Junior Nandita Kumar poses next to a homemade sign expressing her personal beliefs about the anti-racism movement. Kumar is an adamant supporter of the movement and takes active efforts to fight racial injustice in her community through her position in March For Our Lives (MFOL), a youth-led gun violence prevention organization. (Sarosh Ismail)
Junior Nandita Kumar poses next to a homemade sign expressing her personal beliefs about the anti-racism movement. Kumar is an adamant supporter of the movement and takes active efforts to fight racial injustice in her community through her position in March For Our Lives (MFOL), a youth-led gun violence prevention organization.

Sarosh Ismail

Anyone can be an activist

Junior fights for education and equity in community

December 8, 2020

When she started, she didn’t think she would accomplish anything. Now, she’s meeting with the school district, hosting state-wide workshops and organizing city projects. 

 

Junior Nandita Kumar is a 16-year-old intersectional feminist and activist hoping to educate and inspire people through her own activism efforts. 

 

“I started off with feminism and the gender equality movements because I see sexism around me so often,” Kumar said. “I witnessed a lot of sexism in the South Asian community. I saw it in movies and in real life, and I was just really tired of being in a world that doesn’t see everyone as equal.”

 

Junior Megan Ramos, a member of Hebron Girl Up, March For Our Lives Greater Dallas and LISD S.E.E., knows Kumar through social media and connected with her through shared political views. 

 

“She’s someone who’s very proactive in her community,” Ramos said. “She reminds me that I can constantly work towards a more inclusive community and that I can always be doing something. She inspires me to do more.”

 

Kumar’s role in March For Our Lives Texas as the Diversity and Inclusion Co-Captain has allowed her to work closely with the MFOL Texas Data Captain and Greater Dallas chapter lead James Thompson. After getting to know Kumar through their shared activism efforts, Thompson said Kumar is incredibly passionate and engaging with everything she does and that he is proud of what she’s been able to accomplish. 

 

“She’s always ready to learn new things about different perspectives,” Thompson said. “I think Nandita generally strives for equity among her peers and making sure that people have what they need to feel safe.”

 

Kumar started Hebron Girl Up as one of her first activism efforts, using intersectionality theory to focus on how race and gender overlap to give advantages or disadvantages in society. 

 

“There’s no such thing as a single issue,” Kumar said. “We focus on the intersection of gender and race because there’s a huge disparity in hyper marginalized identities like black trans women or queer POC women.”

 

Kumar has Hebron Girl Up choose a theme every semester to focus their advocacy efforts on. For this semester, the club has chosen menstrual and reproductive health, starting with a project to end period poverty, which is the inadequate access to menstrual hygiene tools.

 

“For our first project, we’ve partnered with another organization, Chhaupadi, that’s working to end period poverty in Nepal and in DFW,” Kumar said. “We’re reaching out to local businesses and doctor offices and asking if we can put a little box where people can donate menstrual hygiene products.”

 

Kumar said she believes most people would be able to help if they were given accessible options, which is why she started this project. 

 

“People aren’t even aware that a lot of people who menstruate can’t purchase the products they need to maintain their cycle with dignity and respect,” Kumar said. “This project is about bringing our community together and eliminating the stigma by placing [menstrual hygiene products] in an accessible and viewable place for everyone.”

 

Through her involvement with Hebron Girl Up, March For Our Lives and LISD S.E.E., Kumar uses all of her positions to prioritize education as the first step toward making a difference. 

 

“Education is really important for understanding what’s going on because if you don’t understand, you’re not going to be able to take meaningful action,” Kumar said. “It’s really important for us to make tangible change and not just educate [people]. Once we’re all educated, we can’t just sit around and not do anything.”

 

Kumar’s actions have inspired Ramos and Thompson to fight for change and improve their communities.

 

“She’s always thinking about how we can make everything more inclusive and equitable,” Thompson said. “What Nandita does that inspires me is that she’s always willing to have a conversation and build an action from that conversation.”

 

Kumar said she wants to make the current social movements less intimidating so more people feel comfortable getting involved, regardless of commitment levels or political affiliations.

 

“Everyone has the power to make a change and to work towards a more equal future, so regardless of who you are and what time you think it takes, you’re going to be able to make a change,” Kumar said. “I think many people just underestimate the power that they have. Anyone can be an activist. All you have to do is get involved.”

The Hawk Eye • Copyright 2024 • FLEX WordPress Theme by SNOLog in

Comments (0)

“The Hawk Eye” comment section welcomes engagement from readers. Within the comment section, we are dedicated to maintaining a respectful community; therefore, we reserve the right to protect the website from: derogatory comments, comments deemed to be spam, comments that include links that lead to harmful websites, comments using vulgar language and statements that attack another person. “The Hawk Eye” has the right to protect the website through removing comments that are viewed as harmful. We will make every effort to maintain the integrity of the comment section by allowing as many comments as possible, but if a comment violates the comment policy, we reserve the right to edit or delete the comment at any time without notice. If you feel your comment has been excluded, edited or removed by error, please contact us through our contact form.
All The Hawk Eye Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *