The rise of hate crime in the US, especially against people of colour and the brown community more than anything, is extremely alarming.
And the recent dismissal of Indian-American Vivek Murthy who was recently asked to step down as Surgeon General by the Trump Administration is an indication of what exactly is going on. With no clear reason as to why he is being let go of, Murthy was one of the first Indian American to hold this position who assumed the role in December 2014.
I myself, have a couple of relatives and friends living there, and these days I am extra worried about them, more than anything.
One thing that I would positively say about all this is that it has definitely made me keep better touch with my family and friends living there, something which I wasn’t necessarily diligent about before.
But I cannot think of any other positive thing that has happened in the US since the night or early morning of 9th November 2016.
(I am not going to take 8th November as the date, because that will seriously traumatize me on another level altogether… don’t even ask)
However, one thing that I noticed before the end of the election came about was the support of the Indian community with Trump.
Indians With Trump?
The support extended all the way to our country even, with many support groups marching around with Trump posters and standees and talking about how Hillary Clinton was evil and Trump was oh so good.
And don’t get me started on how much Indian Americans were involved in his campaign and tried to get him votes throughout the election time.
When I inquired exactly why would you support someone like him… a person who is racist, a bigot, misogynist, and an all-around orange buffoon, the response I got was that ‘Hillary will be worse’.
Okay, so I get that I might not know the exact situation and that Hillary might truly be the sister of the Devil, but truly tell me how worse can she be, than someone who was running his entire campaign on hate and racism and inducing it all to such high levels, unimaginable till date.
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Are You Happy Now Indian Americans?
The only thing that I want to ask the Indian community there is,
‘Were you really that naïve to think that the backlash from Trump winning will not touch you all?’
I mean, it’s not like they haven’t confused us with terrorists before… so why should this be any different?
Did you all know that from February till now, about 3 Indians have been killed in the US in racially motivated attacks?!
3 people killed. And that too in less than 3 months.
Apart from that, even for international students applying to US Universities, there is, according to a survey recently conducted by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO), a drop of 40%.
The biggest amount of drop noticed was from China and India that combined made up about 47% of the international student body in the year 2016.
As reported by Hindustan Times, Sushovan Sircar who is a student at Georgetown University in Washington DC, recently shaved away his beard that had always been a point of pride for him.
“I have become acutely aware of my skin colour in the last few months, after the rise of alleged hate crimes against Indians and Indians mistaken for ‘Arabs’,” he says. “The last two months have seen three violent attacks against people of Indian origin in Kansas city, Kent and South Carolina, which resulted in two deaths. I didn’t want to stand out any more than I already do, and my family back home has been worried too. So I shaved off my beard, and the absurdity of this fear is saddening,” he adds.
I truly marvel at how obtuse the Indian American community must have been to think that all the hate and bigotry that Trump was promoting would not touch or affect them in any way.
Image Credits: Google Images
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