Dr. Kim Singh / Handout: Dr. Kim Singh

Daughter of immigrant parents from Punjab, Singh is committed public service and recognised for her work with underserved populations. In a free-wheeling interview with Ishani Duttagupta, she spoke on a range of topics including moving the needle on civic engagement for Indian Americans and immigration as one of the biggest issues that the community is now talking about. Edited excerpts from the interview.

Has your journey in public life been shaped by your Indian heritage in any way? 

I have been in public service almost my entire career. I started working at age 15 with the elderly. I was working at a nursing home, taking care of elderly folks and helping with their personal care needs. And that actually began from home where I took care of my grandfather, who was sick, and he lived with us. That’s a cultural thing, and I was always the one that would come home from school, make sure he was showered, fed, and had clean clothes. From there, I went into volunteering for an agency that advocated for victims of sexual assault and domestic abuse. I was working and volunteering in the court systems as a court advocate, making sure that somebody was present when they had to come to the court to address their abusers. I also did some hospital advocacy, where we were called out to attend some of the examinations after a sexual assault. From there, I started working in the developmental disability field, and I’ve been there since. That has been the longest stretch of my career. I have worked in two different counties here. And then I got my mental health license as well, and became a mental health clinician and I worked with folks that struggle with all kinds of mental health issues. Sometimes there are adjustment issues such as relationships, marriages and work issues. So that’s my public service journey – always working with people. And I think that's led me to this point, where I’m dabbling in politics a little bit and seeing what I can do here for people in the community.

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In the Mason City Council, there isn’t anybody of Indian origin and, if elected, you will be the first Indian American woman to represent the community. Are Indian Americans supporting your campaign in a big way?

Yes, I think so. We have never had any person of colour on our council. I’m the first woman of colour and third person of Indian descent to actually run. And currently, there’s another Indian American running [Murali Swamy]. If either us wins, we would be the first person of colour to have a seat at the city council. If I’m seated, I would, then be the first woman of colour also. And I think what me and Swamy have the same vision of greater civic engagement for the community and greater involvement. And we have been working on it collectively. We are trying to bring them out, help them to understand why voting in elections is very important, and why it’s in their interest to do so. And they do seem to be excited since, culturally, that’s how we are and when we see somebody that looks like us, we get excited.  We have certainly been out in the community and we’re hoping that win or lose, we have moved that needle a little bit where we see an increase in their civic engagement. It’s been nice to connect with them.

Are there any common issues that the Indian American and larger Asian community is looking at when they are supporting candidates running for different offices?

Yes, the current political climate is not great. I think representation is something that does matter to the community, because there are things that we deal with that we are going to have more sense of, that other people don’t, because they don’t deal with it. One of the biggest things is immigration and it is very concerning to people. It’s concerning to me and I am a citizen. My parents are citizens, but you worry still because they’re not really following any sense or any kind of laws. So, I think that is going to be a big thing that comes up in the mid-terms elections. We do have a lot of South Asian people across the board that are in different levels of office. But sometimes they don’t have the best interests of our community at heart, but our community will go out and vote for them because they feel that ‘they look like me’. And even within our community, there are struggles with anti-Muslim feelings or anti-Hindu feelings. Even internally we have those issues. And, so, we have to work through those ourselves. But I would say, to answer your question, I think immigration is probably a big one. And education here locally, is really another big one. Our schools are actually 55% people of colour now. So, it’s very, very diverse here. And a lot of those kids are Indian kids and Asian kids.

What are some of the issues that you are highlighting through your campaign?

With the city council, everything is very, very local. It really comes down to things like traffic and potholes. My biggest thing in getting on city council is really the representation. I feel that we need more demographic balance and different perspectives and different voices. Not only do I bring a balance of a different ethnic background, but also a balance from an age perspective. I would be probably the youngest person on council. I feel like we have a responsibility to our next generation. Also, I have a doctorate in organisational leadership, so it qualifies me for this work. I’ve been in public service my whole life. I understand how these things work. The other thing is about voice and visibility. We have so much diversity in our city and I want to bring those people out. I want to make sure that we are incorporating their voices and perspectives in the legislation and the decisions that we make to make sure that we’re not missing anything. My job as a city council person is to work for the city and it’s not about what I want to do necessarily. It’s about making sure that voices are heard, and that’s something I’ve spent my life doing for others, and so that’s why I want to be on council. And then the other thing is about informed decision making. I think we need increased transparency on how council members are making their decisions. And I think that’s something that they should share with the constituency. 

You have been an advocate for underprivileged people. Would you incorporate that part of your work into your role in the city council as well?

The city council work is more about approving legislation and ordinances. But because of my experience and my work, I will make sure that when I’m looking at decisions that I’m considering who it could harm. And so that’s my line in the sand. It may marginally make somebody’s situation better, but if it ever hurts somebody in a bad situation, I can’t do it. And I will make sure that I make that clear. And then I would keep my full-time job, which is still working with the developmentally disabled folks.  

Do you see a lot of Indian Americans, especially the younger members of the community, running for offices? 

We have definitely seen more in the past years than we have ever before. And I think that’s important, because, again, representation and our unique experiences of growing up here, as immigrants, often with parents who immigrated over here, is very different than a lot of other people. And I was really excited to find out about the Indian American Impact Fund [an organisation that that supports Indian and South Asian American representation in American politics] through Pavan V Parikh, who is County Clerk of Courts, in our next county, Hamilton. I have known him for a couple years and he is somebody who believes in lifting other members of the community. As we go up to higher positions, we should also try and set the foundation for others to follow us. Aftab Pureval, the Tibetan-American Mayor of Cincinnati, has also recently endorsed me. Kristin Malhotra, who is our trustee for Deerfield Township, Ohio, has supported me. I am happy to see that there are people from all kinds of religious and cultural backgrounds, but we all have one thing in common, we are of South Asian origin. Win or lose, I will stay involved with the Indian American Impact organisation to remain a part of the network.

Do you connect with your Indian roots and heritage very deeply?

I come from a Punjabi family and we love to get together and to party. I enjoy the food, the clothes, the music, all of it. In October, I went to four different Diwali events celebrated by different Indian communities. I am a lover of the different cultures and learning about them. Next year, I’ll be going to celebrate my grandfather’s 100th birthday in California. I love to sit around and hear stories, since our culture is a lot about story-telling. You hear things through stories and that’s really important to me. I have not been able to visit India yet, so that is still on my list of something that I want to do. But I want to be able to go and spend some time there so that I can see everything and do everything. 

Is the Indian community in your state growing in terms of numbers and influence?

Our city is becoming more and more diverse over the years. And I think a huge part of that is our public schools. We also have very big businesses like P&G, where we have a lot of people of colour who are engineers and scientists. There are many medical professionals too. Their impact and influence is growing and they are investing in our city and our city should invest back in them.
Please share some details about your career choice.
Education is something very important and all our parents and our families and I understand that. A lot of my influence came from my parents too, including understanding service and community, from their lens and seeing the things that they were doing for others. They helped others navigate the immigration system and always lent a helping hand. And so that was something that I always observed growing up, and I have a heart for service. I started as a business major and I was majoring in accounting, but I  didn’t really like all the marketing and I wanted to do the numbers.  I remember taking a psychology class and it was something that clicked in my brain. The way that my career has unfolded is so interesting, because these are things that I’ve done are things that I had told myself I would never do. I had always told myself that I don’t want to get into politics and then here I am.

Could you please share some details about your parents’ immigrant journey?

My parents are both from Punjab, they got married there and then soon thereafter, they came over here. So, me and all my siblings were born here in the US. And having to see my parents navigating a culture that they’re not from, and being their child and having to help them, is not an experience that everyone has had. It was almost like growing up bi-culturally, because at home we did all the Indian traditions, cultures, foods, all that sort of stuff. Then we would go to school with all the American kids and then there would be that clash. It was almost like you didn’t belong in either place fully.

Dr. Kim Singh with her family / Handout: Dr. Kim Singh