects Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, was named in the “Icons” section of the list and other co-founders Cynthia Choi and Russell Jeung. Kulkarni, who serves as the Executive Director at Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council (A3PCON), a coalition of organisations working for the rights of the oppressed, was listed alongside Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, pop singers Britney Spears and Dolly Parton, Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund; and Russian opposition leader Alexie Navalny, among others.
Kulkarni, an alumna of the Boston and Duke Universities, has been recognised by the White House for her efforts in social work focusing on health for South Asian communities. She had also served as the Executive Director of the South Asian Network (SAN) organisation, committed to resource access and empowerment for different racial groups.
Kulkarni, who is very vocal against the racial discrimination, said in a tweet: “My identity is NOT based upon my relative percentage of the population.”
According to the TIME profile, stop AAPI Hate served as an “invaluable resource for the public to understand the realities of anti-Asian racism, but also a major platform for finding community-based solutions to combat hate.”
