Shrubbery spells out “Southern” at the entrance of the Southern University on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, in Baton Rouge. (Matthew Perschall for Louisiana Illuminator)
I was born in Mississippi to Indian-immigrant parents who came here in the late 1960s, drawn by the promise of American ingenuity and opportunity, as well as the openness created by the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act.
My father first arrived as a post-doctoral fellow and was soon recruited to Mississippi as a professor. He was part of a wave of immigrant scholars who helped build higher education and research across the South, especially at historically Black colleges and universities…