[Show all top banners]

sazdbaz

More by sazdbaz
What people are reading
Subscribers
:: Subscribe
Back to: Kurakani General Refresh page to view new replies
 Indians & Nepalese in US disillusioned with 'American dream' as hate crimes rise.......
[VIEWED 5564 TIMES]
SAVE! for ease of future access.
Posted on 05-25-18 8:17 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
Login in to Rate this Post:     0       ?    
 

Indians & Nepalese in US disillusioned with 'American dream' as hate crimes rise


'I have become acutely aware of my skin colour in the last few months,' an Indian-American said.

Indians make up for a little more than one percent of American population but they are increasingly falling prey to hate crimes. (Representational image | Photo: AFP)
Indians make up for a little more than one percent of American population but they are increasingly falling prey to hate crimes. (Representational image | Photo:APF)

New York: Even as Hindu nationalists piqued with joy in the moments after Donald Trump came to power; and as the Oval Office lit up on Wednesday from Trump’s Diwali celebrations, Indians in America by and large continue to live in fear.

Trump’s ‘America First’ policy has had more repercussions than imagined, as the outrage against immigrants spins speedily out of control. Hate crimes are on a steady rise as the wave of racist violence consumes migrants indiscriminately.

In February 2017, 32-year-old Srinivas Kuchibhotla became the victim of 51-year-old Adam Purinton’s spite. The Kansas man opened fire at a bar in Olathe, killing Kuchibhotla and injuring his colleague, 32-year-old Alok Madasani. Both men were Indian immigrants, who worked in GPS-maker Garmin’s aviation department.

According to reports, Purinton allegedly had mistaken the victims to be ‘Middle Eastern men.’

Soon after, in March 2017 two more Indians fell prey to racially-motivated crimes, as reported by HindustanTimes (HT).

On March 2, 2017, a 64-year-old Florida resident was arrested for trying to set a convenience store on fire because he believed its owners, who are of Indian descent, were Muslims.

Two days later, on March 4, Deep Rai, a 39-year-old Sikh, was shot outside his home in Kent, Washington, by a masked gunman, who allegedly shouted at him to "go back to his own country.”

Though violence and hateful rhetoric has escalated since Trump’s inauguration, many Indians – in America and abroad – have made the mistake of interpreting his calls to clamp down on Muslim migrants as support for the Hindu-majority country.

For many Indians, the primary concern was a possible restriction on work visas while they remained blissfully ignorant of the threat their skin posed, Quartzreported.

However, almost ten months into the Trump presidency, Indians might be changing their minds, as many fear for their lives.

The fear rising among Indian immigrants is imminent.

“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,’ Sushovan Sircar told HT.

Sircar, who is a student of cyber security policy at Georgetown University in Washington DC, added, “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”.

Another Indian living in US, Shourjya Deb, 27, a student of public policy and administration at Rutgers University in New Jersey said: “In the university space, the way of life is such that people are kind of afraid of being called out as racists or fascists. But even here, when I ask Republicans if they want me to leave the country, they are embarrassed and don’t know how to handle the question.”

Indians make up for a little more than one percent of American population with about 3.2 million people of Indian descent living there, a Pew Research Centre report found.

A survey by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) has indicated that 40 per cent of US colleges have seen a decline in applications from international students in 2018. The largest drop reported was from India and China, which together made up 47 per cent of the international students in the country in 2016.

Whereas, according to a report in the New York Times, the number of applications for H-1B visas also fell to 199,000, a nearly 20 percent decline, according to data kept by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The lure of the ‘American dream’ seems to be waning, its shine dampened each day, under Trump Administration, as white supremacists misread and learn to make ‘America Hate Again.’


 


Please Log in! to be able to reply! If you don't have a login, please register here.

YOU CAN ALSO



IN ORDER TO POST!




Within last 60 days
Recommended Popular Threads Controvertial Threads
शीर्षक जे पनि हुन सक्छ।
NRN card pros and cons?
What are your first memories of when Nepal Television Began?
Basnet or Basnyat ??
nrn citizenship
Sajha has turned into MAGATs nest
Nas and The Bokas: Coming to a Night Club near you
डीभी परेन भने खुसि हुनु होस् ! अमेरिकामाधेरै का श्रीमती अर्कैसँग पोइला गएका छन् !
3 most corrupt politicians in the world
if you are in USA illegally and ask for asylum it is legal
Top 10 Anti-vaxxers Who Got Owned by COVID
निगुरो थाहा छ ??
Poonam pandey - death or suicide?
ढ्याउ गर्दा दसैँको खसी गनाउच
Doctors dying suddenly or unexpectedly since the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines
काेराेना सङ्क्रमणबाट बच्न Immunity बढाउन के के खाने ?How to increase immunity against COVID - 19?
Travelling to Nepal - TPS AP- PASSPORT
TPS Work Permit/How long your took?
How long does Citizenship take?
Will MAGA really start shooting people?
Nas and The Bokas: Coming to a Night Club near you
NOTE: The opinions here represent the opinions of the individual posters, and not of Sajha.com. It is not possible for sajha.com to monitor all the postings, since sajha.com merely seeks to provide a cyber location for discussing ideas and concerns related to Nepal and the Nepalis. Please send an email to admin@sajha.com using a valid email address if you want any posting to be considered for deletion. Your request will be handled on a one to one basis. Sajha.com is a service please don't abuse it. - Thanks.

Sajha.com Privacy Policy

Like us in Facebook!

↑ Back to Top
free counters