A dialog between generations

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Two weeks ago a friend of mine in Houston forwarded me a link to an ongoing discussion on the website of Dr. Vijay Mehta. Dr. Vijay Mehta is best known for the many appearances he makes at various South Asian conferences and gatherings such as SASA, Bhangra Blowout, etc., in an attempt to create a database of potential South Asian bone marrow donors. I myself have registered for the database.

In addition to the bone marrow drive, Dr. Mehta’s website tackles several other issues that are usually swept under the rug of South Asian American society. I encourage you all to visit the site for yourself. It is the first instance I have seen of a healthy discussion between first gen’s like many of our parents, and second generation young adults. The post that I was forwarded in particular was written by a young woman named Reena who lives in Texas.Instead of reading the rest of my entry you should go here and read the full discussion. However, I will preview Reena’s letter for you below:

Hey Vijay Uncle,

I just wanted to say thanks! I got in touch with the Pratham people and they’re working with me to go to India next summer. I’m really excited because I finally get to go!!

I also wanted to propose another idea for the lectures you frequently give. You talk about being an ABCD and dating and mating and whatnot.

There is yet another concern that our Indian community needs to address. As I learned in the first lecture of yours that I had ever heard, we have the highest rate of binge drinking. Along with that comes many consequences. I am not going to say that I don’t drink and that I am not one of those statistics because in all honesty, I may not be drinking every weekend, but I do on occasion.

In the last year, I have driven at least two friends to the hospital for alcohol poisoning. Many people don’t even know how to tell if someone has alcohol poisoning. It is definitely something you should think about addressing. I don’t think telling people to drink less is going to make a difference, because no one does that, just maybe some tips on how to help out your friends in the situation.

Also, I know the last time we talked you asked me to consider speaking about sex at South Asian Students’ Alliance (SASA). I told you I wouldn’t be comfortable doing that because I feel that I am conservative about it, and there is a definite reason for that.

continued on website…

I realize that there are multiple issues in just the above excerpt. If you read the full thread of the post like I recommended, there are several other issues: mob mentality, the disrespecting of women, gangs, etc. I was hesitant about posting this on SM without a well-formed analysis, but after reading the discussion that followed the DRUM post, I thought I’d let the readers of SM analyze it if they wanted to. My main reaction was disappointment. By the time I graduated college I could already see the difference in those younger than my peers and I. The alcoholism was more rampant, and the group-think more pervasive. Are these side-effects of assimilation, or is it something else?

4 thoughts on “A dialog between generations”

  1. It basically just proves that our community (“South Asian Americans”) is no different from any other on these issues. Binge drinking is a national problem. Sexual harassment, date rape, and just plain rape are national problems that are present on all college campuses, and in any “party” scene.

    People who think of this as somehow just an Indian problem are thinking too narrowly.

  2. Amardeep, there is a difference as I see it. The difference is that our parents don’t EXPECT stuff like this to happen to us “good kids,” nor do they expect us to behave like this, and so they don’t prepare us for it. Alcoholism, rape, and other such issues are ignored when growing up (at least among people that I know), but then all of a sudden you are thrown into an environment where these problems exist. In that one respect this is a second generation problem that does affect our community slightly different that society at large.

  3. The difference is that our parents don’t EXPECT stuff like this to happen to us “good kids,” nor do they expect us to behave like this, and so they don’t prepare us for it.

    Well, alcoholism is less prevalent among Asian Americans than the population at large. In this case it is problematic because EAs and SAs are bundled together, and EAs are known to have alcohol dehydrogenase polymorphisms with an inoculative effect.

    Li, 67, is a Chinese-born, Harvard-educated endocrinologist who has been at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis since 1971. He also directs the Indiana Alcohol Research Center. Li’s rats now serve as the primary animal model in alcoholism research because they will voluntarily drink enough alcohol to become tolerant and dependent. He is also well known for fundamental work in characterizing an enzyme, aldehyde dehydrogenase, a form of which –found in many Asians–is the only known genetic protective factor against alcoholism in humans.

    But here are the stats anyway:

    For alcoholism, the rate fell from 4.38 percent to 3.81 percent. For whites it dropped from 4.35 percent to 3.83 percent; it edged down from 3.84 percent to 3.57 percent for blacks; among Indians, it declined from 9.01 percent to 6.35 percent; for Asians it edged upward from 2.26 percent to 2.41 percent; and for Latinos, the rate declined from 5.78 percent to 3.95 percent.

    Even with the fluctuation, the AA rate is considerably lower than the national rate.

  4. There are a lot of things that we, as ABCDs, do that are parents are not aware of, and it would be unfair to put the blame on them for our actions. ABCDs are dealing with the same issues (alcoholism, rape, other violence, etc.) as individuals of other races in the U.S., so this is certainly not exclusive to our community. But at what point should we begin being accountable for what we, as adults, do?