Excuse me? Hi. Are you registered to vote? No? Well it’s easy. Here, let me register you right now. All you have to do is click on that picture. Right there on the right, see? Easy. Oh, I see that you are hesitating. You don’t think that the South Asian American vote has any power in America because last you checked there were only 2 million desis? You didn’t hear? 
[B]y 2010 Indian-Americans will reach the 4.5 million mark, while South Asians will cross the 5.5 million mark. In other words Desis are expected to constitute 1.5 % of the total American population of 2010.If one is to extrapolate from these latest U.S. Census figures, the Asian Indian population in America is expected to reveal its steepest rise ever during the 2010 census…The Census also ranked Asian Indians as the third largest Asian American group after Chinese Americans and Filipino Americans. Indian Americans also had the largest percentage increase of the six major Asian groups in the U.S. [link]
No kidding, right? I double checked those numbers at work too. Legit. What, you still don’t believe that we can have a collective political voice if that 5.5 million is spread across the nation? Well how about this…?
Top Metropolitan Areas of South Asian Americans [link]
- NYC (sa pop =251,121)
- Chicago (sa pop=132,811)
- Washington DC tri-state area (sa pop=90,705)
- Los Angeles/Long Beach (sa pop=73,489)
- Middlesex-Somerset-Hunterdon, NJ (sa pop=71,116)
Top Counties of High Concentrations of South Asian Americans [link]
- Sutter, CA (sa pop=7,914 percent=10.03)
- Middlesex, NJ (sa pop=61,485 percent=8.2)
- Queens, NY (sa pop=164,636 percent=7.84)
- Fort Bend, TX (sa pop=16,941 percent=4.78)
- Santa Clara,CA (sa pop=73,840 percent=4.39)
You see, if we can increase desi voter registration, as well as voter turnout across the nation and especially in these areas, we can increase the potential political voice of the South Asian American Vote. Voting Bloc? I’m not sure about that yet — as is often mentioned we are dealing with a diverse community with many issues, plus, I don’t feel that we are at the point of a voting bloc yet because of lack of that power. But we can do everything to build that power for our community; by votes, by running for office, by organizing. By building this potential political power, when we do unite on issues that affect our South Asian community as a whole, we will have the power to influence change.
But you say you don’t want to vote unless you are educated on the issues? I’m with you, voter education is key. In addition to macaca related election news of the moment, as well as coverage of desis running for office, I will attempt election coverage especially in those key areas mentioned. If you can’t wait for coverage, you can go to Project Vote Smart which has all the non-partisan voting information you will ever need to know for your area. I could spend hours on this site.
I say ‘attempt’ because there are those of you that are desi political bloggers living in those cities and counties mentioned above. I especially would like to hear from you- let me know if you are planning on covering the election on your blog, I’ll add your blog to my feed and the SM will be sure to cover you in our on the ground election coverage. Are you a desi running for office, or know of one running for office this November? We’d love to profile you, Raj Bakhta style. Are you some desi kid running around with voter registration forms getting your community to vote? We’d love to profile you too, Macaca style. Look at this as a special Sepia Mutiny election coverage tipster line, if you will.
Almost convinced? Good. Well, all you need to do is take the first step, by registering to vote. The deadline to vote in most states is only a month away, and in other states 6 weeks away. That’s right, we are exactly 2 months away from the November 7th elections. Ready? Good. You can register to vote right here.
correction: 3/4 of south asians are indian in south asia.
Kush, the South Asian voters I am talking about (most that were born and brought up in the U.S.) put U.S.-Pak relations and U.S.-India relations near the bottom of the heap in terms of importance. I care much more about domestic policy issues that affect me and my fellow Pakistani-Americans every day. Its not that I have my head in the sand but that our priorities are WAY different. It is the same way that many people go out and vote on only the abortion issue thinking that America’s future hinges on it. I expect our priorities to be different though. This is the same 1/1.5/2nd gen split we always see on these boards.
does your opinion on those particular issues mean that you think uniting to build the power of a potential desi voting bloc is moot?
Please don’t get me wrong. I believe in unity here among South Asians and even back in Indian subcontinent/ South Asia. In US, there are common trials and tribulations that does bond them.
But one has to acknowledge that at some pint we will diverge, and knowing it is awareness.
Hint: Like Kashmir, we will agree to disagree be it here or there (back in Desh).
Uh, Abhi, what? I bet lots of people who grew up in the States favor India or Pakistan in foreign policy depending on whether their parents immigrated from Pakistan or India. And since serious immigration only started in the mid to late sixties, uh, that’s pretty significant. There aren’t too many people several generations removed from the subcontinent. That’s probably what it would take for people to blur the boundaries, but maybe not. Look at Latino or Hispanic or whatever the term du jour is. Cuban American versus Puerto Rican American anyone?
Kush, the South Asian voters I am talking about (most that were born and brought up in the U.S.) put U.S.-Pak relations and U.S.-India relations near the bottom of the heap in terms of importance.
but aren’t most south asian american voters still foreign born? SAALT’s number was 88%, though i think that is a high number because of their lack of sampling in some states.
That’s probably what it would take for people to blur the boundaries, but maybe not.
the new jews?
strong ethnic communities by definition have overseas concerns. the german ethnic identity was smashed in large part during world war I because of perceptions of conflicting interests. america and england have a ‘special relationship.’ why? armenia gets A LOT of foreign aid. why?
welcome to the multicultural utopioa yall 🙂
razib,
i thought you’d figure out how to get those numbers with census – if LA County is any reflection of national 88% is too high.
I’m not denying that. Look at the original statement I was replying to (what I termed BS):
It is telling that this comment says Pakistanis and Indians and not Pakistani-Americans and Indian-Americans (as if there is no difference).
taz,
as sid would say, off to you sister 😎 but then i am one who believes that the structure of numbers can elevate discourse, so we all have to do our personal cost vs. benefit calculation. me gotz to finish up a class with some functions….
Anyway, context is everything when talking about coalitions of South Asians: hanging out, being friends, dating, marrying or forming political partnerships are completely different things.
BTW, I once dated the most handsome Pakistani American guy (I have to brag, it was a small victory for nerdy old me which is totally unenlightened, but that’s what I felt). He was a bad desi like me and was thoroughly Americanized. What a great guy…..we never talked politics, thank God. What a waste of time that would have been!
abhi, taz might know. Do Pakistani-Americans and Indian-Americans trend the same on domestic issues? Which ones do they differ on?
Do Pakistani-Americans and Indian-Americans trend the same on domestic issues?
correct for SES! indian-americans are higher in SES.
but also decompose born abroad and born here and 1.5ers.
Needless to say, I did NOT write comment #49. That ain’t me. Just for clarity sake. Plus, I disagree with the sentiment expressed in comment #49. Bah!
Abhi wrote: That’s straight BS. Most of us who put the “American” before the Indian or the Pakistani (as we ALL should if we have the right to vote) see many more issues in which we have a fundamental agreement.
If you put the “American” before the Indian than you wouldn’t support a “Desi” voting bloc at all because it puts the Indian/Pakistani before the American.
Tell me what issues are we in fundamental agreement? The ones that matter and are central to the respective communities? You are confusing cultural values with political values. Culturally, Indians and Pakistanis are fairly similiar although diverging. This works well for South Asian Awareness Week, or South Asian Mela fairs or college parties. It doesn’t work in the political sphere. I am Indian-America any I don’t want my country’s foreign policy objective to include kissing up to Pakistan. Sorry.
What are the extensions? Should a group dominated by Hindu Indians be forced to extend out toward Muslim groups? Its undeniably true that for most Muslim countries, nation = religion. Many Indians feel the same about Hinduism, but its less visible. Should Muslim grudges against Israel enter into the picture, then what?
Furthermore, most Indians are machine Democrats. I can’t speak for Pakistanis. They come to Democratic cities and vote straight up for the guys who bruoght them here and help them set up. The big issues that drive Americans – like abortion, death penalty, Iraq War, they don’t really drive Indians to the polls. Its the guy whos giving out H1-Bs. For the most part, Pakistanis in America aren’t as much of the techie type as are Indians here, so what congruency is there on this issue?
Building a political bloc of desis is moot until you give us some issues that are central to and unifying for both communities, along with the small Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan and other communities in America. Rising up against being called Macaca isn’t gonna do it.
18-24 yr. old native born rate of LA County desi registered voters = 75%, second only to Japanese-Americans (within the asian am ethnic groups) – the native born rate of desis is higher than that of pan-asian numbers too. (looking at a graph, don’t know if those words made sense.)
As for common domestiv issues? As a BANGLADESHI-American blogging on South Asian American blog, reading comments of anti-anything but indian american issues is frustrating. Mainly because I feel that if you read my post and are compelled to comment on it, than don’t we speaking as Bangladeshi Americans to an Indian American have common issues?
No one has done a study on domestic issue diff. of different South asian ethnic – american. It’s hard enough to get data on South Asian Americans, period. There are finer distinctions between bangladeshi, pakistani, and indian – americans at the LA County level (only resarch at fingertips today, sorry) – such as education levels, poverty level, per capita level. lsnguage assistant need, health care. And these are all issues I feel that we can improve if we have a desi-american politicial voice, for the desi community here as a whole.
It is telling that this comment says Pakistanis and Indians and not Pakistani-Americans and Indian-Americans (as if there is no difference).
Oh take it easy, I forgot to add -American after every ethnic name. Big deal. I’m talking about the same thing.
Now give me something that “Desis” are going to rally around.
Oh take it easy, I forgot to add -American after every ethnic name. Big deal. I’m talking about the same thing.
your point is taken, but really dude, if you just started posting you don’t know how loaded these terms have been in the past. best to stay precise and clear 🙂
Civil Rights, Immigration, Health-care policy are all areas in which we have many common interests. Just for the record I don’t think there is yet a bloc but I also think that you separating the group into two corners is forwarding a false reality.
As for common domestiv issues? As a BANGLADESHI-American blogging on South Asian American blog, reading comments of anti-anything but indian american issues is frustrating. Mainly because I feel that if you read my post and are compelled to comment on it, than don’t we speaking as Bangladeshi Americans to an Indian American have common issues?
You are misunderstanding what I am saying. People reading this blog have common interests. Now looking through the front page, it would revolve around movie actors, music, literature, why people can’t pronounce our names properly, some issues with properly treating women, discrimination. Aside from the last, its all CULTURAL news items. NOT POLITICAL.
Since you just started posting here- the answer to that is simple. Go to the SM main page. go to the sidebar. Click on categories. Browse through the subject “issues”.
😉
but seriously, what unites brown americans as a block, what issues? i mean, racial profiling in airplanes for example is a specific issue. you could say immigration and what not, but that is a big issue for latinos and other asian americans too, so that isn’t fundamentally and specifically south asian american. general issues like health care and what not might or might not have particular south asian salience, but your attitude is probably shaped by whether you are a liberal, conservative or whatever, not whether you are brown or not. i guess you could say you are anti-racist, but so are many whites and other minorities.
i think the idea of a south asian american block is a non-starter because we are first liberals, conservatives, independents, etc. being brown is not an ideology or set of beliefs, it is a genetic commonality correlated with cross-cultural sensibilities.
razib is correct; if you are serious about building a bloc because you want to mobilize voters than you have to pick a few common issues to rally the troops behind, eh, oh forget about the mixed up metaphors. I mean, a bloc implies a common interest or goal. Data is scarce at this point, and that is probably the place to start. Collecting data, I mean. Which taz is trying to do, I know.
For the record, I have been reading the posts for a while and just never really care to comment much.
Civil Rights, Immigration, Health-care policy are all areas in which we have many common interests. Just for the record I don’t think there is yet a bloc but I also think that you separating the group into two corners is forwarding a false reality.
True, I was wrong to say they are fundamentally opposed to each other. However, unifying groups on the basis on skin color is not very productive either. In the long run, I think “You are Indian, so vote with us” is a step backward, but “You are brown, so vote with us” only takes further steps back.
Honestly, I think it is a big mistake when minorities band together simply because they are minorities. On many scales it is crucial, like civil rights you mentioned, but not on others. Ask any low-income black worker what he thinks of illegal immigration. Chances are he is a democrat just like most grassroots immigration advocates. I guess thats the biggest weakness about my party, but its also the reality.
I think you might be onto something in regardless to healthcare and immigration, though you should be careful to separate what perhaps you want the concensus to be with what the reality is.
Also, taz As a BANGLADESHI-American blogging on South Asian American blog, reading comments of anti-anything but indian american issues is frustrating.
If this is the case, how well do you think you would get along in a political activist group likely to be dominated by Indians? I think you just made my point.
…if you’re brown…stick around….
Whatever, do a search on Taz blogs and you’ll get 75% political blogs on this thing. Listen. The whole point to this initial post is how we don’t have a desi voting bloc yet, but we want to build the potential power. Just think back to 9/11 five years ago when we didn’t have any of these networks and resources for desis-americans we do today. Our communuity is a lot better prepared politically now than it’s ever been before.
It’s election season- and I ask for an open mind in the next 8 weeks- your right, it is a “cultural” blog – but I only started blogging “elections” a couple weeks ago. I already said I was committing to blogging “election coverage ” for the next two months. Have an open mind for the next two months of reading SM and let me prove to you by blogging on multiple political issues affecting the DESI community that there is indeed potentially politically unifying issues for DESI- AMERICANs. (that hyphenating needs to never “be understood”, especially on this blog- best that you spend that extra time typing it)
Two months. Accept the challenge. [And I really need to work and finish this report]
DESI- AMERICAN
brown americanz 🙂
taz, what can a right of center desi like me expect from the election coverage, if SM is going to be more political? I mean that as a serious question and not in any snarky way, although I know I can be kinda mean in the comment sections sometimes (don’t answer, do your report first 🙂 )
Conjecture:
Blocks will be formed around religion. To the extent that Hinduism is a force among Hindus of whatever generation, there will be an Indian American lobby, because they view India as central to their religion, a holy land even, and that is a natural “extra national” interest, just as Armenians, Greeks and Jews seem to have extra national interests. Note, others will also be pro-India, just that the bias will be highest among Hindus.
To the extent that they are not religious, they will be South Asian. They will also marry out quicker and become, simply, Americans.
Muslims have their own interests, and I suspect those interests will be salient for a very long time. They will become Muslim Americans.
what can a right of center desi like me expect from the election coverage
the projections for this fall pan out, happiness for taz & sadness 4 u 🙂 && 8-(
i think risible is correct. re: Note, others will also be pro-India, just that the bias will be highest among Hindus. you can see this dynamic in the jewish community, jewish religious practice & belief correlates strongly with pro-israel sentiment. secular jews are generally less pro-israel.
Well in the organization I founded? It was all young indian americans on the board. And it was just fine because we mobilized around empowering the South Asian American community and creating a political voice for desi youth. And united on that front was not frustrating to least bit. And working in coalition with indian-american and bangladeshi-american and pan-asian and south asian groups worked out pretty well too – there are some things that we organized together on and some we didn’t. It was all good.
And on that note-
Oh, razib, I may not be that sad and there are theories that Bush might not be either 🙂 I’m a ‘Ryan Sager lets not forget the libertarians’ type, myself….. 🙂
To be more explicit: I don’t mind if some of the rightys lose…..
MD,
wait, not all republicans think the same??? there is a big difference between social democrats and democratic socialists, but between ayn rand objectivists and pro-life catholics, who would of thunk!?!?!
there are some things that we organized together on and some we didn’t. It was all good.
You nailed it. They will be many common grounds (even with other fellow beings – African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Africans, Europeans, people of the world), sometimes not. I think voter mobilization is one of them.
Naseer like pan-identities often does not work…..sometimes, it is for the Naseers of the world a vechicle to power and influence.
As if,we are the horses from Orwell’s Animal Farm.
Background matters, ask any Muslim-American or Jewish-American or Middle Eastern-American about present crisis in Middle East and US/ Iraq War/ War on Terrorism, their background factors in heavily.
Okay, the last of my polluting this section: the coburn-obama database bill passed the Senate….see what bipartisanship can do, peoples? This could be profound…..
It looks like not all the places listed in the metro area list were actually calculated as metro areas, but as city proper. There’s an SJ, SF, and Oakland listed separately, and not sure if suburbs factored into the calculations for those 3 cities. Just Indians alone in the 7 Bay Area counties add up to 140,628, putting the Bay at easily the #2 SA metro. SoCal is #4 if you count OC.
Seriously man. My main objective for blogging on this site (and I do not speak for my co-bloggers) is politics. This is the second time in a week I’ve had to link here. Everything else I write about is just blog-crack to hook the kiddies so they won’t know it.
I can answer that MD. A right-center desi like yourself will be pulled towards the center by a blogger like me. It is the same way in which I try to pull the fringe lefties that embarass me closer toward the center. I suspect you already want to be in the center but just don’t want to share that space with people who arrived there from the left. Besides, you know my coverage is always tough but fair 🙂
I agree.
There isn’t critical mass on any one issue that dominates the subcontinental community, which would facilitate the creation of a bloc around such an identity. Correct me if I’m wrong, but successful voting blocs have generally been galvanized by certain issues that have absolutely dominated the collective group experience to the point where said community moves in lock step.
We’re spread thin on a geographic, social, economic, and cultural basis. You may see subsets of these communities forge themselves into minor voting blocs that have more impact on local politics, particuarly where the population density permits such activity. I think it is good to get the word out and mobilize people to vote. However, attempting to amplify and gain power as an american community of subcontinental roots is doing so for the sake of gaining power. Many of the issues mentioned align with larger communities, diffusing the necessity of a ‘bloc’.
A right-center desi like yourself will be pulled towards the center by a blogger like me.
abhi, but centrism does not a “block” make.
a) there are the set of issues which pan-brown relevancy b) there are the set of issues which have particular pan-brown relevancy c) there are a set of issues which have particular brown relevancies d) there are a set of issues which have pan-communal relevancy
set b is only a tivial portion of set a.
set c does not unite, because particular fixations on pakistan vs. india, bangladeshi workers in the UAE, etc. tend to not be broad enough to rally cross-community support. set a is not enough to create a brown block per se, as many other groups get slotted into the picture, as set a is often just a subset of set d.
a few issues are disjoint between set d & a, as well as intersecting between b & c. racial profiling on airplanes is one. but that just isn’t like the existential threat faced by israel is for american jews.
and abhi, for the record, the blog seems to have gotten less political. i remember feeling irritated a lot more back in 2004 than i do now with the tenor of the posts, so get to work on it man!
I am not advocating a block anywhere in my comments. I was trying to rebut a claim up above that I thought was BS (for reasons that I listed). What I am advocating are “icebergs” (a new political term invented by me just now). Icebergs are political blocks that come together for certain issues and then diverge again. That is do-able.
That is only because Abhi has 12 weeks to defend or have his dreams shattered.
icebergs it is.
…or, brownbergs???
Ummmmm. No. 😉
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
It is the same way in which I try to pull the fringe lefties that embarass me closer toward the center
I hope you were not referring to me 😉
Way to go for “blog-cracking” the thread for the kiddies….