May 5, 2026 • 10 mins
Today we spotlight the vast works of civil rights attorney, social justice activist and poet/writer Sunu P. Chandy.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm welcome to stuff I ever told your prediction of
iHeart radio.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
And welcome to another activist around the world. And we
are jumping into API or Asian American and Pacific Islander
History Month because that is me. So we are starting
strong with a civil rights attorney, social justice activist and
poet writer Sunoupi Chandhi. I'm very excited. So in twenty
(00:41):
twenty three, Chandhi published her award winning poetry book titled
My Dear Comrades. The book is described like this from
her website sunu Chandhi dot net. In this poetry collection,
Sunupia Chandhi includes stories about her experiences as a woman,
civil rights attorney, parent, partner, daughter of South Asian immags,
and member of the LGBTQ plus community. These poems cover
(01:04):
themes ranging from immigration, social justice, activism, friendship, loss, fertility challenges, adoption, caregiving,
and life during a pandemic. Soon news poems provide some resolve,
some peace, some community amidst the competing notions of how
we are expected to be in the world, especially when
facing a range of barriers. Soon news poems provide company
(01:24):
for many who may be experiencing isolation through any one
of these experiences and remind us that we are not,
in fact going it alone, whether the experience is being
disregarded as a woman of color, attorney, being rejected for
being queer, losing a most treasured friendship, doubting one's romantic partner,
or any other form of heartbreak. Soonus poems highlight the
human requirement of continually starting anew. These poems remind us
(01:48):
that we can and we will collectively rebuild. I love
these descriptors. They do such a great job in prepping
for what you might see in need. We are not
going to read any of your pot poems. Definitely not from
her book, although there are articles that describe and talk
about her poems, but they are beautiful. You should definitely
look at it. She has several published that you can
(02:09):
get access to. So she explains how her book came
together on her bio from her publishers, So they did
a whole bio for her, and there she kind of
writes in about how it came about. So this is
from Regal House Publishing dot org. My book includes poems
that span over two decades from the late nineteen nineties
to the spring of twenty twenty one, one year into
(02:31):
the global pandemic, given that some of the poems should
feel outdated, and yet sadly, we are again facing increased
violence against Asian Americans as we did after nine to eleven.
There's ongoing police violence against black people in this country,
and we are in the midst of ongoing work by
survivors to address and prevent sexual harassment. We are also
facing a series of new tragedies resulting from gun violence
(02:53):
and the failure to address this crisis. These poems include
questions of how do we parent with integrity in this
content text in the middle of a pandemic, too, how
do we make time for not just fifth grade fractions,
but also finding the lost water colors and making coconut
cake from scratch. So obviously this has been a long
time in the making, and she's been writing for a
very long time, and like she said, unfortunately these issues
(03:18):
that we thought may go away after some time or
at least gotten better, have not, and so they're all
still relevant today as it was twenty years ago. And
in this book she has put together a beautiful book
in talking about those issues. And before she actually published
these poems. She's been published already with her work being
(03:40):
in her college publications. So from her college days the Quarry,
they have some publishings and then as well as the
Asian American Literary Review. If you go google her name
sun U p Chan Dha n d Y Poetry, you
can find some of her excerpts. Some of them are gorgeous,
beautiful poetry, some of the really heartbreaking too, so you
(04:02):
should definitely take a minute to go review her poems. Also,
if you didn't know, she also has degrees and Peace
and Global Studies Women's Studies, which I'm like, wow, I
didn't know you can do Peace and Global Studies. I
like that. A law degree from Northeastern University School of Law,
and an MFA for Writing from Queen's College the City
(04:22):
University of New York. So she is a lot of
things under her belt. With all of this, it's very
obvious as to how her career came about. Being both
a poet and civil rights lawyer seems to be something
she does in a very harmonious way, though it wouldn't
be without some struggles. Yeah, I think in her intersectional
(04:42):
life she understands these struggles, but it's not something that
has stopped her. She's talked with Penn dot Org about
how all of these parts of our life have come together.
She said this first, as a writer in these spaces,
I aim to be both direct and nuanced. I seek
to convey legal arguments and write poems with a clarity
that can also hold interesting dynamics and difficult contradictions. In
(05:04):
this time, we must be bold as we share what
we experience as honestly as we can, and how that
ties to what needs to change. At the same time,
there's also a strategy and an art to convey the
message in a way that can be heard, perhaps with
humor or. Through first finding spaces of connection. I really
enjoy figuring out how different communities use language and the
(05:24):
real work of finding just the right word to convey
a precise sentiment. And that goes for both legal briefs
and poems. I love that understanding that we communicate differently
in different settings. And she has to navigate those ways
because we know poetry does not work in necessarily the
legal world, but conveying something with humanity is very important
(05:46):
in connecting through cases. We know this is a big
part of the trials, and she has done this very
thing in the legal world. As a current senior advisor
with the Democracy Forward and formerly the director of the
National Women's Law Center, she's been making significant impact in
these different communities. So this is from the WADC dot org.
(06:07):
Before starting at Democracy Forward in September twenty twenty three,
she served as the Legal director of the National Women's
Law Center for six years. Soon led the center's litigation efforts,
providing strategy across in WLC to create better outcomes for
women and girls, including in schools, workplaces, and the healthcare sector.
She also helped create the Center's Legal Network for Gender Equity,
(06:28):
provided guidance for the center's policy positions towards greater workplace justice,
and led their LGBTQ plus rights related policy work. So
she's done quite a bit of work. She also has
had the opportunity to testify for the Equality Act and
has done works with the US Commission on Civil Rights
on federal sectors and for the hashtag mete too hearings,
(06:50):
So she's done a lot. She's done a lot, and
with all of this, she was also the General Counsel
of the DC Office of Human Rights, Deputy Director for
the Civil Rights Division with the Department of Human Health
and Services and was an attorney with the US Employment
Opportunity Commission, So she's got a lot of work experience,
to say the least, and as the current advisor for
(07:12):
Democracy for she's been working with them to address the
issues and harmful policies that have been in place against
the LGBTQ plus communities. This is back to her interview
with WADC dot org. She says, my organization has supported
the Biden administration efforts to address inequalities for LGBTQ plus elders,
pushed efforts to revoke harmful policies that allowed healthcare workers
(07:32):
to put their personal beliefs ahead of people's health, even
in emergencies, and so to stop attacks on librarians who
display books with LGBTQ themes from Arkansas to Alabama, so
they should be noted here. Obviously we're not under the
Biden administration, but she still continued to do this work.
And this is a bit more from shop booksuite dot
(07:53):
com and Independent Bookstore about the organization. From her interview,
she says, we're a nonprofit group led by Scott Perryman
that helps to fight many of the harmful policies brought
by the Trump administration in court, My colleagues have brought
many of the lawsuits currently going against the Trump administration,
and we've had many success in court to stop and
slow down these harms alongside partner organizations. So they're still
(08:17):
going strong and trying to fight these really harmful policies.
And with her legal works as well as our poetry,
she's been allowed voice to protect the marginalize and making
sure people understand the threats as well as the actions
that are happening during this time. So, going back to
that pin dot org interview, they ask her what she
saw as one of the biggest threats to free expression,
(08:37):
and she said this, in our domestic contexts, the biggest
threat to free expression is coming from a range of
forces that are working aggressively to roll back baseline protections
relating to our very bodies as women and queer people,
and the broader work for rachel and other inclusions that
we have thought over decades to secure. So many of
our communities feel under attack and are under attack right
(08:58):
now in so many ways. Ours have gone on the offensive.
They've gone on the offensives to take LGBTQIA plus stories
out of our schools, to take black history and racial
analysis out, to exclude transgender students from medical care or
school sports, to shun lgbtqia plus families by not allowing
anyone to say gay. But in that same interview, she
(09:19):
talks about different things and encourages everyone to continue by
saying this, it is a joyful, horrific time in America,
and I know many of us are fighting back with
legal actions, without creative writing, and so much more. In
my love note to my younger self, I would say
some things will get easier and some may get harder,
but just keep going. There will always be a community
(09:41):
of activists, advocates and artists who are inspiring each other
and fighting for change. So find your people and your
joy in the midst of it all. And I thought
that was such a great note to end on because
we do talk about the fact that we need to
find joy and define our community.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Yes, absolutely well as always listeners, If you have any
thoughts about this or any suggestions for future people we
should highlight on this segment, please let us know. You
can email us at Hello at Stuffnever Told You dot Com.
You can find us on Blue Sky Mom Stuff podcast
or on Instagram and TikTok at stuff I've Never Told
(10:20):
You dot com. We're also on YouTube. We have some
merchandise at Cottonpureau and we have a book you can
get wherever you get your books. Thanks to our producer
Casey who is helping us out, and thanks to our
executive producer Maya. As always, thank you and thanks to
you for listening. Stuff I've Never Told You is production
I Heeartradio. For more podcast from my heart Radio, you
can check out the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
(10:41):
where you listen to your favorite shows
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm welcome to stuff I ever told your prediction of
iHeart radio.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
And welcome to another activist around the world. And we
are jumping into API or Asian American and Pacific Islander
History Month because that is me. So we are starting
strong with a civil rights attorney, social justice activist and
poet writer Sunoupi Chandhi. I'm very excited. So in twenty
(00:41):
twenty three, Chandhi published her award winning poetry book titled
My Dear Comrades. The book is described like this from
her website sunu Chandhi dot net. In this poetry collection,
Sunupia Chandhi includes stories about her experiences as a woman,
civil rights attorney, parent, partner, daughter of South Asian immags,
and member of the LGBTQ plus community. These poems cover
(01:04):
themes ranging from immigration, social justice, activism, friendship, loss, fertility challenges, adoption, caregiving,
and life during a pandemic. Soon news poems provide some resolve,
some peace, some community amidst the competing notions of how
we are expected to be in the world, especially when
facing a range of barriers. Soon news poems provide company
(01:24):
for many who may be experiencing isolation through any one
of these experiences and remind us that we are not,
in fact going it alone, whether the experience is being
disregarded as a woman of color, attorney, being rejected for
being queer, losing a most treasured friendship, doubting one's romantic partner,
or any other form of heartbreak. Soonus poems highlight the
human requirement of continually starting anew. These poems remind us
(01:48):
that we can and we will collectively rebuild. I love
these descriptors. They do such a great job in prepping
for what you might see in need. We are not
going to read any of your pot poems. Definitely not from
her book, although there are articles that describe and talk
about her poems, but they are beautiful. You should definitely
look at it. She has several published that you can
(02:09):
get access to. So she explains how her book came
together on her bio from her publishers, So they did
a whole bio for her, and there she kind of
writes in about how it came about. So this is
from Regal House Publishing dot org. My book includes poems
that span over two decades from the late nineteen nineties
to the spring of twenty twenty one, one year into
(02:31):
the global pandemic, given that some of the poems should
feel outdated, and yet sadly, we are again facing increased
violence against Asian Americans as we did after nine to eleven.
There's ongoing police violence against black people in this country,
and we are in the midst of ongoing work by
survivors to address and prevent sexual harassment. We are also
facing a series of new tragedies resulting from gun violence
(02:53):
and the failure to address this crisis. These poems include
questions of how do we parent with integrity in this
content text in the middle of a pandemic, too, how
do we make time for not just fifth grade fractions,
but also finding the lost water colors and making coconut
cake from scratch. So obviously this has been a long
time in the making, and she's been writing for a
very long time, and like she said, unfortunately these issues
(03:18):
that we thought may go away after some time or
at least gotten better, have not, and so they're all
still relevant today as it was twenty years ago. And
in this book she has put together a beautiful book
in talking about those issues. And before she actually published
these poems. She's been published already with her work being
(03:40):
in her college publications. So from her college days the Quarry,
they have some publishings and then as well as the
Asian American Literary Review. If you go google her name
sun U p Chan Dha n d Y Poetry, you
can find some of her excerpts. Some of them are gorgeous,
beautiful poetry, some of the really heartbreaking too, so you
(04:02):
should definitely take a minute to go review her poems. Also,
if you didn't know, she also has degrees and Peace
and Global Studies Women's Studies, which I'm like, wow, I
didn't know you can do Peace and Global Studies. I
like that. A law degree from Northeastern University School of Law,
and an MFA for Writing from Queen's College the City
(04:22):
University of New York. So she is a lot of
things under her belt. With all of this, it's very
obvious as to how her career came about. Being both
a poet and civil rights lawyer seems to be something
she does in a very harmonious way, though it wouldn't
be without some struggles. Yeah, I think in her intersectional
(04:42):
life she understands these struggles, but it's not something that
has stopped her. She's talked with Penn dot Org about
how all of these parts of our life have come together.
She said this first, as a writer in these spaces,
I aim to be both direct and nuanced. I seek
to convey legal arguments and write poems with a clarity
that can also hold interesting dynamics and difficult contradictions. In
(05:04):
this time, we must be bold as we share what
we experience as honestly as we can, and how that
ties to what needs to change. At the same time,
there's also a strategy and an art to convey the
message in a way that can be heard, perhaps with
humor or. Through first finding spaces of connection. I really
enjoy figuring out how different communities use language and the
(05:24):
real work of finding just the right word to convey
a precise sentiment. And that goes for both legal briefs
and poems. I love that understanding that we communicate differently
in different settings. And she has to navigate those ways
because we know poetry does not work in necessarily the
legal world, but conveying something with humanity is very important
(05:46):
in connecting through cases. We know this is a big
part of the trials, and she has done this very
thing in the legal world. As a current senior advisor
with the Democracy Forward and formerly the director of the
National Women's Law Center, she's been making significant impact in
these different communities. So this is from the WADC dot org.
(06:07):
Before starting at Democracy Forward in September twenty twenty three,
she served as the Legal director of the National Women's
Law Center for six years. Soon led the center's litigation efforts,
providing strategy across in WLC to create better outcomes for
women and girls, including in schools, workplaces, and the healthcare sector.
She also helped create the Center's Legal Network for Gender Equity,
(06:28):
provided guidance for the center's policy positions towards greater workplace justice,
and led their LGBTQ plus rights related policy work. So
she's done quite a bit of work. She also has
had the opportunity to testify for the Equality Act and
has done works with the US Commission on Civil Rights
on federal sectors and for the hashtag mete too hearings,
(06:50):
So she's done a lot. She's done a lot, and
with all of this, she was also the General Counsel
of the DC Office of Human Rights, Deputy Director for
the Civil Rights Division with the Department of Human Health
and Services and was an attorney with the US Employment
Opportunity Commission, So she's got a lot of work experience,
to say the least, and as the current advisor for
(07:12):
Democracy for she's been working with them to address the
issues and harmful policies that have been in place against
the LGBTQ plus communities. This is back to her interview
with WADC dot org. She says, my organization has supported
the Biden administration efforts to address inequalities for LGBTQ plus elders,
pushed efforts to revoke harmful policies that allowed healthcare workers
(07:32):
to put their personal beliefs ahead of people's health, even
in emergencies, and so to stop attacks on librarians who
display books with LGBTQ themes from Arkansas to Alabama, so
they should be noted here. Obviously we're not under the
Biden administration, but she still continued to do this work.
And this is a bit more from shop booksuite dot
(07:53):
com and Independent Bookstore about the organization. From her interview,
she says, we're a nonprofit group led by Scott Perryman
that helps to fight many of the harmful policies brought
by the Trump administration in court, My colleagues have brought
many of the lawsuits currently going against the Trump administration,
and we've had many success in court to stop and
slow down these harms alongside partner organizations. So they're still
(08:17):
going strong and trying to fight these really harmful policies.
And with her legal works as well as our poetry,
she's been allowed voice to protect the marginalize and making
sure people understand the threats as well as the actions
that are happening during this time. So, going back to
that pin dot org interview, they ask her what she
saw as one of the biggest threats to free expression,
(08:37):
and she said this, in our domestic contexts, the biggest
threat to free expression is coming from a range of
forces that are working aggressively to roll back baseline protections
relating to our very bodies as women and queer people,
and the broader work for rachel and other inclusions that
we have thought over decades to secure. So many of
our communities feel under attack and are under attack right
(08:58):
now in so many ways. Ours have gone on the offensive.
They've gone on the offensives to take LGBTQIA plus stories
out of our schools, to take black history and racial
analysis out, to exclude transgender students from medical care or
school sports, to shun lgbtqia plus families by not allowing
anyone to say gay. But in that same interview, she
(09:19):
talks about different things and encourages everyone to continue by
saying this, it is a joyful, horrific time in America,
and I know many of us are fighting back with
legal actions, without creative writing, and so much more. In
my love note to my younger self, I would say
some things will get easier and some may get harder,
but just keep going. There will always be a community
(09:41):
of activists, advocates and artists who are inspiring each other
and fighting for change. So find your people and your
joy in the midst of it all. And I thought
that was such a great note to end on because
we do talk about the fact that we need to
find joy and define our community.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Yes, absolutely well as always listeners, If you have any
thoughts about this or any suggestions for future people we
should highlight on this segment, please let us know. You
can email us at Hello at Stuffnever Told You dot Com.
You can find us on Blue Sky Mom Stuff podcast
or on Instagram and TikTok at stuff I've Never Told
(10:20):
You dot com. We're also on YouTube. We have some
merchandise at Cottonpureau and we have a book you can
get wherever you get your books. Thanks to our producer
Casey who is helping us out, and thanks to our
executive producer Maya. As always, thank you and thanks to
you for listening. Stuff I've Never Told You is production
I Heeartradio. For more podcast from my heart Radio, you
can check out the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
(10:41):
where you listen to your favorite shows
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