It
was 1987 and fall was on the horizon for the US east coast. An Indian guy was
walking back to home from a bar. He was attacked by a group of people. He died
four days later. It was a hate crime carried over by a group call Dotbusters
- the name a reference to the bindi
worn by Hindu women on their foreheads. They wrote a hand written letter to the
local newspaper, “We will go to any extreme to get Indians to move out of
Jersey City.”*
Times
are different now in the United States. A lot has happened since that fateful
night of 1987. Today close to 15% of Jersey City’s population is made up of
Indian Americans. There is a greater visibility now of Indians on American
streets, and also of Indian food and culture. Indian-Americans have the highest
median income of any ethnic group in the United States. The bindi isn’t the bulls-eye anymore. But
bigotry still raises its awful head. Be it an innocent patron being killed at a
bar or an attack on a person wearing a turban. Recent political events have led
to Immigrants being painted as job snatchers, drug peddlers & criminals. But
the truth is immigrants are moms and dads, honor students and college
graduates, they are the entrepreneurs and leaders of the Fortune 500
corporations. They are the future of the United States of America.
I
know for sure, the recent unsettling events are limited to politics because the
fabric of this great land is tightly woven with love and respect for each other.
Believe me, I’m not pretending that America is flawless but even with her paltry
shortcomings, we are so privileged to live in such a great land. This thanksgiving,
I want to thank this land for giving me and many more like me, an opportunity to
purse ‘success’- whatever that ‘success’ might be, in a fair, open, friendly and
respectful surrounding.
* "Indians in America" by Amitava Kumar, The New Yorker, Mar 15th 2017
