SATYAGRAH SOULS – INDIAN AMERICANS MAKING A DIFFERENCE
A MONTHLY POLITICAL SERIES – BY RISHI KUMAR
SATYAGRAH SOULS is a monthly political series presented by Silicon Valley’s community leader, Saratoga Councilmember Rishi Kumar, in highlighting the community involvement and success of Indian Americans in the United States. This series seeks to inspire us in giving back to our local community. We Indian Americans are going through a transitional evolution, as we get entrenched in a new world, embracing new culture, exerting zealous work ethics, supporting the American economy as entrepreneurs, high tech geeks, doctors, lawyers and more. We are definitely imposing the positive intentions and good citizen values upon this fantastic country and making a huge impact. But can our involvement run a bit deeper with issues near and dear to our hearts, perhaps within our local city, or with the local public school that our children attend? Do we sometimes hear our conscience imploring, “Am I doing enough?”. Yes we can get involved just a bit more, push our comfort zone and enhance the learning and impact our involvement. Our involvement can simply start with developing a healthy curiosity in our local community, instead of being ‘busy’ bystanders. Once we get involved, we will quickly discover, how easy it is for us to make progressive change happen and how receptive everyone around is, to leverage our skills for it. There are leaders waiting to be discovered, why not “me”, by taking that first step? The give-back experience can be freeing, energizing – personally rewarding and transformative at the same time. There are many who have made their mark in doing just that. With this monthly series, we want to highlight these SatyAgrah souls who are showing us the path. Here is a SatyaGrah soul, who has found the calling.
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Expert in numerous legal fields
Professor Sunder is Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and the Daniel J. Dykstra Professor of Law at the UC Davis School of Law. She was named
a Carnegie Scholar in 2006 and has been a Visiting Professor of Law at the Yale Law School, the University of Chicago Law School, and Cornell Law School. Her work traverses numerous legal fields, from intellectual property to human rights law and the First Amendment. Professor Sunder has published articles in the Yale Law Journal, the Stanford Law Review, the California Law Review, the Texas Law Review, and Law and Contemporary Problems, among others. Her book, From Goods to a Good Life: Intellectual Property and Global Justice, was published by Yale University Press in 2012. In 2014 she was elected to the Davis School Board, and served as President of the School Board from 2015-2016.
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Focus not on GDP but on who benefits
Could you tell us about your interest in law and human rights & what defines the purpose of your journey in the field of law?
The civil rights struggle of the 1950s and 1960s focused on physical access to schools, universities, restaurants, shops and other public places. My interest in civil and human rights was kindled during my undergraduate days at Harvard in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I began to believe that the next civil rights struggle for women and people of color would be to not only get our feet in the door of civil society and political institutions, but to bring our voices to bear on policy and changing our world. The challenge is to truly engage the ideas, values, experience, and contributions of diverse Americans.
I enrolled at Stanford Law School and focused on international human rights law and civil rights and civil liberties at home. I practiced law for a year at the international law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in New York City, and then clerked for Judge Harry Pregerson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Los Angeles.
I started teaching as a professor of law at the UC Davis School of Law in 1999. One of my prominent articles published in 2003 in the Yale Law journal argued that in order to see freedom for women in the developing world, the notion of equality needed expansion. The takeaway of this article is the importance of culture and religion to many; I argued that exercising freedom should not be at the cost of losing one’s community and culture.
We would like to learn about your experiences/thoughts on your journey to Senior Associate Dean, UC Davis?
My journey to Senior Associate Dean started back when I was a faculty member at UC Davis teaching intellectual property, property, and women’s human rights. I enjoyed the life of a scholar and teacher but when the opportunity arose to move into administrative level work, I took it, excited to take up a new challenge and to learn. I am honored to serve as a leader of a law school where our building is named after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and we are nationally known as a law school committed to social justice. Our top ranked faculty is one of the most diverse in the country, with half women and half people of color. I was excited to build on this foundation of diversity and excellence and help to modernize our curriculum and culture.
Could you tell us about the turning moment which led you to write a book: From Goods to a Good Life: Intellectual Property and Global Justice, published by Yale University Press in 2012.
Amartya Sen recognized that the 20th century measure of a country’s development based on GDP alone was unduly narrow. He urged that we measure the wellbeing of a nation through a broader lens, attentive to literacy, longevity and health. Sen’s work-which earned him a Nobel Prize-has greatly influenced my thinking about intellectual property. In my book, I argue that we should evaluate the success of an intellectual property regime based not only on how many intellectual goods, from iPods to R2D2s, are produced, but rather on who makes the goods and who benefits from them, socially and economically? I urged that we broaden the lens of intellectual property from the production of more goods to helping people to live a good life.
What motivated you to run for the elections for the Davis Joint Unified School District, School Board Trustee. Tell us about your experience during this election run.
Running for the election was one of the most exhilarating and inspiring moments of my life. When I ran for a seat on the Davis School Board in 2014, California’s public school system had fallen to dead last among the 50 states, in terms of average spending per pupil and outcomes for students. Public schools are the engine of our democracy—the key to realizing the American Dream that every individual should achieve to their fullest potential, regardless of their background.
I believed that it was all hands on deck to ensure that every child in the Davis schools – some 8600 – receive the very best education and opportunities. I saw my role as educating others in my community about the challenges facing our schools, and encouraging them to make a difference to change our community for the better. I was so fortunate to have a large, grassroots campaign team comprising parents, citizens, and even children – many of whom had never before been involved in a political campaign. By the end, over a 100 citizens walked precincts with me. I met so many amazing people at campaign events and walking neighborhoods—I still remember them standing on their front porches, and their stories and their willingness to share their experiences and concerns with me. My campaign gave me a deep respect for local democracy. I was truly honored to energize and help give a voice to so many diverse people in our community. We were thrilled on election night when we came in first among a large field of eight candidates!
How relevant/important you feel it is for the Asian-American community to be involved with the initiatives like human rights movement / non-profit organizations?
We are privileged to live in the greatest democracy in the world and have a responsibility to be aware and connected to our brothers and sisters in countries across the globe. We have so much to learn from each other, and can make a difference just by knowing their struggles and supporting them by sharing knowledge.
Friends, this was an interview with Madhavi Sunder. We wish her the very best with the community leadership and I am sure we will continue to read about her stellar leadership over the years.
Special thanks to Shayra Sethi for this interview
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Dear Readers, Do you have a story to share? We invite you to introduce us to folks in your community who are making a difference – we would love to profile them. Are there similar stories you are familiar with locally. The ones who helped address a simple issue in the community to make life a bit better. Perhaps someone you know decided to make a run for school board, was appointed to the planning commission. Provide us your insights on Indian Americans locally and nationally who are making things happen. These perspectives will help construct roadmaps for our community to empower ourselves, to hopefully ignite a desire in all of us to represent our local communities as doers, leaders, establish and entrench ourselves in this glorious country of America and help make it a better place.
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ABOUT RISHI: Rishi is an elected city councilmember in Saratoga, CA and politically active in the state of California, as a board member on a few state and national political organizations. He continues to follow his passion for community service, seeking to provide services to his constituents cheaper, faster and better, in his passion to make a difference. Rishi has diligent service, responsiveness, community outreach and engagement a key focus for his political leadership, be that strong independent voice. As Silicon Valley’s community organizer, Rishi is host of many social, educational, cultural community events, many of which are free and always inclusive usually addressing a need or a cause. Rishi’s day job is as a Silicon Valley hi-tech executive but his zeal for service effervescent. Rishi is also the President of the Bay Area Indian American Democratic Club (www.baiadc.org) whose charter is to further the interests and values of Indian Americans, work towards political empowerment and advance ethical standards in the political system. You can reach him via his website www.RishiKumar.com.
