Look within, are Indians not racist?

Ash Murthy

Hate crimes in the United States have increased substantially after President Donald Trump took over. The target of hate crimes are, rather surprisingly, Indian-Americans — the community best known for its successful pursuit of the American dream. The spate of hate crimes against the model minority began with a fatal shooting at at a Kansas bar. Srinivas Kuchibhotla, a 32-year-old engineer, was asked about his visa and fatally shot minutes later. A week later, a Sikh-American became the victim of another fatal "get-out-of-my country" attack in Seattle.  In San Jose, 41- year-old Inderjit, a PhD in physics from North Western University, was accosted and verbally harassed by a stranger. 

Reverberations of the racist attacks have caused panic and anxiety  not only among the Indian diaspora, but also (8,000 miles away) in India. Our politicians were quick to condemn racism. Among college students, the euphoria about pursuing a career in the United States has now been replaced with anger and disappointment over rising xenophobia. At Kuchibhotla's funeral, as the departed engineer's father lit the pyre, family and friends began to shout anti-Trump slogans. Ironically, Trump was very popular amongst us until the fatal shooting.

In a Hindu Republican event, the Indian American audience erupted in applause as Trump spoke a few words in Hindi and praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

As the world criticised Trump's decision to ban immigration from seven Muslim countries, the executive order was widely applauded on Indian social media. The only disappointment was that the list of banned countries did not include Pakistan. As a member of the Indian diaspora in the US, I believe it is time for us to introspect about the culture we perpetuate, and our paradoxical values towards racism.  Among Indians, a consensus against racism is reserved for incidents outside India. 

The arrest of diplomat Devyani Khobragade in New York  and the detainment of actor Shah Rukh Khan at an American airport for additional security checks resulted in a chorus of anger and condemnation against racism by angry Indians. These Indians are oblivious to the racism faced by millions of Indians in their own country, by their own countrymen and women. 

In a study to measure racial tolerance, two Swedish economists asked respondents in more than 80 countries to identify the kind of people they would not want as neighbours. India was one of the two countries where the highest percentage of respondents did not prefer a neighbour of a different race.  Not surprisingly, landlords refusing to rent apartments to tenants who speak the "wrong" language or belong to the "wrong" part of the country is common practice. 

Indians with darker complexions are rendered subordinate.  Matrimonial ads unabashedly boast of  light skin, an asset no less valuable than an Ivy League degree. 

There is certainly a lot that Indians (and the world at large) can learn about the dangers of xenophobia from the experiences of African students in India. 

From shopping malls to banks, upscale neighbourhoods to slums, Africans in India are used to the stares, the derogatory names in hushed voices that follow them around. Occasionally racism takes a violent turn. In Bangalore, India's Silicon Valley, a Tanzanian girl was attacked by a mob as retaliation for a car accident caused by a Sudanese man unknown to her. In the eyes of the mob, the Tanzanian's skin color  made her culpable for the accident. The rising racist attacks against Indians in the US are undoubtedly unjustified. But how will the world take racism against us seriously, if we ourselves don't take a serious stand against racism? 

The writer is a software engineer at Microsoft & a career coach in Silicon Valley, California.