BURLINGTON, MA--American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin honored Frank Islam with its prestigious "Pride of India" award during its 25th annual convention at Burlington Marriott in Burlington, MA. Islam, a confident of President Obama and an entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist, donated $222,000 in May this year to Aligarh Muslim University in India. This is part of his $2 million commitment for the construction of a new management complex at the 140-year-old … [Read more...]
Articles
Frank blogs regularly for the Huffington Post and writes occasional columns and articles for publications such as the International Business Times and The Economic Times of India.
Frank writes on a wide variety of topics that are critical to shaping the future of America and the American dream and to making the United States and the world a better place. These include: Business; education; poverty and inequality; politics and public policy; immigration; manufacturing; innovation; leadership; citizenship; and social commentary.
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Indian-American Philanthropist Frank Islam: Do Well Here, To Do Good There
BURLINGTON, MA—In a speech to the 25th annual gathering of the American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin, Indian-American entrepreneur and philanthropist Frank Islam urged Indian diaspora to: “Do Well Here, To Do Good There.” He was also honored with AFMI’s prestigious “Pride of India” award. A close confident of President Obama, Mr. Islam donated $222,000 in May this year to Aligarh Muslim University in India. This is part of his $2 million commitment for the construction of a new … [Read more...]
Neighborhoods: Stepping Stones or Millstones for Kids
In 1969, Elvis Presley had a hit song titled "In the Ghetto." The song tells the heartbreaking story of a child born to grow-up, live and die a violent death trapped in a neighborhood and a cycle of poverty from which he couldn't escape. The song dramatically illustrates how place and circumstances impact a kid's future and potential. The song was true back then. And, as recent studies by Harvard economists Raj Chetty and Nathaniel Hendren, and by Chetty and Hendren with Lawrence Katz show, … [Read more...]
Keep Hope Alive for the Children: A Christmas Wish and Prayer
Many people see Christmas as a season of faith. Many see it as a season for gifts. We prefer to see it as a time for hope. Christmas, in our opinion, should be a period for renewal. And, the greatest gift that can be granted for renewal at this time of year is hope. We live in trying times and in a troubled world. No matter whether one is in the one percent or 99 percent, young or old, in the United States or somewhere else around the globe, virtually no one is immune to the stressors … [Read more...]
Race Relations: Forgetting Ferguson, Remembering 1967, Contemplating the Future
Since the shooting and killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson by a police officer and other tragic incidents between African Americans and police in face-to-face encounters and the subsequent protests, a national dialogue on race relations has begun once again. It is definitely necessary. But, unfortunately this dialogue at all levels seems to be a limited one focused primarily on assessing problems between police and African Americans and recommending actions such as more community policing, … [Read more...]
Glenn Miller: Now and Then
On Sunday, April 13, the day before Passover, a man named Frazier Glenn Cross, known as Glenn Miller, is alleged to have shot and killed three people outside two Jewish facilities in Overland Park, Kansas. Miller's apparent intent was to wreak violence upon the Jewish people as others have shamefully done here in the United States and in countries around the world in the past. None of Mr. Miller's victims, however, was Jewish. The people who died were: Reat Griffin Underwood, 14, an … [Read more...]
Word of the Year — Science: Fact vs. Fiction
In early December, Merriam Webster announced its selection of "science" as its word of the year for 2013. This choice stood in stark contrast to the selection of "selfie" announced in November by the Oxford University Press as its word for the year. When we first heard of the choice of "science" we were almost as enthused as we were dismayed by the choice of "selfie" in terms of what these apparently battling words of the year say about our times. Then, our "inner scientist" kicked in. We … [Read more...]
Selfie or Selfless?
The Oxford Dictionaries has chosen "selfie" as its word of the year for 2013. Selfie is defined as "a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media." Our question is, in this year -- and the upcoming ones of this decade -- do we need to be more selfie or more selfless? Given the current trends and problems domestically and internationally, it seems to us that "selfless" should be the clear winner. Selfie was … [Read more...]
Remembering West, Texas: Lessons from a Tragedy
The blasts at the two chemical plants in Louisiana a day apart on June 13 and June 14 brought back to memory the explosion in West, Texas approximately two months earlier on April 17. A total of three people and more than 100 were injured in the two Louisiana blasts but there was apparently little collateral damage to the surrounding neighborhoods. In contrast, the explosion at the West Fertilizer Company killed 15 (most of whom were fire fighters and first responders), injured at least 200 … [Read more...]
The Necessity for “Muddling Through” Economics
An old joke goes, "If you laid all the economists in the world end to end, they still wouldn't reach a conclusion." That may no longer be the case. Some of the world's top macro-economists convened in a conference titled "Rethinking Macro Policy II" by the International Monetary Fund in April of this year generally agreed on one thing. They concluded that the existing macro-economic models did not do a good job in predicting or preventing the financial crisis of 2008-2009 nor in stimulating … [Read more...]