Racist Things I've Heard from Fellow Indian Americans Over the Years and Why They Are Wrong
Illustration By: Nasim Rizvi
I wrote this last week, but I’ve been hesitant to share it. Mostly because I’m embarrassed that I am now admitting publicly to the often deftly hidden racist attitudes of members of my minority, and also because I am trying to be cognizant of my desire to not add noise to the conversation. But beyond protesting and donating, I realized if there is maybe one thing I can contribute, it’s challenging those who look like me to stand up for those who look like George Floyd.
This has been on my heart for a long time. If I’ve had a debate with you during a movie we watched together with black Americans or during events and gatherings - then you know what I mean. I want to formally take a minute to call out first-generation, and unfortunately, second-generation, Indian Americans. Here are a few things I’ve heard over the years:
1.) “Black people do it to themselves. How long have they been living in the ‘Land of Opportunity?’ Look at us. We don’t have the same issues.”
We don’t have the same issues because we don’t have the same history. According to the Migration Policy Institute, “Immigrants from India first arrived in the United States in small numbers during the early 19th century.” That’s the 1800s. “In 1960, just 12,000 Indian immigrants lived in the United States, representing less than 0.5 percent of the 9.7 million overall immigrant population.” Before 1965, there were very few of us here, and we were NOT brought to this country on slave ships. We were not finally given our freedom and then hunted down, lynched, and killed for it. We were not granted our God-given rights, and then subjected to Jim Crow laws which restricted the freedoms we just got a taste of. In fact, the 14th Amendment of the United States needed to be put into writing because the 13th Amendment which ENDED SLAVERY didn’t go far enough to afford black Americans EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER THE LAW (thank you We the People:The Citizen and The Constitution - Unit 6 represent 🙌🏽). We did not have to fight for our civil rights. There were no signs telling us which water fountain we were allowed to drink from. No laws telling us who we could and could not marry. There were no goal posts moved to suppress our vote. “Migration from India swelled between 1965 and 1990 as a series of legislative changes removed national-origin quotas, introduced temporary skilled worker programs, and created employment-based permanent visas.” With the exception of family unification and refugees, America chose who amongst us they wanted in this country and often refer to Asian Americans, including Indian Americans, as “model minorities.” “Why can’t black Americans be more like them [Asians, Indians]?” In fact, University of Central Florida Professor and author of White Shaming: Bullying based on Prejudice, Virtue-Signaling, and Ignorance Charles Negy recently got into hot water for this tweet: “Sincere question: If Afr. Americans as a group, had the same behavioral profile as Asian Americans (on average, performing the best academically, having the highest income, committing the lowest crime, etc.), would we still be proclaiming 'systematic racism' exists?” We as an Asian minority do experience covert and overt racism (that’s a post for another time) but not to the widespread scale or extent that black Americans in this country do. It did not stem from years of “us” vs. “them.” Stop fooling yourselves, and stop allowing people to pit us against them. Stop watching movies about slavery and saying, “It’s so horrible what they did to black people,” but ignoring your complicity in modern, systemic racism. Be outraged.
2.) “Only 2% of white Americans were slaveowners.”
This is a misleading statistic because it includes the Northern states and excludes “slave masters.” In fact, “the 1860 census shows that in the states that would soon secede from the Union, an average of more than 32 percent of white families owned slaves.” Furthermore, “many of those white families who couldn’t afford slaves aspired to, as a symbol of wealth and prosperity. In addition, the essential ideology of white supremacy that served as a rationale for slavery, made it extremely difficult—and terrifying—for white Southerners to imagine life alongside a black majority population that was not in bondage. In this way, many non-slave-owning Confederates went to war to protect not only slavery, but to preserve the foundation of the only way of life they knew” (history.com). According to Snopes, historian Adam Goodheart in an August 2017 interview to PolitiFact shared, “Many non-slaveholding whites in the South rented slaves from wealthier slaveholders…so it was very common for a white Southerner to be a ‘slave master’ but not technically a ‘slave owner.’” Snopes also states: “In 1860, 90% of America’s black population was enslaved, and black [Americans] made up over 50% of the population of states like South Carolina and Mississippi. To suggest this ubiquity of human bondage in 1860s America was the result of only ‘1.4% of whites’ owning slaves would be, to put it mildly, an inaccurate reading of U.S. history.” No, it wasn’t every white American, but those statistics are staggering, and many participated in continual bigotry, prejudice, and racism once black Americans WERE granted their freedoms. Many participated by doing nothing at all and allowing it to continue. Not all Germans were Nazis, but history does blame Germany for looking the other way when their fellow human beings were being massacred. Germany is still trying to make amends. Our country enjoys simplifying everything to two sides e.g. our two-party system of Democrats vs. Republicans, Incumbent vs. Insurgent, Thin Crust vs. Deep Dish… so here’s one more we’ve been discussing this past week. Racists vs. Non-racists. There were white Americans who perpetuated the institution of slavery. There were also white Americans who helped end slavery (e.g. President Abraham Lincoln) and advance civil rights. This is not a Black vs. White issue. This is a Racists vs. Non-racists issue which encompasses more than black and white Americans. This includes us - South Asians. When we came to this country, we entered into a social contract which means we inherited it all. The good, the bad, and the ugly. You enjoy “The Land of Opportunity” because it was built on the backs of slaves. Stop pretending we don’t owe our fellow minority the same opportunities we cherish and join those of all races and creeds who actively fight to help advance the cause of our fellow black Americans. Those second-generation brown Americans in my community love throwing the “n-word” around to refer to one another fondly without appreciating how this word dehumanized black Americans for so long. You listen to “black music,” love drafting black players onto your NFL Fantasy Football teams, and love black culture, but you refuse to love black people.
3.) “It’s not our fight.”
One of my friends, Derrick, and I, on many occasions, would drive up to Seattle from Portland after our evening acting class. Sure, it would be a little late, but we’d stop in at a Starbucks in southern WA to grab coffee in order to stay awake on the long drive home. And every single time we’d walk in, a hush would fall over the store, and I could feel everyone’s eyes on us. Like snow blanketing sound. This happened EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I asked Derrick if he noticed it too. He shrugged and told me that he did, but that’s how it is all the time. I had only a brief and fleeting glimpse of what it might be like to live in his skin. How the hell does he do it all the time? A black colleague of mine told me about how he was followed around in a store by the manager as other patrons suspiciously looked on while he was trying to pick up groceries. The outcome? He left and just doesn’t shop at that store anymore. In 2020, he travels to where he feels more comfortable to pick up groceries. I once dated a black man, and we went to see “To Kill a Mockingbird” on Broadway. I mentioned something I noticed as covertly racist in the show. He turned to me and said, “Oh, I didn’t even notice.” I was dubious. “How could you not have picked up on that?” He looked at me and said, “Honestly, it doesn’t faze me anymore.” More than anything, this is what scares me. That my friends have given up and accepted that “it is what it is.” If my black friends are no longer angry because they are tired of being angry, I will be angry for you. During this quarantine, my neighbors and I have gone to a local hotel to cheer on buses of out-of-town healthcare workers coming home from their shifts at NYC hospitals. Many are black Americans. I saw one nurse step off the bus with a small sign which read “Stop Killing Our Sons.” You know what? I will do what I can to further her cause for her because she has enough to worry about at her hospital saving the lives of those suffering in this pandemic. So here we are.
“It’s not our fight.” Maybe not. But we’re here in this country now, and we can help. Because we are a privileged minority - one that had the privilege of not having the same history of oppression but getting to benefit from the disgusting institution of slavery that was leveraged to build this country. We had our own battles with the British. For as much “good” the British brought to India - English, railroads, an education system, they also looted and devastated our country and cultures too. Their mantra was: “Divide and rule.” They exacerbated and exploited our differences to cause civil unrest, and we played into their hands and did the dirty work for them. So maybe we don’t have the same exact history as the black community in America. But we can understand just enough to not take the side of the oppressor. And every time you make your racist comments and choose inaction - make no mistake. You are taking the side of the oppressor. So Indian Americans (or anyone this applies to) - speak up, speak out, and donate (I have put my money where my mouth is). Link below.
I have lived this past week to the backdrop of nonstop sirens, circling helicopters, shouts from those breaking curfew, chants from peaceful protestors, and the roar of chainsaws used to make wood panels to board up storefronts here in NYC. There’s a reason for all of this. You either get the message or you don’t. You either examine your own biases and failure to help fellow human beings or you don’t. You’re either part of the change or you’re not. Indian Americans - step up.
https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/
(Thank you to, Rimjhim, for the link).
Special thanks to Eric, Tushara, Kenneth, Kristen, Nasim, and Derrick for reviewing this piece.
Thank you to Nasim for the beautiful illustration.
Links to additional information cited in this post:
https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/indian-immigrants-united-states
https://www.history.com/news/5-myths-about-slavery
https://www.snopes.com/news/2019/08/07/percent-of-whites-owned-slaves/