Free Radicals

A walking tour in California celebrates South Asian American activism

- Sonia Paul

On a downtown street crossing in Berkeley, California, a group of about twenty people listened intently as Barnali Ghosh made a request: “Think of something you’re really angry about.” Recent news cast a long shadow across the sunny morning. It was 26 January, the day after US President Donald Trump announced a travel ban against citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries. One by one, Ghosh’s companions spoke up.

“I’m angry at ‘reasonable Republicans.’”

“I’m angry at the ‘us versus them’ mentality.”

“I’m angry at all the anger.”

When it came time for Sriharsha Jayanti to speak, his cheeks flushed slightly. “I’m angry at myself because I’ve never taken direct action,” he said. Jayanti, a lanky 29-year-old, later told me he had felt embarrassed to make such a confession in front of people who seemed so politically active. Their supportive looks, though, had encouraged him.

Like Jayanti, most of those in the group had brown faces. They were gathered for the Berkeley South Asian Radical History Walking Tour: a monthly guided tour of places around Berkeley—a city in the San Francisco Bay Area—that are linked to over a century of South Asian American activism.