NASA Twitter followers, who participated in the STS-134 Tweetup are seen together at launch pad 39a shortly after the Rotating service structure (RSS) was rolled back to reveal the space shuttle Endeavour, Sunday, May 15, 2011, at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
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Space shuttle Enterprise, mounted atop a NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), is seen as it flies near the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, Friday, April 27, 2012, in New York. Enterprise was the first shuttle orbiter built for NASA performing test flights in the atmosphere and was incapable of spaceflight. Originally housed at the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Enterprise will be demated from the SCA and placed on a barge that will eventually be moved by tugboat up the Hudson River to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in June. Photo Credit: (NASA/Robert Markowitz)
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NASA Tweetup participants raise their hands in celebration as they stand in front of Launch Pad 39A prior to the launch of Discovery (STS-133), Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2010, at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
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"It's important for me to be an advocate for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility broadly for minorities and Asian Americans because I think I have a level of privilege that maybe other minorities may not feel that they do. I'm Asian American, Indian family, you know, privileged, not just in income and position, but also, we have the model minority myth.
"It is this idea that Asian Americans are the good ones. We brought ourselves up by our bootstraps in this country, and we don't have any problems. That we're the successful ones. There is no discrimination. Nothing is holding us back. So, that by itself is a problem because that's not true. But the second part of that is it's frequently weaponized against other minority groups. It's an incredibly harmful stereotype, but it gives me privilege because if I'm seen as one of the good ones, I can sneak in and say something that someone without that myth behind them might not feel comfortable saying. If I can advocate for all the groups that need equity, I'm glad to do it.
"I decided to be a part of the Science Mission Directorate Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility Working Group initially and then co-chair the Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Employee Resource Group at NASA for many reasons, but I think the main one may be that it's fulfilling. It fills my cup, as some people might say. Race, discrimination, and unfairness are just so present in our lives. I feel like some people just figured it out with George Floyd's murder, but the rest of us knew. We knew it was there. I knew in elementary school when I was called a gorilla. When kids told me, why don't you go back where you came from? If you're an Indian, where's your bow and arrow? "Things like that that stick with you, they really stick with you. So, when you carry that, how could I not do something as small as [being an advocate], and NASA is my immediate environment, so it makes sense."
Strategic Partnerships Manager, NASA Outreach and Engagement, Anita Dey poses for a portrait, Wednesday, April 26, 2023, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
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NASA Administrator Bill Nelson speaks with Ian Annett, Deputy CEO of the UK Space Agency, Paul Bate, CEO of the UK Space Agency, and Lord David Willets, Chair of the UK Space Agency Board following a meeting where they discussed current and potential future collaboration, Friday, April 21, 2023, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
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