In the latest episode of the Democracy's Future podcast, members of Bloomington-Normal's South Asian community discuss representation in the current upcoming election.
With South Asian representation on both sides of the aisle this election year, two members of Bloomington-Normal’s South Asian community spoke with WGLT about what impact they believe this could have on politics.
Professor of graphic design at Illinois State University Archana Shekara was joined by her uncle, Sri Chandak, who is retired but active in the Bloomington-Normal Indian community. The two Bloomington residents discussed their perspectives on student engagement in politics and what they’ve seen in the South Asian community’s relationship with politics.
Shekara first spoke about a project she is involved in with the Center for Civic Engagement at ISU which is meant to encourage students to vote.
“When I look at the students’ mindset, it’s hard because we do talk a little bit about politics but not too much,” Shekara said.
“We talk about access and representation and whatnot as themes and concepts, but we don’t go deep into talking about [the parties] and what’s happening because students are aware,” Shekara continued.
Shekara said that the narrative will change after this year’s election because of the representation involved.
“Of course it will change; it will draw new narratives,” Shekara said. “It will also bring in little girls who are interested and who will look at, perhaps, Vice President Harris and then be like, ‘Oh, I can be that person.’ So, it will, of course, open up a lot more pathways.”
Chandak then shared his perspective about what the South Asian community would like to see change after this year’s election.
“I think their deeper concern is about the social harmony as well as the safety and the security in the educational institutions,” Chandak said. “Also, to some level, politicization. As a result, it’s kind of diluted the academic richness of the campus.”
Chandak later went on to say that what the South Asian community desires is quite similar to what other groups are hoping to have after the election.
“I would not connect that to ethnicity,” Chandak said. “I think they are looking at it [the way] everyone else is looking at it—that if I [we] get good education, I would like to get the opportunities to grow and I would like to be safe. I would like for there to be a social harmony.”
In our next episode, we’ll discuss voter outreach to college students and where they can vote.
Please give us your feedback on this series and let us know if there are certain issues you’d like us to explore. Email us at news@wglt.org.
Subscribe to Democracy’s Future on the NPR App or wherever you get your podcasts. For a full transcript, visit this episode on Apple Podcasts.
