Sikhs and Companions of Harvard hosted a vigil Sunday night to honor the victims of the recent mass shooting at a FedEx warehouse in Indianapolis, in which four of the eight victims of the attack were Sikh.
Eighteen other organizations from both Harvard and Wellesley College cosponsored the vigil, and more than 90 people attended virtually.
Though the organizers acknowledged officials have yet to determine whether the attack was a hate crime, they said it was nonetheless important to honor the lives lost.
âWe demand the police investigate the role of bias,â SACH member Tarina K. Ahuja â24 said at the start of the vigil. âBut meanwhile, we don t need a hate crime classification in order to grieve with the families, the Sikh community.â
The Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations awarded actress, director, and producer Taraji P. Henson its Artist of the Year award at its annual Cultural Rhythms event earlier this month.
The ceremony, which took place on April 1, concluded the 35th installment of Cultural Rhythms, an event the Foundation holds annually to showcase and celebrate cultural and ethnic diversity at the College. The show features student performances and a celebration of the Artist of the Year. Past honorees include Shakira and Denzel H. Washington.
During the ceremony, Director of the College’s Office of Diversity Education and Support Robin M. Johnson said the foundation honored Henson for her contributions to both the entertainment industry and public conversations around race and mental health.
Joy Harjo, the 23rd U.S. poet laureate and a member of the Mvskoke Nation, discussed Native American identity through poetry during a Monday webinar co-hosted by the Harvard University Native American Program and the Harvard Art Museums.
At the event, titled “Native Americans and the National Consciousness” and moderated by Harvard Professor of History Philip J. Deloria, Harjo interspersed her personal experiences as a Native woman with excerpts of her own work and poems from other Native Americans.
Though she read poetry growing up, Harjo said she only started creating her own works after she became involved with activism through the Native students club as an undergraduate at the University of New Mexico.
Ghungroo, Harvardâs annual celebration of South Asian cultures, will be held entirely virtually this Saturday for the first time in its over 30 years of production.
The show, which is presented by the South Asian Association, is the Universityâs largest student-run production. This year, rather than filing into the Agassiz Theater, attendees will enjoy Ghungrooâs music, dancing, spoken word, visual art, and skits from their homes.
When this yearâs Ghungroo directors started planning for the show last May, the possibility of an in-person performance was still up in the air.
âIn the summer, we didn t know what was going to happen in the spring,â co-director Dhwani Bharvad â22 said. âWe just had to be more dynamic, so we had lots of backup plans and different ideas.â
Award-winning actress Nia T. Long discussed her artistry as an actress and her experiences as a Black woman in the film industry during a webinar hosted by the Harvard Black Menâs Forum Monday.
Entitled âArtistry & Black Womanhood with Nia Long,â the event was held in celebration of Womenâs History Month and drew a crowd of over 130 Harvard affiliates.
Throughout her career, Long has starred in films and TV shows such as âBoyz n the Hood,â âThe Fresh Prince of Bel Air,â and âThe Best Man.â In 2020, she produced her first film, âFatal Affair,â which premiered as the top-streamed film on Netflix in its debut weekend.