Indian in America
I have lived in America for close to forty years, almost my entire adult life. I’ve been an American citizen for decades and I think of myself as an American first and an Indian second. In my younger days, I never gave the question of this hyphenated identity any thought. I wasn’t offended when another mother, whose children played with mine daily, introduced me to her friends as “she’s my Indian neighbor.” I didn’t think twice when someone asked me where I was from and simply answered, “I’m Indian.”
But lately, I’ve begun to wonder if I’m labeled as an Indian American, do other Americans think of me as one of them or am I still an outsider? So why am I questioning my identity now? The answer is simple – it’s because in the past few years, I’ve sensed a palpable sense of otherization directed at me and other members of our community and I’ve become much more conscious of the implications of my Indianness.
31% of Indian Americans feel at risk of Racial Discrimination
An article published in the Washington Post brought to light that instances of racial abuse and discrimination against South Asians are on the increase. The authors of the article conducted a survey in 2020 and their findings revealed that they found “31 percent of Indian Americans believed that discrimination against people of Indian origin was a major problem in the United States – while 53 percent thought that it was a minor problem. Measuring respondents’ lived experiences with discrimination revealed that 1 in 2 Indian Americans reported being subjected to some form of discrimination over the previous 12 months.”
Of course, we can argue that these incidents should not occur and that our community must stand up and assert our right to equality, but the reality is that with the rise in anti-immigrant rhetoric such incidents are bound to increase too.
So, the question before us is – how do…
Read the full article here
