Maybe Democrats need to take a page out of the Republican playbook (via Asian Pacific Americans for Progress).
South Carolina State Representative Nikki Haley has just announced she’ll be running for Governor of the Palmetto State. Not only that, but as the preferred candidate of Republican Governor Mark Sanford, who is being term-limited out, Haley will have a lot of muscle behind her candidacy.[apap]
<
p> Looks like Nikki calls herself an an Indian-American, but there is little other reference to being Desi on her site.
<
p>
Since becoming the first GOP Indian American in the nation to win a State House seat in 2004, Nikki has been named Chairman of the Freshman Caucus (2005), and Majority Whip (2006). In 2008, Nikki was re-elected by the largest margin of any state representative with a contested general election in South Carolina.Born in Bamberg, S.C., Nikki graduated from Clemson University with a B.S. degree in accounting. Nikki currently serves on the board of directors for Mt. Horeb United Methodist Church Medmission. She is a member of the Lexington County Chamber of Commerce, Lexington Rotary Club, National Association of Women Business Owners, West Metro Republican Women, Lexington County Republican Party and the NRA.[nikkihaley]
First Bobby Jindal and now Nikki Haley. I’m surprised that not only is it the Republican party that is supporting South Asians into Governorship, but that they are in South Carolina and Louisiana. These are hardly states where I would imagine people of color gaining popular votes into leadership roles. I’m not sure what her chances are, but I have to say it is good to see a Desi woman vying for political power, even if she’s an NRA member. Question is, when will the Democrats start supporting Desis vying for higher political power as well?
ACORN!!! One of the greatest frauds in voter history!! Buying votes with stimulus money!!
She did give her kids Indian names by the way. This even though their dad is white. I doubt her political side tells the whole story of her ties to desi culture.
Abhi – you call my comments ignorant – perhaps they are. However I do not know these people personally/ well – I get what I can about them from the news/ internet etc.
But from the point of view of someone born in India, it does feel like a lot of their indian identity (name, religion, day to day life) is differnt to most others – that was the point of my comment.
Again – I’m not questioning her giving up her name – I know many many people do it to make lives easier. Nikki is much easier for most westerners to say than Nimrita. Same goes for the Randhawa part.
My comment was made because we’re talking about these “Indian” candidates – but as I say, not knowing them personally, reading about them personally as well as professionally doesn’t really scream “Indian” to me. It almost feels like they have distanced themslves from this part of their life somewhat.
Also – I note I’m not the only one with these feelings – just the first!
In any case, I would still wish her and Mr. Jindal both god luck. They might well be the reason why more Indians come into politics – even if they come in because:
*We need to see desi politicians with desi identities. *We need to see more desi democrat politicians.
Its all good!
look, i don’t know who really did nikki first, amardeep or abhi…but either way, what i would like to focus on is taz doing her now.
The kids’ names are always Indian in these cases. I think it comes out of guilt or the realization that it is so easy to be not-Indian after all. I reached that point a couple of years ago. And since I didn’t have kids I did the next best thing, I gave the dog an Indian name. Nice dog but yaps too much on the internet.
So far as I have seen desis have a marked tendency to settle down in sprawling suburbs/exurbs that are predominantly White and conservative. Given that, it makes sense that we wouldn’t find many politicians among us who loudly proclaim their heritage because of the kinds of folks whose votes they would have to shoot for.
But in this case it seems to be short for Nimrata.
That’s funny because most of the families I have seen in India with dogs gave them English names.
Yea. But in terms of the “Indianness” of her name, it’s actually an Indian name even though it’s also a Greek/Russian/English/Hebrew one.
My meanderings through “baby names” websites indicate that it seems to be kind of universal.
That is sorta my name, but no one ever shortened it like that. I do remember that in rural VA people asked me if they could me Natasha. I’d rather stay away from porn star names though.
He’s threaded that needle very finely when it comes to the role of Christianity in public policy – for example, creating orgs like this, the Louisiana Commission on Marriage and Family with folks like Tony Perkins and Gene Mills, not to mention his embrace of creationism, including signing a bill sponsored by the infamous Discovery Institute.
But I don’t want to turn this thread into the ad nauseum debate on Jindal, so I’ll just stop with this comment.
Porn star name? The first thing I thought of was Rocky and Bullwinkle.
Also, “Natesa,” which is pronounced similarly to “Natasha” is
Ruby Dhalla represents Brampton-Springdale, which is home to one of the largest (if not the largest) Sikh community in greater Toronto, and also one of the largest Sikh communities in Canada.
I caught the clip of Nikki Haley that was posted in comment #27. She says the word “important” and it sounds like John Edwards 🙂
All the best to her. Another Desi Governor would not be bad !!!
and give me a break with the name thing. You havent heard name “Nikki” ?? I mean seriously ???
what’s your problem with her name? Nikki is a very common Punjabi nickname. My cousin’s real name is Harpreet and everyone calls her Nikki. My brother’s name is Bobby!
Word.
Another South Asian Dem–Rano Singh in Arizona. State legislator (in a republican state).
I support Nikki Haley because she is a reformer who was willing to upset the SC House leadership in her own party to do the right thing. She is the future of the GOP; her opponents are the past. Thanks to all who commented. It was a very interesting read. To the gent who said that no members of the Congressional Black Caucus were Republicans, I wanted to note that the CBC refused to let former Rep. J.C. Watts (R-OK) become a member. Gary Franks (R-CT) was also a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1991-1997.
Was dropping “Randhawa†more about race or gender? Republicans are generally not fond of women with hyphenated names. Surprisingly few states have been led by women. Larger, cosmopolitan states like NY, CA & FL have yet to elect a woman. But the smaller states like AZ, NH & KS have had multiple female leaders. So I wouldn’t crap on SC.
There are Kumar Barve in Mayland and Satveer Chaudhary Minnesota.
I just did some preliminary ‘internet research’ and I see multiple references to J.C. Watts actually being offered, but declining membership to the CBC due to differences in policy.
I’ve never understood this need to psychoanalyze Indians and their name changes and/or use of anglicized nicknames. The use of anglicized names has been fairly common historically among many immigrant groups in this country. It’s not my place to criticize others in what they did to assimilate into American culture, though I view Jindal’s inability to even acknowledge his heritage somewhat pathetic (just a personal opinion).
I will give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to religious conversions and their own religious faith, even if they espouse some radically conservative religious beliefs.
However, what I don’t like about Jindal is what I don’t like about the GOP in general and their insistence that faith and namely their faith, which is basically their brand of theocratic right wing Christianity – be implemented in public policy (with regards to Stem Cell research, prayer in schools, evolution in the class room, abortion, etc). Of course, I don’t agree with the GOP on much else either…
I don’t know if she’s as extreme as Jindal and she probably doesn’t have the same name recognition and reputation Jindal did. Jindal was known to be some kind of boy-wonder genius and had a fairly impressive resume, having worked at the WH for some time before running for governor. I think he won the GOP primary pretty easily. He lost in a close general election, ran for a House seat, and eventually won the gubernatorial election by a decent margin.
Indian-Americans were big supporters of Obama in the last election, and vote more democratic, like other immigrant groups. Fewer people are identifying with the GOP now anyways, and what has motivated a few wealthy Indian-Americans to support them is basically fear, greed and religious conservatism like most others that vote republican. I think the rise of Desi politicians in general is a good thing though and is indicative that even in more conservative states like SC and LA, race may be playing less of a factor. That’s good news for everyone even if I don’t agree with their politics.
Insofar as race plays a factor it is often a proxy for social class. Blacks and Hispanics aren’t subsumed under “White culture” the way Irish or Italian Americans are because there happens to be a large Black and Hispanic underclass in this country. Without the underclass the negative racial stereotypes sit on the back-burner.
Religious discrimination, however, is still alive and kicking. Given the stories about the people accusing Mrs. Haley of being a “Hindoo” or a “Buddhist,” the fact that the general response was “NO I’M NOT!” rather than “So what if I was?” stands as evidence of that.
The Republican Party has a thing for “born-again” desis. Indian immigration in the southern United States has tended to follow a pattern of desis filling the interstices of the black-white divide. Pushed away from the more remunerative north, you see the “Indian rural doctor” stereotype in the deep south. What we see now are the second-order effects….they are sorta like us amongst the “people of color” and they believe in jeezus and the right to bear arms. Wow!
But why should they have to assimilate? Why can’t they join American society without giving up their cultural heritage? I thought that was the whole point of being so happy on this blog that a man named ‘Barack’ and not ‘Barry’ became president. So it’s just plain hypocrisy to get upset that some readers are upset that an actual DESI politician can’t keep their name and get elected.
What is the “indian rural doctor” stereotype?
Another Indian Am politician for the Republican party? I’m sorry, but in my opinion that person has strayed so much from their identity. I shall never understand what Indians have to gain in the Republican Party!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikki_Haley
Some of you people who hate on Jindal and Haley for not being South Asian enough need to get a life. Both Nikki and Bobby live in parts of the United States in which there are not alot of people of the same background. And I guess it safe bet when Mr.Jindal and Mrs.Haley were growing up in the 70’s and 80’s they were one of the few familes in whole area. So maybe they were not exposed to there culture, the way they would have if they had grown up in Yuba City, Vancouver or Southhall.
There are alot of South Asians born in England who have not given up there culture and in fact not at all intergrated into western society and want to do things, that if they are successful. There action’s will make it harder for all brown people in the west, yet they never get the hate here, that Bobby Jindal does.
That’s actually not true. While we are geographically disperse, South Asians in the U.S. have been able to mobilize political voting blocs at the local government-level. This is not to the exclusion, however, of running on pan-ethnic platforms.
@Ashwini: With respect to changing one’s first name (the last name is another story), I think it’s a little presumptuous to assume assimilation. “Nikki” is not an uncommon nickname among Punjabis, and it conveniently doubles as a word/moniker in both Punjabi and English. Jumping to the “assimilationist!” rhetoric is a little knee-jerk.
@ sa:
wow, inappropriate!
@ Manju: You recall incorrectly, friend. Local staffers for the event removed a hijabi woman, but BHO did not and made his staff apologize to her.
@ Rahul, I’ve missed you.
That’s actually not true. While we are geographically disperse, South Asians in the U.S. have been able to mobilize political voting blocs at the local government-level. This is not to the exclusion, however, of running on pan-ethnic platforms.
But is nowhere the same level that it is here in Canada. In British Columbia 7 of the 79 MLA are Punjabi, and we have 3 Punjabi MP from Vancouver who run in parts of the Greater Vancouver area’s with a huge punjabi community. I think it the same for the Punjabi MP’s in the Toronto Area.
Question is, when will the Democrats start supporting Desis vying for higher political power as well?
Democrats will start supporting indian americans vying for higher political office after blacks, hispanic and Jews in the democratic party are satisfied with their share of political power.
What is up with Indian American politicians ditching their religious/spiritual background?
Bobby Jindal converted to Catholicism. Nikki Randhawa-Haley’s family is Methodist (as per Wikipedia).