As many people may have heard, Nikki Haley came out with a commanding lead in the South Carolina governor’s primary last night (49% to 22% for the second place finisher), though she was just shy of enough votes to avoid a runoff. I thought some of the quotes in the New York Times’ article about it speak to some of the issues that Ennis raised last week:
If she wins the general election in November, Ms. Haley would be the first woman and first racial minority elected governor of South Carolina. In a speech to supporters on Tuesday night, Ms. Haley said she has challenged the status quo — but less through her age, race or gender, and more through her political views. (link)
At first that might not be so surprising, but consider this: South Carolina is 30% African American.
But in terms of her personal upbringing, Ms. Haley is without precedent for South Carolina. The state has the lowest percentage of women elected to office of any state in America. And Ms. Haley is the only Indian-American elected official in the state. (link)
While the “raghead” comment was disgusting, the fact that she’s a woman has also been a huge factor in the campaign, with two men, both political operatives, claiming to have had affairs with her.
Sometimes American politics is maddening. But sometimes a certain passion for fair play asserts itself:
“It has become a referendum on whether you think she was treated fairly,” said Danielle Vinson, the chairwoman of the political science department at Furman University in Greenville, S.C. Indeed, Sonny Hulon, 74, a retired grocery store employee who was voting at a senior citizen center in Columbia, said he had changed his support to Ms. Haley. “I voted for the lady,” he said, referring to Ms. Haley. “I was going to vote for McMaster but I didn’t like all of the junk that the other campaigns were saying about the lady.”
Allen Cuthrell, 52, an electrical engineer from Greenville, said he thinks the attacks benefitted Ms. Haley, whom he supports. “It exposed the good old boy machine,” he said. “People didn’t realize how bad it was until they saw Nikki getting attacked.” (link)
I like that: “I voted for the lady.” It’s interesting that he doesn’t say her name. And there are similar kinds of quotes in the Washington Post’s coverage.
Nikki Haley’s political views are not my own. But it is impressive that she has withstood these attacks, and even — improbably — benefited from them.
While I have little familiarity with the intricacies of South Carolina politics, one phrase that kept coming up in blog posts and articles was “the Good Old Boys” – which appears to be shorthand by South Carolina voters who complain that there is too close a connection between its elected officials and special interests. They went to the same schools, hunt together, and when the politicians leave office, they get cushy jobs with their corporate pals. Many female bloggers and readers viewed Haley as a welcome challenge to the status quo. Plus, it is one thing for a woman to spread gossip about another woman. It is simply unheard of for men to spread gossip about a woman in such a public fashion.
I still believe that what Haley and Jindal have donw with respect to their parent’s culture is a net-setback for the Indian-American community. I’d like to point out that I have no problems had Haley and Jindal converted to Mormonism, Jehovah Witness, Islam, or any other faith which doesn’t come with more social prestige. Moreover, I have no problems with Indians in India converting to a non-Hindu-based faith, since this is a sincere manifestation of faith and not socio-economic prestige or opportunism.
Haley was the victim of the worst smear campaign that I had ever seen. I do, however, agree with one thing that Jake Knotts (the “raghead” comments guy) said about her: Haley is ashamed of her religion.
“It is simply unheard of for men to spread gossip about a woman in such a public fashion.”
Maybe this is unusual in politics, but I’ve seen this happen pretty often in the workplace. When a competent, attractive, young woman threatens the status quo, people will slut-shame her as a means of discrediting her. It reeks of desperation.
Boston Mahesh: Where is the evidence that Namrata Randhawa is ashamed of her origins?
Not just SC, but that term extends essentially to the entire Masonic system, whose members have significant business and political control in the West.
Can you substantiate that? She’s quite proudly methodist, or so I thought. I kinda agree with you on the ‘net-setback’ point…if Dem Desis can run under their REAL names, why can’t the GOP ones?
She got a lot of support from people who also like the Tea Party. Accusations of infidelity certainly helped her, not just because ostensibly it makes her opponents look mean, but more importantly it indicates that the pretty lady might indeed put out. Every post-middle aged man can appreciate that. On the other hand, if she looked like Bella Abzug, I doubt she would have gotten as far.
Do most people here understand that Haley and Jindal did not grow up in places like Southall England or Surrey Canada. But instead grow up in places like South Carolina and Louisiana in the 1970/80’s which means they didn’t grow up the same way many other punjabi’s in the west did. That may have some effect on why they are not brown enough for many of the readers of this website.
But for the some of you who judge desi’s who run for office on how brown they are.should come to Vancouver. Where most of the punjabi’s MLA and MP’s in office are very proud of there punjabi background and get elected on there brownness[ they run in areas with large punjabi population] and then do nothing in office. We have major issues in the punjabi community like domestic violence, gang violence and the mistreatment of new punjabi immigrants who work on farms owned by other punjabi’s. Yet the punjabi’s elected in office other are beyond useless when it comes to these issues other then Ujjal Dosanjh.
Is having the right religion a necessary credential in Southern politics? For governors, it would appear so. The first and last Jewish governor of a Southern state was David Emanuel, who served for one year as governor of Georgia in 1801. I mean raised Jewish and acknowledged Judaism as his faith — not someone like George Allen, who “found out” his ancestry after he served his term.
Meanwhile, Jewish governors have appeared in every other part of the country, and three are serving right now in Hawaii, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. For a group of people that’s 1% of the population, it shows that Jews are under-represented in the South and over-represented elsewhere. By the way, “under-” or “over-representation” doesn’t imply a moral judgement, just a statistical observation.
Now, there may be fewer Jews in the South than elsewhere in the country, but the same is true of Indians. I assume Nikki Haley is going to win. Then why will we have two ethnic-Indian governors in the South, who look obviously different, while Jews — who don’t visibly stick out — haven’t done the same thing? Jews who haven’t converted haven’t succeeded, while those who did (e.g., George Allen) have succeeded.
It’s no different for the brown people.
Suki brings up an important point. From time to time, some folks on here have expressed the wish that South Asians were as prominent in America’s politics as they are in the UK and Canada. I did not share this view, since the U.S. is such a massively larger country, so our approach to political integration would have to be different. When we have Canadian friends visit us, I’m always a bit stunned when I hear their tales of Punjabi gangs in Vancouver, or Bangladeshi politicians in Ontario trying to use ties to the old country as a basis for vote-getting.
Haley and Jindal simply do not have enough of an ethnic base to use that as a platform to launch their careers. Nor can they run as New Yorkers or Californians if they hope to govern a Southern state. Both promote themselves as technocrats, and only address cultural issues when journalists, in the hopes of selling a story, ask them about it – or, when politicians like Knotts think that is they key to winning votes. As the universal rejection of Knotts’ comments shows, he is using an old playbook.
If Haley does win the nomination, she may still have a tough fight ahead of her. South Carolina still elects Democrats as governor from time to time. She is unlikely to get any of the black vote, and the Democrats most effective strategy would be to tie her as much as possible to Mark Sanford, the current, disgraced governor.
I’m not familiar with Canadian politics, but what Suki and KXB describe sounds repellent. Nevertheless, there’s a big difference between campaigning on your ethnicity and campaigning while disavowing it, as “Bobby” Jindal seems to do. There ought to be room for a South Asian to say “Hi, my name is Surya Yalamanchili” and not have it drive your poll numbers one way or the other. It may be true in Ohio. It appears less likely in the South.
Jindal and Haley are just using the Alan Keyes playbook and updating it by leaving out Keyes’s brand of tinfoil crazy.
I’d hope Haley loses her general election, but despite being a Democrat I’m vaguely glad she (probably) will survive the primary. I don’t want her to get defeated like this, from an onslaught of sexist and racist attacks.
Man, intersectionality is a bitch.
A talkshow host who never won an election wrote a playbook? Sorry, but the more likely model is the Jewish one. With the exception of Joe Lieberman, most Jewish candidates and elected officials downplay their Jewish background, although they will tap into Jewish professional networks for financial backing to get their campaigns up and running. Once that is done, they then expand and try to appeal to other groups.
And a blessing – allowing one form of identity (ethnic, religious, linguistic) is a poor way to select a candidate, or run a government.
“I’d hope Haley loses her general election, but despite being a Democrat I’m vaguely glad she (probably) will survive the primary. I don’t want her to get defeated like this, from an onslaught of sexist and racist attacks.”
I feel the same way. I think the republican party has really shown its stripes with the way Haley has been treated. Big tent my ass.
Yes and no KXB. Jewish candidates don’t have to jump the much bigger color hurdle. These two are smart enough to tone down their teabaggery for the general public, but it’s always there to reassure the core that isn’t too hot on their “unAmerican” roots.
Mr. X:
Jewish elected officials have their own counterpart to teabag nuttery, which is an a hard-right position when it comes to U.S.-Israel relations. Chuck Schumer is hard-left on almost all issues, except this one.
re ethnic politics, its not terribly different from the obama playbook. both converted to the majority religion. If you recall, before iowa, Bam was very big on his religiousity (some mutineers even complained about it if I recall (PAFD??). He was terrified about his muslim roots and his political enemies even within his own party (clinton, Kerrey, stephanie tubbs jjones, larry johnson) tried desperately to use it against him, as did nikki’s.
early on, he also had a “post-racial” meme and was routinely called an uncle tom or similar (bobby rush, the media mogul guy at a Clinton ralley, Andrew young) by those of his own race.) His aim was to be the leader of all Americans, as apparently is nikkis.
Suki: Kash Heed. Wally Oppal.
KXB: Bangladeshi politicians in Ontario — name one.
Oodoodanoo: Yasir Naqvi. Rahim Jaffer (for better and worse).
Obama did not ‘convert’ to a majority religion. He converted in the sense that Dubya converted. Also there is enough evidence to demonstrate that Obama started going to Wright’s church when he was a community organizer. This was even before he went to HLS so he wasn’t thinking of Hillary etc. when he joined Wright’s Church.
Yes, I was critical of Obama’s overt display of religiosity during and after the Iowa Caucus and did bring that up here at SM a few times.
amardeep – what is the diffrerence between jindal and haley?
PAFD, since you seem to be so obsessed with names as a signpost for origins, you should at least get them right. It is Nimrata, not Namrata. I also like all the shifting goalposts. Nikki named one of her kids, Nalin, which is pretty desi, and acknowledges that she attends Sikh ceremonies as a mark of respect to her parents. Somehow, the fact that she goes by a shortening of her first name to Nikki, something many Indians do, has made her some sort of traitor?
amardeep – what is the diffrerence between jindal and haley?
There isn’t much difference between them, I don’t think.
For the record, I posted my ambivalence about Jindal in October 2007 here:
http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/004801.html
Just as I wouldn’t have voted for Jindal, I don’t think I would vote for Haley. But that doesn’t prevent me from being moved by her success.
Why are we assuming that Jindal is ashamed of his past? He was raised in America. He did, at the end of the day marry a very brown looking woman. No one gives Sanjay Gupta a hard time for marrying a blonde. Maybe Bobby Jindal is just a “blend of east and west.”
I don’t like his politics. But it does seem like a lot of Jindal bashing has its roots in his conversion to Catholicism. And that really is no better than the “rag head” comments.
Ikram,
You got me, I cannot name a single Bangladeshi-origin politician in the province of Ontario. I also cannot name the head of some of the Vancouver-based Punjabi gangs, and I also cannot name a single player on the Blue Jays – therefore they must not exist. Perhaps the next time my friends from Mississauga tell me about shenanigans among politicians, the countless posters and lawn signs that are hung up, and seem to stay up after elections, I should dismiss them.
I don’t find Knotts’ comments offensive in the least. Personally, I call all Italian-American public figures raguheads.
Is her name really Nimrata? That would make no sense. Her parents are pretty educated. Why would they give her a nonsensical name? The word is ‘Namrata’ which means kindness in Hindu. Maybe her name really is Nimrata but I doubt it.
Maybe her parents are self hating traitors too.
Or maybe her parents speak Sikh instead of Hindu.
Re: Hindu language
Rahul: You don’t understand sarcasm, do you? Is that because there is no word for sarcasm in Indian?
Btw, you are right about Nimrata in Gurmikhi.
Is this sarcastic? Please to explain. Also, it would be great if you could illuminate why you couldn’t even get her name right when apparently her shortening it alone has conveyed to you that she is ashamed of her origins.
Has she ever publicly talked in detail about about how/when she converted to Methodism? There is a lot of stuff out there about the details of Jindal’s conversion.
I was trying to ingratiate myself with the Hindu speaking mutineers by Hindi-ising her name.
OH, SNAP!
Uh, which one? Sanskrit, Pali, Tamil, Marathi, Oriya, Bengali…
Back to the lab, my friend.
Pagal, There is no Gurmikhi. Gurmukhi is the Punjabi script in India, while Gurbani would be part of the Guru Granth Sahib. Nimrata would be humility in Punjabi.
what’s truly offensive here is that she cynically took the name nikki, copying the name of well known indian internet rapper nicki minaj. i mean there is the obvious theft of swagger happening. wake up mutineers.
I can’t help but be amused at some of you heathens being unable to digest the fact that she has been saved by the one true religion. I ask you to repent and accept Lord Jesus.
But for the some of you who judge desi’s who run for office on how brown they are.should come to Vancouver. Where most of the punjabi’s MLA and MP’s in office are very proud of there punjabi background and get elected on there brownness[ they run in areas with large punjabi population] and then do nothing in office. We have major issues in the punjabi community like domestic violence, gang violence and the mistreatment of new punjabi immigrants who work on farms owned by other punjabi’s. Yet the punjabi’s elected in office other are beyond useless when it comes to these issues other then Ujjal Dosanjh.
See also Brampton (Ruby Dhalla, Vic Dhillon), Malton (Gurbax Malhi, Kuldip Kular), Mississauga (Navdeep Bains, Harinder Takhar, Amrit Mangat) as other Canadian cities with large Punjabi populations that have elected Punjabi public officials both federally and provincially.
See also Dave Hayer (his late father is Tara Singh Hayer, the newspaper publisher who spoke out against Sikh terrorism and was later shot to death by alleged gangsters at own his home), Harry Lali (who spoke out about the problem of Punjabi-Canadian men committing marriage fraud in Punjab).
KXB: Wrote: You got me, I cannot name a single Bangladeshi-origin politician in the province of Ontario. I also cannot name the head of some of the Vancouver-based Punjabi gangs, and I also cannot name a single player on the Blue Jays – therefore they must not exist.
No, I was serious. Name one. I know of most Desi-origin politicans at the municipal, provincial, and federal level in Ontario. Never heard of one from Bangladesh. I don’t think there is one, but you say there is. So who is it?
I think it interesting that people think just because their names are Bobby or Nikki or something that is “easier” to say that people still do not or will not make evaluations based on what they look like. Moreover, someone mentioned earliershe won’t get the black vote and I’m not quite sure why; most blacks are Democrats, she is not. And if anybody is taking any plays from Alan Keyes, God help him/her
She is desperately trying to play down her Sikh background and is selling herself as a ‘Methodist’ .
Nikki is a perfectly valid nickname, especially in a Sikh/Hindu family. If you pronounce it as Nicky then it sounds westernized, but if you pronounce it with the emphasis on the “double k” followed by an “i” (like Nick + i) then it sounds Punjabi.
I can say this because my nick-name can be written as Vicky, but is pronounced like Vikki (just like how I would pronounce Nikki) – this is a common nickname for Vivek, Vikram… My niece’s nick-name is Kiddu (the soft d).
Is a desi converting to Christianity criminal? I’m so tired of desis bashing other desis because of a name change or change in religion. Its funny when I talk to like minded left leaning desis about Bobby Jindal, the first thing that comes out of their mouth is “but you know what—Bobby Jindal converted! ” WTF !!!! Talk about the man’s policies !!!! Why nit pick on someone’s background or personal choice.
I don’t think it’s as much nitpicking as it’s stating a fact. What people really mean is that it’s not really a big deal until an Indian American succeeds in US politics without having previously converted to a popular religion and changing his or her name to a more Western sounding one.
if this starts a trend , people not caring about their politicians personal sexual indiscretions, it is a sign that our politics is maturing. Let us hope all of us (including Hindus) stop caring about their religion.
LOL … our own Indian Sarah Palin. got to love this country … opportunity for all including nitwits
This.
Desis who are consumed with bitching pettily about “easy”, evil Christian names and religions are in such a hurry to vent their spleens, they ignore the actual issues or flaws about these candidate which merit thoughtful discussion. But hey, why call out extremist or worrisome policy positions when you can blithely put down someone for being a “sell-out”? The former takes actual effort, thought, maturity, etc.
You don’t see all of the comments we delete, but there are plenty and between those and the ones we let stand, I can tell you that I’m not the only Mutineer who feels uncomfortable and unwelcome when the Jindal- and now, Haley-bashing commences.
Yes, I’m supposedly “different”. I’m lucky! I’m one of those “allowable” Christians who was “grandfathered” in– but some of the words typed in these comment threads come dangerously close to attacking people with names or a faith like mine, and they trade in ugly, exclusionary themes. “Authenticity” shouldn’t be determined by which God I, Bobby, Nikki or anyone else worships. Are our names easier to say? Yes. That doesn’t mean I’m any less brown than you. I assure you, when people look at Bobby Jindal, they see a brown man, regardless of what he calls himself. The same goes for me.
47 · A N N A on June 9, 2010 11:38 PM · Direct link Is a desi converting to Christianity criminal? I’m so tired of desis bashing other desis because of a name change or change in religion. Its funny when I talk to like minded left leaning desis about Bobby Jindal, the first thing that comes out of their mouth is “but you know what—Bobby Jindal converted! ” WTF !!!! Talk about the man’s policies !!!! Why nit pick on someone’s background or personal choice. Desis who are consumed with bitching pettily about “easy”, evil Christian names and religions are in such a hurry to vent their spleens, they ignore the actual issues or flaws about these candidate which merit thoughtful discussion. But hey, why call out extremist or worrisome policy positions when you can blithely put down someone for being a “sell-out”? The former takes actual effort, thought, maturity, etc. You don’t see all of the comments we delete, but there are plenty and between those and the ones we let stand, I can tell you that I’m not the only Mutineer who feels uncomfortable and unwelcome when the Jindal- and now, Haley-bashing commences. Yes, I’m supposedly “different”. I’m lucky! I’m one of those “allowable” Christians who was “grandfathered” in– but some of the words typed in these comment threads come dangerously close to attacking people with names or a faith like mine, and they trade in ugly, exclusionary themes. “Authenticity” shouldn’t be determined by which God I, Bobby, Nikki or anyone else worships. Are our names easier to say? Yes. That doesn’t mean I’m any less brown than you. I assure you, when people look at Bobby Jindal, they see a brown man, regardless of what he calls himself. The same goes for me.
Sister Anna,
None of us here at all are bashing you because your name is easier to pronounce and/or because you’re of the Christian faith. As a matter of fact, please read my comment at #2. I personally think that most of us Mutineers feel that we have no problem if Jindal’s extended family converted to Christianity in INDIA, or if Bobby Jindal converted to Mormonism or Jehovah Witness. However, we can all plainly see that Jindal and Haley are doing this for political gains. Period. They’ve sold out. Jindal, on 60 Minutes – along with his wife – claim that they never do ‘anything Indian’ (to paraphrase), and as an Indo-American, I know this can’t be the case.
In India, I’m keenly aware that it’s very difficult to not be from a Hindu-based-religion. This is precisely the reason why I feel endeared and impressed when Hindus convert to Islam or some other religion or a Sikh converts to some outside religion within India, however. I’m also very impressed and inspired when an African-American converts to Islam or Buddhism, or when a white converts to something other than Judeo-christianity.
Suki, I agree with you. Our desi MPs here in Ontario are quite useless and most of them have been elected on their Punjabiness and not much else. The Conservatives have caught on to the identity politics and have nominated equally Punjabi-ish candidates. I expect them to take out one or two in Brampton next election. Democracy is all about representing your constituency so I think its reasonable to expect a desi politician to try to genuinely represent their constituency.
My name is Jonathan and I look really brown, almost fobbish. I’ve always wondered whether my fellow desis attribute my personal career success to my name and religion rather than my talents. It would be interesting to read some of their minds.