On Diversity and Being South Asian American

Oh, you have a friend back home who’s Indian? That’s nice — I really am happy for you. But I just don’t see what that has to do with me. (Yes, I’ve had this said to me at Amherst several times.) Despite the fact that I was born in the United States, I will be a foreigner to many people in this country until the day I die. Like many other Asian Americans, I have accepted that reality and learned to live within it. I did not expect Amherst to be the same, however. I expected Amherst students to