Mutineers, we have our first brown Governor. 🙂 Join me, as I bold my favorite parts of the NYT article which declares this history-making outcome.
Bobby Jindal, a conservative Republican congressman from the New Orleans suburbs and the son of immigrants from India, was elected Louisiana’s governor Saturday, inheriting a state that was suffering well before Hurricane Katrina left lingering scars two years ago.
Mr. Jindal, 36, defeated three main challengers in an open primary, becoming this state’s first nonwhite governor since a Reconstruction-era figure briefly held the office 130 years ago.
With more than 90 percent of the vote counted, Mr. Jindal received 53 percent, above the 50 percent-plus-one threshold needed to avoid a runoff in November. He will be the nation’s first Indian-American governor when he takes office in January.
Have I popped champagne? Yes, I have. No, I don’t believe in teaching Intelligent Design, I certainly am not an advocate of getting rid of a woman’s right to choose and I still support hate crime legislation.
I can guzzle bubbly despite all that, because there’s something else stirring within me– recognition that someone who looks like me did something so significant, combined with an uncomplicated thrill over the fact that Bobby made history.
There are so many valid reactions to Jindal; I know about them because thanks to Amardeep’s post, we have hosted a lively discussion regarding his background, his policy positions and the greater implications of his politicking, for “the community”. Amardeep’s thoughts resonated with many of us who are conflicted about Louisiana’s new Governor. The good news is, there are no wrong reactions.
Each of us is allowed to feel how we do, so while some of you gnash your teeth, I’m happy for him and by extension, us. Better than that, the next time some little kid decides that they want to be in government when they grow up, their immigrant parents now have a visual, a template, a precedent to latch on to, much the same way my English minor was suddenly acceptable once Jhumpa won.
There is much to do, much which is owed to the great state of Louisiana and her people; this is just the beginning of that story and I idealistically hope that it has a happy ending. What Jindal can do (and really, whether he can do it) remains to be seen. But I don’t think it’s disrespectful or inappropriate to raise a glass to him tonight and wish him a sincere congratulations.
Doing so doesn’t mean we buy in to his positions lock stock, neither does it mean he’s like, the greatest thing EVAR. It just means that we are happy for someone who accomplished something extraordinary. Congratulating Bobby is something I humbly think we should do, because ideally we should each choose generosity of spirit over bitterness and rancor. Choosing the former and congratulating a winner doesn’t lessen us or diminish our passionate convictions, it just demonstrates our tolerance, equanimity and good faith that we will allow a person’s actions to speak before we do, negatively and presumptously.
i didn’t talk of your whitening, but rather your lack thereof. you’re only white by your own standards, despite your efforts to exclude members of your political persuasion from this psychological phenomena. i’d even say that if you hated your religion and culture. whites do that all the time. its white privilege. your entitled to it too.
i don’t recall ever commenting on jindal until today, in part b/c he doesn’t strike my fancy and i’m aware of the peculiarities of LA politics. but here’s only so much liberal racism one can take.
Bobby Jindal did try hard for the african-american vote last time:
http://www.negrophile.com/phile/articles/the_pitch_has_been_tailored_to_fit_his_expanded_audience.html
“Bucking conventional wisdom and political tradition, Republican Bobby Jindal is mounting an aggressive effort to win support among African-Americans, a traditionally Democratic constituency that Lt. Gov. Kathleen Blanco sorely needs on her side in the Nov. 15 gubernatorial runoff.
Using targeted ads on urban radio stations and appeals to black business and legislative leaders, Jindal is making inroads among voters who typically support Democrats over Republicans by a margin of 9-to-1 or greater.”
The effort bore its most significant fruit Thursday when Jindal won the endorsement of the BOLD political organization in New Orleans. The group supported Democrat Richard Ieyoub in the primary, but its leaders said an “overwhelming majority” of the group’s 44 members voted to endorse Jindal over Blanco. Jindal is Indian-American; Blanco is white.
Blanco is still expected to win the vast majority of the black vote. But sociologist Silas Lee said endorsements such as the one from BOLD might cut into that advantage by chipping away some voters.
To “those African-Americans who were receptive to Jindal but not totally comfortable with supporting him, this does send a symbolic message that it’s OK to support him,” Lee said. “Now you have African-American political leaders from New Orleans — a segment of them — they’re out of the closet now.”
Although it’s too early to tell whether Jindal can win a significant percentage of the black vote, analysts say the strategy is uncommon for a Republican in Louisiana and has the potential to make life difficult for Blanco. An independent poll shows Jindal with 11 percent support among African-Americans, which is higher than the single-digit support that Republicans often command from that segment in statewide elections.”
Jindal learned his lesson from the last defeat and went aggressively after the white northern Louisiana this time around. That pragmatic strategy worked. And based on that poll above (#227) he may even have doubled the number of blacks who voted for him this time and that probably played a critical role in him gaining an outright majority and avoiding a runoff.
Its an obscene lie to call him a racist or neo-nazi. Especially coming from the silly superficial fools who think bollywood and bhangra constitute indianness! If you want to see desi racism, white-wannabe-ism etc look at your own reflections in the mirror first before pointing fingers.
I should have clarified: I’m referring specifically to the argument over whether or not Barack Obama “whitened up” by having the nickname “Barry” and being a Baptist when he has a Muslim father. I think that’s really irrelevant. It seems like we’re comparing the two because they’re both high profile POC, just on opposite parties.
Which is exactly what I wrote in my post both before and after that sentence. 🙂 My argument is not that Jindal deserves or does not deserve to be in office. It’s that I think it is fair for someone to say that they find his policies so problematic (without any regard to his race, his racial politics, his self-identity) that they do not find cause for celebration. And I think that it’s ok if that makes me petty, too 🙂
It’s that I think it is fair for someone to say that they find his policies so problematic (without any regard to his race, his racial politics, his self-identity) that they do not find cause for celebration. And I think that it’s ok if that makes me petty, too 🙂
that’s fine. i think what’s not fine is when people accuse jindal of being a neo-nazi or anna for being sympathetic for being a neo-nazi for mildly celebrating one aspect/implication of his election.
I’m stunned by how one has to sell your soul to win an election. I’ll let the conversion of religion pass. But, the promise to repeal the hate crime laws when dealing with racists from a brown person is stunning. Its similar to Dinesh D’Souza but much worse in an elected individual.
Although he was not “visibly” so 🙂
Since you think his victory is a bad outcome for everyone, i thought it incumbent upon you to do this.
“Bambina” was going over the line. I apologize–I did so because your response to Anna carried only the veneer of civility and did not seem to substantiate any of your opinions. The time machine would be necessary to prove that Jindal is a bad outcome for everyone as politicians are known to change their rhetoric, sometimes even their entire platform, for the purposes of further electoral success. The rest of my comment tied into that–how could anyone even begin to predict that this is a bad outcome without even thinking about what would be possible in his upcoming term. The conditions on the ground, as Maitri has indicated, do not exactly lend themselves to his achieving any sort of progress on his pet issues. If you think that the conditions lend themselves to the advancement of those issues, please elaborate.
let me pose a question, if he still is a proponent of ID, an opponent of abortion and all-round fundi-crat, but manages to revive LA’s economy, rebuild the viable portion of New Orleans and contribute to a healthier, happier state–would you still view his victory as a net bad outcome?
I agree, and I’m pretty certain I never said either. I find using loaded and inaccurate descriptions for him (whitewashed, ABCD, neo-nazi) all to be relatively repugnant.
they did cricket too?? and predicted 1996 correctly? couldn’t have been aussies.
Although he was not “visibly” so 🙂
right. differences in orthopraxy often matter more than orthodoxy. that’s life, is a “non-visible” sikh any less authentic than a visible sikh? (ok, i shouldn’t have gone there as that’s a different, and very tired, thread).
Manju:
I suppose the conservative approach of hidden but actual bigotry is the better way. I rather liked Borat though. This thread has deviated far from a meaningful discussion and is now dying a slow but long death.
On frozen indian dinners, Ethnic Gourmet and Trader Joes all suck giant donkey ding dongs, IMHO. Amy (of frozen foods fame) should be brought to trial in an Indian panchayat for their crappy matter paneer and sentenced to hard labor. The only one that rocks is Curry Classics, also available at Whole Foods. http://www.indianfoodsco.com/Products/CurryClassics.htm
But, the promise to repeal the hate crime laws when dealing with racists from a brown person is stunning. Its similar to Dinesh D’Souza but much worse in an elected individual.
Right – cause hate crime laws are so effective.
Yes, but they can be easily accepted. Muslims are people of the book. So they can find common cause with the majority of Christians. Buddhism is considered monotheist — so that is also in. Hawaii BTW, has large numbers of East Asian heritage.
“”””””On July, 2007, The United States Senate conducted it’s morning prayer services with a Hindu prayer, a historical first.[4] the prayer was delivered by Rajan Zed, director of interfaith relations at a Hindu temple in Reno, Nevada.[5] During the service, three disruptors, named Ante Nedlko Pavkovic, Katherine Lynn Pavkovic and Christian Renee Sugar, from the Fundamentalist Christian activist group Operation Save America [6] protested that the Hindu prayer was “an abomination”, and that they were “Christians and Patriots”. They were swiftly arrested and charged with disrupting Congress.[7] The event generated a storm of protest from Fundamentalist Christian groups in the country, with the American Family Association posting lengthy anti-Hindu diatribes on their website.[8] Their representative attacked the proceedings as “gross idolatry”[9] [10] The chairman of the United States and India Political Action Committee, Sanjay Puri, has circulated a letter to the organization protesting the move as an act of bigotry. “””””””””
Here are some insights on Bobby Jindal election vote. He had spent considerable time off screen to woo black Americans And he did use religion to influence voters.
Jindal, Religion and Money
Bobby Jindal’s campaign manager Timmy Teepell, sent out a missive warning of a “push poll†focusing upon Jindal’s religion. Along with the missive was a big red button asking for campaign contributions. Teepell said, “We have received very disturbing news that our opponents are up to their dirty tricks again – preparing for yet another assault on Bobby’s Christian faith.
Early this week, we began receiving phone calls from voters throughout the state, saying their house had been called by a political attack firm named “Cooper & Secrest.” The callers reported that they had been deeply disgusted when the firm asked them questions attacking Bobby Jindal’s Christian faith. One question the “Cooper & Secrest” firm asked was: “Bobby Jindal wrote articles for a Catholic magazine against Protestants…Would this lead you to believe that he, as governor, would prevent Protestants from practicing their religion?”
Teepell said “Whether Walter Boasso, Foster Campbell or the Louisiana Democratic Party is paying for this push poll, we do not yet know. It is hard to believe anyone would pay for efforts to attack Bobby’s Christian faith, and we certainly expect any opponent not behind this effort to immediately condemn it.â€ÂÂ
Interestingly, Teepell left out the other major opponent as being a possible culprit, John Georges. Nor did he allege that the poll could have been paid for some other source.
http://www.bayoubuzz.com/News/Louisiana/Politics/Louisiana_Election_Buzz__Jindal_Religion_and_Money_Boasso_Big_Claim_Strain_Vitter_Jena_Six____4691.asp
Following his defeat in 2003, Jindal ran for and won the congressional seat in Louisiana’s first district. Since then, the staunch conservative  who converted from Hinduism to Catholicism as a teenager  has traveled often to northern Louisiana, hitting up churches and pressing the flesh. The strategy appears to have worked, as Jindal handily won the areas he lost to Blanco four years ago and that heavily supported white supremacist David Duke’s bid for the governorship in 1991. Perhaps realizing the difficulties of running to lead a state that has by and large elected white males to higher office, Jindal worked to minimize the significance of his ethnicity on the trail, using variations on the theme of, “the only colors that should matter are red, white, and blue.”
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1674122,00.html
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071017/OPINION0108/710170332/1007/OPINION
He has, away from the cameras, spent considerable time in black churches sharing his Christian witness, as he has before many predominantly white congregations.
curry classics? with a name like that, aren’t they just pandering to the white desire to exotify indianness? what’s for dessert? jindal jalebis?
“I hate brown people…bang” 15 years
bang 10 years.
it puts away the wordy criminals. they need to be in jail, and not assaulting us with the next hackneyed Ulysses.
I didn’t really say it to argue that he’s authentic/inauthentic. I just wonder (and I literally mean wondering, as in aimless non-agenda driven reflection) if he would have been as likely to be elected if he had a full beard and turban. But you’re right, let’s not go there — at least not on this thread, and at least not tonight. 🙂
Buddhism is considered monotheist — so that is also in.
LOL. most americans are pretty stupid (as are most humans). and in fact, i know for a fact that most americans think of the world as judeo-christian* vs. everything else. i.e., muslims are hindus are often interchangeable. i was asked if i worshipped cows when people found out my family was muslim. so i think you’re projecting indian sensibilities on america.
No offense venkat, I don’t buy the “religions of the book… oh and Buddhism, too!” argument. The numbers just don’t add up 🙂
Amy’s desi food is awful but I like their veggie burritos in a pinch. The vegan burrito? Tasty! I still remember when TastyBite came out; it was my (bachelor) great-uncle’s favorite thing ever.
Have to go with the pockets (pizza, broccoli and spinach). Most of Amy’s line has a terrible macronutrient profile, though. It’s definitely a comfort food.
i like my brown food the old fashioned way: i cook it myself. of course i don’t eat brown food very often for the reason 😉
i find that tasty bite, while significantly better than the deep’s line that i had many years ago, has a strong taste of preservatives, which is why i prefer trader joe’s for microwaved indian food.
as for amy’s, i only have the utmost sympathy for the founders’ daughter, whose feeding is the purported motivation for their line of products. she can’t even escape the assault at home by resorting to non-awful frozen foods.
that the ‘judeo-christian’ formula is relatively recent. as late as post-world war ii.
Which would coincide with the period when Jews started to be accepted into the nation’s power structure, a theme that has been elaborated by Philip Weiss. He noted that in the current issue of Vanity Fair, which profiles America’s power brokers, half were Jewish.
i eat mostly japanese. can’t figure out if i hate myself or am just a cultural imperialist.
which would be a great argument if that’s the reason jindal was against them.
food, that is
so what does jindal eat? taste buds tell the tale of a man. also, $100 i can eat spicier food than he can.
First let me just state that I have no problem with Bobby Jindal having converted or having named his kids whatever he did- I mean, even if I did, what does it matter?? It’s not like he’s going to change their names just for me. I don’t think Jindal is ‘self-hating’ or ‘white-washed’ or whatever, and I sincerely hope that he can improve the state of Louisiana. What I do have a problem with, though, is the implication that since he became Governor, suddenly it’ll be a whole lot easier for every other brown American to get involved in politics/the public sphere. Let’s say I decide to get involved in politics; as a Hindu who is not likely to convert to Christianity, I doubt that I would be able to become Governess of Louisiana. Possibly a godless liberal state like Massachusetts or Oregon, but much of America is ruled out for me. So while I am amazed at this historical milestone, I am also uncomfortable with the insinuation that Jindal really did anything for me. Not that it matters what he does for any of us who don’t live in the state of Louisiana though.
Which would coincide with the period when Jews started to be accepted into the nation’s power structure, a theme that has been elaborated by Philip Weiss. He noted that in the current issue of Vanity Fair, which profiles America’s power brokers, half were Jewish.
right. and this is also the period when non-orthodox religious judaism became totally dominant. there is the joke that reform jews are ‘christians with curly,’ lampooning their assimilation of protestant forms (including organ music!). but that’s what is going on, religious acceptability in the USA is often more sociological and cultural than theological. the main issue here are extreme religious conservatives, seem l’affaire romney in the primaries to see that at the boundaries cultural assimilation doesn’t necessary imply total acceptance.
The truth in politics – regardless of country.
Given the nature of the comments I suspect that most of the folks on SM most have never been in elected office nor even stood for one. Jindal wanted to get elected – he did what was necessary – if that meant pandering to the bigotry and prejudice. It is not Sunday school. Will he do good ? Maybe – maybe not. Politicians have a public and private face – what they believe in is vastly different from what is said in public.
You married a man out of love while Jindal converted out of love of Jesus- tis the same. Or are you saying that one is better than the other ?
It is conjecture and speculation coz you dont know him.
Jindal is not Af-Am nor do Af-Ams consitute a major voting bloc – why should he care about Af-Ams? Politicians pander to their voting base. Many of the ‘liberal’ commenters are about as ‘liberal’ as Michelle Malkin. The bigotry and prejudice coming from the left is as scary as the one from the right. People get the politicians that they deserve.
Does anyone have any numbers on the election turnout %. I take it there is no compulsory voting.
razib_the_carvaka on October 21,
Razib — you are right. Many of the white races too had to struggle to be accepted and admitted into the mainstream America.
Rajiv Malhotra of the infinity foundation has just come out with a book on white studies and its implications for Indians
The evolution of whiteness as America’s identity http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2007/04/whiteness-studies-and-implications-for.html
It starts our as: The term whiteness denotes not necessarily race but a power structure based on a politically concocted ethnic and cultural identity. (
I see three dimensions to whiteness in America today: (1) as a secular blend of race, ethnicity and culture; (2) as a civic religion based on Judeo-Christianity/Bible; and (3) as a socioeconomic status. How White you are is measured in this 3-dimensional model. All other identities are based on difference from whiteness.
For, Relevance of whiteness to Indian-Americans
Quote: Indian-Americans are already climbing socioeconomically to “become White†in the #3 dimension. This success reduces their “difference†from the “real†Whites. Historically, this was the mercantile path to the American mainstream. But it does not make them fully White because of the other two factors. Many Indian-Americans (like Bobby Jindal) convert to Christianity to reduce #2 (i.e. religion) as a factor of difference. In order to reduce the alienating impact of #1, one may adopt Enlightenment or Postmodern ideologies, and American pop culture also facilitates this blurring. Unquote
My comment: IF you want to be accepted at the highest offices — you will need a blending of all the three points, probably the second point (religion) being most important. Without being a Christian (which increased his whiteness quotient), Jindal would have made no head way in the political arena, especially in a conservative state like Lousiana.
dude, melbourne desi, a third of Louisiana’s population is black.
From whst I’ve heard fromfriends in the south, the words “outside agitators” struck a lot of blacks the wrong way. Remember our history with these white folks there, some of the killers of Emmitt Till, Schwerner, Cheney and Goodman are not only still alive, but still free! Lots of black people DIED at their hands, forgive them and their children (the boomers) if we’re still al little wary oof them.
Ken Melman admitted the Southern Strategy, giving the same racists a comfortable spot in the Republican party, I don’t know if I’d trust them if I were brown, but maybe my own Af Am history doesn’t let me see that far.
As for us favoring our own, not many of us show much love for Condi, Clarence Thomas or Alan Keyes (to mention a few) and we didn’t come out for Lynn Swan, Ken Blackburn, etc. Of course, as far as white republicans are concerned, we’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t. On more than one occassion I heard some of them tut tutting about how we “disappointed” Lynn, Ken and other black republicans. We did the responsible thing and voted based on our beliefs, not the race of the candidate (something they were sure we wouldn’t do).
Demographics
I totally agree. It would have been more spectacular, if he wasn’t Christian and was in the minority. If he wasn’t Christian, he wouldn’t have had a bat’s chance in hell.
loox like patrick ruffini just jizzed himself over jindal http://www.patrickruffini.com/2007/10/21/our-leader/
btw, the wife looks like phoebe cates in that photo.
Without being a Christian (which increased his whiteness quotient0
Most black people in the U.S. are Christian – so couldn’t Jindal have been trying to be black? It worked for Clinton
i was looking at the headlines at google news http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&ncl=1122315985
they’re interesting, e.g., independent in the uk says: ‘Asian governor lives the American dream.’ times of india says ‘Indian is elected Governor in US.’
“”I see three dimensions to whiteness in America today: (1) as a secular blend of race, ethnicity and culture; (2) as a civic religion based on Judeo-Christianity/Bible; and (3) as a socioeconomic status. How White you are is measured in this 3-dimensional model. All other identities are based on difference from whiteness.”””
The proportion of the whiteness quotent required for success varies depending on the sphere of activity.
In an economic level, Indians are accorded a higher level of whiteness. The emphasis is on the third dimension and points (1) and (2) matter very little. After all you want to make big bucks who cares what your religion or race is. So here probably a Indian Hindu is more whiter than an African American Christian.
At a political level, there is convergence of all the 3 dimensions. But being in the right and accepted religion plays a crucial part. So here an African American scores higher in the whiteness quotient than an Indian, including an Indian Christian.
Thanks for the info.
How many of the Af-Ams vote ? Really sad that with a third of the population the Af-Ams are screwed so badly. Blacks voting has been a major challenge.
i find his victory speech to be impressive, inspiring, and all-american. not only is it nice to hear intelligence coming from the party of bush the second, but he also gives hope and higher expectations for the state of LA. i feel there is more hope for cross-party understanding and collaboration where there exists rational and thoughtful dialog.
Yes, but there are at least a half-dozen major points of nuance that are relevant to describing precisely what that significance is. The wisdom goes every which way on this, that’s how big I see it as being; impossible to condense into a comment or two (or even twenty)…
Thank you Anna for writing the post that gives us a space where the wisdom of the community can come out. Thank you KXB, Amitabh, Camille, razib, Kush, Floridian, Hari, Maitri and all other commenters. Frankly there’s a part of me that does agree with some or all of what you are each saying.
And I really am learning a lot, so I hope people will continue to add and amplify as their time permits.
I was googling Bobby Jindal when I first came to the Mutiny back in January – the mainstream media did not have anywhere near as much detail as there was here. In the future, when someone wants to know more about him, this is where they will come.
It’s big at even the simplest level imaginable, so of course they will have headlines. But on something like this, there’s way more wisdom and nuance right here on SM than anywhere else in any mainstream media outlet. In some ways SM was like the MSM last night, deciding when to ‘call it’ for Jindal, etc. Let’s not look at the MSM too much for validation.
Just as an overall comment, I would say, both this story and the macacagate issue (among many others) was covered here than anywhere else – it certainly shows SM has matured (even if all the commenters haven’t yet 🙂 ). Let’s give ourselves and SM a hearty pat on the back for the way this was covered and for the goldmine of information and analysis that we have here on this issue.
I posted this earlier – at like 3 in the morning. I was hoping to hear some reaction to it. Sorry for the redundancy.
I think that I figured Jindal out a little. I was just lying in bed when it came to me. I remember my own developmental process. When I was young I wanted to be called mark so that people would not call me pumpkin and an aspect of my race would be nullified. I think that is what we see with bobby. Maybe this dynamic exists for religion as well. Personally, I embraced jewish culture so that I was – aside for the three days a year – or whatever it is, reformed jews go to synagogue I was no different than them. I feel that bobby’s development maybe iferred by evidence provided to us by these two factors. I feel he nullified any cultural diffrences, or as many as he could in order to not be impeded by his background. I am interested in hearing your thoughts on this, if any of you are still awake. for those of you who aren’t get up and write!
There’s been so much talk of black and white on this thread…and Amardeep mentioned ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ on the other Jindal thread…somehow, this funky clip I found on youtube sort of shows how much the two communities in the South have developed in tandem over the past 400 years…they connect at hundreds of cultural and subconscious points, exerting mutual influence (which is why the musical mix on the youtube clip works), yet separated by such thick walls too. Something to think about. Enjoy the clip!
Pankaj, I don’t thik “nullifying” your race or culture is very healthy, and I don’t think that’s a fair characterization of Jindal.
@Nala #277 –
I agree with that part of your statement…it won’t be a whole lot easier…it will be just a millimeter easier. I don’t agree with some of the other things you said because I think when anyone that looks like us succeeds, it becomes slightly easier for others that follow. 50 years ago do you think anyone would have thought we’d have a woman running for president of the US? I doubt it but now that a significant amount of women are in government/politics it has become a reality. In business and politics people pull up those who look like them… If his winning doesn’t help you directly in your political aspirations it might help others who look like you…
BTW, I don’t agree with Jindal’s political views but ‘what goes around comes around…’ and maybe he’s playing the political part like Schwarznegger and his moderate side will come out….one can hope…
I first thought that was his wife in the picture up top. It isn’t. This is him with his wife.
I think venkat has an interesting idea in #288. Do you think those with higher whiteness quotinets become more removed from those in their ethnic group who haven’t gotten there yet? Must one make more efforts to stay connected? I kind of think so. I ahve a graduate degree (J.D.) and am a practicing attorney, but I have always lived in predominanatly Af Am communities (and no, not some of the high income ones like in Atlanta or D.C., although I have relatives in both cities who do). Maybe, I’m trying to balance out my whiteness quotient 🙂
Another thing comes to mind, apropos of nothing (except maybe brown people in the South); I went to a Black college, and one thing I’ve never heard mentioned here is the brown connection to them. In the early years of the last century, when many white colleges wouldn’t accept brown or Asian students, many of them went to HBCU’s. Also, many taught there too. Looking at my school’s archives, I saw where the majority of the engineering faculty in the 1960’s and 70’s were brown! Did that happen at any white universities that early? Anyone out there have those connections?
Unlike most of the Hindus and Sikh Americans here, Christians of Indian origin who live in America [and India] are ecstatic. Our community is buzzing with excitement and anticipation. Church this morning was like nothing I have experienced in my two decades in this country. Prominent Indian/Christian – Americans like the National Review Columnist, Ramesh Ponurru, who, too, accepted Our Lord Jesus Christ as his savior and Public Intellectual Dinesh D’Souza will be talking about this historic and blessed event in the media in the coming week. Quite frankly, I wonder, only wonder, whether the reaction expressed on this forum would be the same if Jindal were Hindu or Sikh?
I remember my own developmental process. When I was young I wanted to be called mark so that people would not call me pumpkin and an aspect of my race would be nullified.
the key is my, your. i grew up in considerably less multicultural and racial circumstances than most SM commenters, but i seem to have fewer racial hang ups or sense of alienation. part of is that i am not as culturally moored as most readers, i disavow any ‘cultural islam,’ let alone belief in primitive superstitions as tokens of communal attachment so i have no attachment to any south asian religion. but a lot of this is a function of personality. i’m self-absorbed and conceited and narcissistic in many ways and have never though much of most of humanity nor have i wished for their esteem or respect. bobby jindal on the other hand seems more genuinely prosocial and i would wager that his normal human need for acceptance and recognition and to be part of the community resulted in some of the choices he made. since i’m sure i would be an outsider no matter where i am it really doesn’t matter that most americans might perceive me to be an outsider. i’m sure i would have been an outsider if i was born in brownland as well.
so a lot of this is contingent upon your own circumstances and predispositions. it’s hard to judge other people because you aren’t them and wouldn’t react the same way to particular circumstances as they did. psychology is a primitive and hard science and attempts to analyze others too often leads simply to offer up a window upon the analyst’s own psyche and preconceptions.
whether bobby jindal is a sell out or not is a question that could generate a talmudic quantity of commentary. as far as the issues, that is more cut & dried, as can be evidenced by the more succinct nature of comments which hinge on public policy as opposed to personal narrative.
I’m assuming that you’re making the assumption that if Jindal was a Sikh/Hindu and not Christian, that our reactions would be uniformly positive.
this is unlikely, as the majority of legitimate negative reactions were to his policies and pet issues (intelligent design and absolute opposition to abortion in all situations). His going by ‘Bobby’ could have been a feature of a Sikh or Hindu Jindal.
Do most of the people in your church share his views on ID and abortion?