My friend Reshma recently emailed me to ask if I could highlight a fundraising event in NYC she was holding for Obama. Reshma, formerly of South Asians for Hillary and South Asians for Kerry, is one of the members of Barack Obama’s new Asian American Finance Committee (other members mentioned here). Normally I would have just placed the event info on our “Events Tab,” where you can highlight just about any desi-related event. There was something about this event that was different though and I couldn’t put my finger on it until I re-read her email again. Then it struck me that the event itself represents a political first…as far as I know. This is the first time that such a large group of Indian American “celebrities” is being deployed in favor of a Presidential candidate. I am putting quotes around the word celebrities not to minimize the successes of some of these individuals but rather to contrast their pull to what we traditionally think of as Hollywood political celebrities (e.g., George Clooney, Ben Affleck, Angelina Jolie, Jane Fonda, etc.). In the past, both parties have relied on wealthy DBDs such as Sant Chatwal or various tech entrepreneurs or medical doctors for their campaign donations (from mostly first generation Indian Americans). Obama and his committee are taking a different approach, perhaps because he doesn’t want McCain to call him D-Punjab.
In all the loud talk of unity amongst the campaigns there is at least one tear jerker, or sort of – a controversial Indian American supporter of Hillary Clinton, appears to have not found favour with the Illinois Senator Barack Obama in the post-union phase of the Democratic party for 2008 presidential elections.
Sant Chatwal, known as one of the most effective fund raiser among the Indian American money bags, is not in the list of Asian Americans Finance Committee officials announced by the Obama campaign. [Link]
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p>Instead of enlisting only rich “uncles” to help bring in the cash from our community, Obama picked a much younger group and that younger group in turn thinks young desi celebs may be the way to bring in the cash for their candidate (although this is probably just one of many ways they are considering). Their target demographic appears to be very similar to the type that reads SM:
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p>I believe the way this model works is that a typical second-gen voter (and many younger DBDs) will see that some of his/her favorite brown celebrities support Obama and will thus follow suit and additionally supply some cash to the campaign (and probably get to meet these folks as well). I am pretty sure (unless someone has statistics to educate me) that this is a fairly successful model among many larger communities. What I am very curious to learn however, is if this model will work when applied to our South Asian American community which is still quite small by comparison. Small enough in fact the some of the people reading this may already be friends with one or more of the individuals listed above.
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p>There are two thoughts I take away after learning about this event:
- Perhaps the political power of South Asians in America is finally beginning to shift from the first generation to the second.
- It looks like every year there are a few more South Asian Americans with a high enough profile that they can be thought of as celebrities and opinion influencers. This is quite a departure from the 80s and 90s where desi celebs and Bollywood were inextricably tied together.
Finally, I have to say that if the AAFC had asked for my opinion I would have requested that Huma or Padma be put on the flyer as well 
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Statistics* show that 86.34% of the time:
99% of SM’s demographic is between the ages of 14 and 70. The average age is 30 within 2 STD DEV (5) Outliers include 1. Automated Nucular Neohuman Androids 2. Anna (who looks timeless)** 3. louiecypher (historical sources cite the devil to be ageless)
They are mostly Haplogroups H, R2, R1a1 and J2. Two special exceptions include one speculated instance of the prevalance of an L haplogroup where the individual, through constant self-assertion of an African/Black identity has been able to change his Genetic make-up and in another case, the individual, through constant assertions by others has started to take on a yet-to-be-explored Canadian variant.***
80% are stalkers, 1% blog, 17% comment, 1% got here through eggzellenth spelling sk1llz on search engines****, 1% are looking for sex
Among the 17% that comment: 10% comment occassionally, 5% comment frequently, 1.75% are drunk, .25% are erudite statisticians (apth, TheBrownChamp and I) Among the 10% that comment occassionally, 8% have something valuable to contribute, 1% should have stayed as conscientous stalkers (includes me), 1% met the 2% that were drunk Among the 5% that comment all the time, 3% have something valuable to say most of the time, .5% are Manju and are hence hilarious AND valuable, .5% are quodlibetic (Razib), .75% met the 3% that were drunk and .25% (like me) should stay conscientous stalkers.
30 · apth said
My beef with “the aunties and uncles” is based on my experience with the aunties and uncles in my community, and said beef usually has something to do with their uncritical support of any opportunist who picks up the rhetoric of Khalistan. Also, I their “support” and political involvement usually starts and ends with writing a check, which is, in my estimation, a very shallow sort of civic involvement.
Why should Sikhs in Houston be writing checks to Dan Burton from Indiana? Isn’t Dan Burton supposed to be representing his constituents in Indiana? How many of his constituents are waiting to meet with him while he’s off raising money in Texas?
38 · apth said
I assume you’re saying that we’re a bunch of idealistic rich brats who should be voting Republican. Fail. Try again.
My ideals of caring for those less fortunate than me come from my being raised in a house where I was taught that this is Guru Nanak’s way–that we all benefit from sharing what god gave us. (I am an atheist so I’d change “god” to “the earth,” but you catch my drift.)
Some of us think that it is in everybody’s long-term best interest to distribute America’s bounty more equitably. Some of us identify our “Self” as a much larger organism than the one within the bounds of our individual skin, so “self-interest” has a different meaning for us.
Any moron can stand up and give it that rhetoric and find a group of people willing to give him cover. With time, as that generation dies out, hopefully it will largely die out too.
A common thing I have observed amongst Desi immigrants of every background is that as they grow up in the West, in a liberal, largely tolerant, multi-ethnic, pluralistic society, in which their children grow up believing in multicultural friendships and relationships. In return the elders have a dream about an idealised utopia back in the the desh, and they cling to anything that embodies that, this pure, idealised motherland, in which there is no miscegenation, no dissent, and everything is OK. And often, their stunted minds get hooked on the emotive rhetoric of reactionaries, and you see the phenomenon of diasporas supporting truly horrible political and ethnic supremacist and separatist agendas.
I just like to ask them, if you are frightened of what the West represents, and romanticise the purity of your religious or ethnic utopia, why did you bother emigrating to the West in the first place? Needless to say, it is not a popular question to ask.
54 · Joolz said
Rushdie wrote a book about that.
I just want to qualify, not all Desi elders are like that, I was generalising too much there. I was talking about a sub section of the Desi elders.
Maybe I should qualify it again Harbeer. I think it’s probably natural to romanticise ‘imaginary homelands’. And I have sympathy with the nostalgia and reminiscence they feel. It’s just when it takes on too rigid and uncritical an edge that it becomes actually rather loathsome. And that feeds into civic engagement in the country your children are born in. Orienting your engagement on the basis of your imaginary homeland, replicating communal lobbying of local politicians, has a very stale and bitter and regressive edge to it. And it diverts attention from the world you live in now.
Anyway, if we are all assimilated in a generation or two it won’t matter, we’ll just be what everyone else is.
53 · Harbeer said
i’m an ex-idealistic poor brat who’s voting for Bob “I’m not Black!” Barr–with the knowledge that I am an outlying example (poor, voting for a third-party) in the US desi population. Do you think what apth wrote is factually incorrect?
58 · Nayagan said
Which part of it? That 2nd-Genners come from wealthy backgrounds or that it’s not in rich people’s self-interest to “share the bounty?” I would take issue with both statements.
“I would take issue with both statements.”
Ok, so what causes you to do so (aside from the biographical information provided above and personal philosophy)?
I can say that 2nd-Genners don’t all come from wealthy backgrounds because many of my 2nd-Gen peers and I don’t come from wealthy backgrounds. I grant you that “Apth” said “most” and not “all.” I am not aware of any studies on this subject and I’m not too concerned with any data Razib digs up about how 95.3% of all desis in America make more than $576,000/year because that doesn’t make ME 95.3% wealthy (or have the attitude of of somebody who’s 95.3% wealthy).
The street I grew up (a small suburban street spanning about three blocks and ending in a cul-de-sac) had at least 8 Indian and Pakistani working class families living on it. Those are the 2nd Gen desis I grew up with. You may not see us, but we do exist.
As for rich people’s self-interest in sharing with the poor–you never know where a good idea is going to come from. If everybody is given the opportunity to become the best person they are capable of becoming, society as a whole benefits. Actually, I don’t know how to answer your question without bringing my personal philosophy (i.e. common sense) into it. I don’t think that makes what I’m saying any less valid, either.
Yes, even rich people benefit if everybody has food, clothing, shelter, and an education. At least their daughters won’t run off with poor ignorant bastards…
61 · Harbeer said
Hard to see that from the trailer park.
can relate somewhat, but my sample population was definitely skewed towards children of professionals–at least households that could afford a $1,200 summer camp for up to 2 children.
not even thinking about that–it’s clear to me that you’re not trying to make a truth-statement (i.e. the sun rises in the west/east).
Ok, I just like to see more specificity when people talk about helping poor people–such that these wishes to help are accompanied by qualifying statements (i.e. helping them maintain a subsistence-level existence, stop being poor (permanently), etc.)
I just like to ask them, if you are frightened of what the West represents, and romanticise the purity of your religious or ethnic utopia, why did you bother emigrating to the West in the first place? Needless to say, it is not a popular question to ask.
I been asking the same question for the past 6 years since I moved to Vancouver.
Abhi, Amardeep and other writers of political issues – i know it is cool for all (or most) brown people to cheer Obama, but have any of you written about the real implications for the largest brown concentration (india) or even the larger south asia? E.g. Bush might have been a disaster for rest of the world and US, but his time was the turning point for US-India relations, as well for the econo-military-political emergence for India. No democrat would ever have taken a political risk and given India a pass on the nuclear deal. etc etc.