Category Archives: Politics

Macacas bumrushing borders

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It’s been a little while since we last had a good dust-up about illegal immigration. Thankfully the U.S. Government’s Office of Immigration Statistics has some fresh material for us to chew on. (Thanks to SAJA for the tip.) It has just released a report estimating the number of illegal immigrants residing in the U.S. in 2005 by period of entry, state of residence, and country of origin. Here are the big-picture findings:

Mexico was the leading source country for unauthorized immigration with nearly 6.0 million residents in the United States in 2005. El Salvador, Guatemala, India, and China were the next leading source countries, accounting for a combined total of nearly 1.4 million unauthorized immigrants. Among the 10 leading source countries, the annual average increase in the unauthorized population from 2000 to 2005 was greatest among Mexican immigrants (260,000). However, the greatest percentage increase in the unauthorized immigrant population from 2000 to 2005 occurred among immigrants from India (133 percent) and Brazil (70 percent).

Interesting! Illegal immigrants from India more than doubled in the last five years, the fastest growth of all source countries; and it’s not a trivial number, since India ranks fourth, ahead of China, in total number of illegals. Of course these estimates are complicated to produce — the study gives details of the methodology — but clearly we are looking at a substantial trend.

Back in April when the big immigration marches were taking place, we noticed that South Asian organizations, especially Indian-American ones, didn’t seem to be much involved, and a number of commenters argued that, by and large, illegal immigration wasn’t much of a desi issue. At a minimum, these numbers suggest that we think again.

Here’s a key question: Who are these new illegal immigrants? Where do they live, what do they do for work? Where in India do they come from? I know we have plenty of readers who work “in the trenches” who could share some insight, even if it’s imcomplete or anecdotal.

Beyond that, what does this massive rise in illegals from India tell us about the Indian economy, given that it occurred during the much-vaunted time of “India Shining?”

And what about the desi community and the organizations and leaders who claim to represent it? It may serve the public image of Indian immigration to keep the rise of the illegal population out of view, but does that serve the community as a whole? Continue reading →

Assisted Suicide

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An anonymous tipster sent in a news story which has haunted me since I read it. Sick, sick, sick:

A group of television journalists gave a man matches and diesel to help him commit suicide in order to get dramatic footage which was later broadcast on the news, police said on Thursday.
The man died from severe burns to his body in hospital in Gaya town of Bihar on August 15, Independence Day.

These people aren’t journalists, they are criminals.

Footage of the man, screaming and writhing in pain as he ran with his back on fire, was aired on several television channels. Police identified the man as Manoj Mishra.
“We have seized footage clearly showing a group of journalists handing over matches and some inflammable substance — which we later verified to be diesel — to the victim,” acting Gaya police chief P.K. Sinha told Reuters by telephone.

It’s really depressing that people could be this callous, this heartless. Taking advantage of someone troubled, for what? Sensational footage?

Mishra, who worked as a delivery man, was upset over what he said was a large sum of money owed to him by a state-run dairy farm whose milk he transported to customers, police said.

They handed him a flammable substance and matches, filmed this atrocity and then…

The TV crews left the scene without aiding Mishra who suffered burns to over 70 percent of his body, Sinha said.

Why would such cold-blooded bastards do this in the first place?

There has been an explosion of private TV news channels in recent years in India, each competing aggressively for exclusive stories and dramatic footage.
These channels often show graphic footage of victims of bomb blasts and other violence as well as partly blurred pictures of sex acts while exposing scandals as part of sting operations.

Continue reading →

Malkani on desis in multicultural Britain

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Gautam Malkani, the author of Londonstani, has an Op-Ed in today’s New York Times that contrasts the atmosphere at the recent London Mela — a Brit-desi music festival — with the narrative of British South Asians as disgruntled and uninterested in assimilation. Malkani describes a desi culture that is truly British, and the improvements in understanding and exchange between Brit-desis and non-desi Brits — points that are often made here by members of the Sepia Mutiny UK massive like Jai, Bong Breaker, Red Snapper, Midwestern Eastender, and esteemed visitors like Sunny from Pickled Politics.

You’ll want to read the whole article: it’s short, well-written and chock full of observations and interpretations that I am sure will provoke many reactions. Here are some of the key paragraphs:

… When I was growing up in Hounslow in the 1980Â’s, these festivals used to be parochial, ethnically exclusive events. But in recent years they have become racially diverse. More important, they are no longer really festivals of South Asian culture; they celebrate British South Asian culture.

Those who stayed at home, however, were given a very different view of the state of multicultural Britain. The weekend newspapers were crammed with apocalyptic warnings about Britain’s failure to integrate its South Asian youth into mainstream society — a failure that, in light of the recent foiled terrorist plot, again appears to have left young, British-born South Asian men so disenfranchised that they are prepared to carry out mass murder against their fellow citizens.

Since the London bombings of July 7, 2005, conventional wisdom has held that when it comes to racial integration, Britain has botched it, and that our long-standing policy of promoting multiculturalism has kept us from sustaining a common, over-arching culture and national identity toward which different races and religions can feel loyal. Today it is widely accepted that there has been a trade-off between the promotion of diversity and the nationÂ’s social cohesiveness.

ItÂ’s a pity that so few of these columnists ever attended a summer mela or have any feel for our thriving desi beats scene.

It may seem absurd to focus on British South Asian hip-hop artists in the context of the threat of planes being blown out of the sky, and there are of course differences between the experiences of British Pakistani youth and British Indian youth. But because our policy of multiculturalism sometimes appears to have failed so spectacularly, we need to recognize the underappreciated — and underreported — ways in which it has succeeded.

Again, do read the whole piece. It’s an important perspective to put forward, not least for Americans who are just now tuning into the dynamics of South Asians in Britain and doing so through the lens of “homegrown terrorism” and media reports on extremist imams and alienated youth. I will be curious to read the reactions from our UK contingent to this article, as well as from everyone else. Continue reading →

The rewards of perseverance

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The last time we met Saqib and Susan Ali of Maryland was when Anna blogged a long Washington Post feature on the couple’s experience bringing to term a baby that they knew had no chance of surviving outside the womb. Deciding how to proceed after learning of their baby’s condition, and enduring all that followed, was a trial beyond the imagination of most of us. And yet they made it through.

Here is part of the article’s presentation of the couple:

The two were as opposite as could be. Saqib is tall, olive-skinned and athletic. Susan is tiny, fair-skinned and delicate. Saqib is Muslim, the son of immigrants born in India. Susan was raised in a conservative Christian family from a small town in Pennsylvania. He’s a door-knocking community activist who hopes to run for public office someday; she’s soft-spoken and cherishes her privacy.

Well, not only did Saqib and Susan make it through, but they are pursuing their dreams. Saqib Ali is running for the Maryland House of Delegates (the state legislature). And in his capacity as a candidate, he had this experience a few days ago:

A demonstrator sat down Saturday near the home of a Muslim candidate for the Maryland House of Delegates with a hand-lettered sign bearing a crude denunciation of Islam.

The sign was apparently aimed at Saqib Ali, a Gaithersburg resident who is running in the Sept. 12 Democratic primary for a seat in House District 39.

The demonstrator, who wore a T-shirt reading “This mind is an Allah-free zone,” planted himself near the house in the Quince Orchard Estates development that Ali also uses as a campaign office. Ali, a software engineer who is challenging three incumbents, said he went out into his small cul-de-sac to look at the man but said nothing to him.

“I knew he was there to bait me,” Ali said.

According to Ali, the man began saying, “‘You are a terrorist … You guys are violent extremists.'”

The campaign blog has photos of this individual sitting in front of Ali’s house. He also displays a handwritten sign that says “Islam Sucks.”

Here’s how the man, identified as nearby resident Timothy Truett, explained his actions:

An Associated Press account said Truett, 46, of Montgomery Village, called the demonstration “basically an experiment.”

“I had heard that Muslims were generally intolerant of views other than their own, and so I thought I would put it to the test,” the AP quoted him as saying. “I wanted to see what would happen.”

Sadiq was born in 1975 and works in software; surely lots of our readers can relate to that part. What’s less usual is that he had the courage to marry outside his community, the patience and love to get through personal tragedy, and the call to service to run for local political office. His reward is to get this fool sitting in front of his house calling him a terrorist. No wonder so few good people run for office. Continue reading →

I for one welcome profiling

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Yesterday someone posted this clip (on our News Tab) of conservative radio host Mike Gallagher’s appearance on Fox News.

GALLAGHER: It’s time to have a Muslims check-point line in American airports and have Muslims be scrutinized. You better believe it. It’s time. [Link]

Today the House Homeland Security Chairman, U.S. Congressman Peter King (R-NY) said the following (thanks for the tip AM):

Declaring that airport screeners shouldn’t be hampered by “political correctness,” House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King has endorsed requiring people of “Middle Eastern and South Asian” descent to undergo additional security checks because of their ethnicity and religion.

Discussing the recent revelation of an alleged plot in England to blow up U.S.-bound airliners, the Seaford Republican said yesterday that, “if the threat is coming from a particular group, I can understand why it would make sense to single them out for further questioning…”

Despite King’s endorsement of such a process, it is a technique that has been widely dismissed as a legitimate law enforcement tool. [Link]

This, by the way, is the same Peter King who said that supporters of Senate hopeful Ned Lamont were “bigots” and the same Peter King who is set to appear with Sen. Hillary Clinton on Sept. 11th at a “National Spirit of Unity” rally.

I have been thinking about this idea for a week now (even before King spoke out) and I fully support it. I think we should single out all arabs, middle eastern looking people, and South Asians. This doesn’t have to be a bad thing and if we play our cards right we can greatly benefit from it. The “Macaca line,” as it were, might actually move faster and more efficiently than the “American line” since brownish looking people are still a small minority in America (unless you count the Mexicans too). We could even lobby for a door to door airport shuttle that was guaranteed to be explosives free and would have dogs on board that we could pet and play with on the way to the airport (once they were done sniffing us). All of our tickets would be stamped with SSSS to ensure 4S service (“S” is like the new “Star”). We would have curbside check-in and our bags would all go through more advanced machinery (the kind airports can only afford one of). So that we wouldn’t get germs from the other passengers, our security screening area could be completely walled off. It seems that every time I travel I catch a cold, and so this would definitely be a perk. The other people would never even have to see us.

I already know what some of you are going to say to all of this (haters):

“You can’t tell a Muslim by the color of their skin or their appearance. There are black muslims, Asian muslims, and white muslims. How are we going to figure out who is Muslim so that we can give them this VIP treatment if they don’t want their identities revealed?” Continue reading →

How mutineering changes things

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I thought I’d take a moment to lay out for our readers how individual action in the context of a community CAN help change the status quo, particularly when it comes to political power and representation in the U.S. Here is step-by-step look at the BIG PICTURE.

1) First, let me take you back to July 31st (just two weeks ago) when Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. released its poll regarding the Virgina Senate race:

U.S. Sen. George Allen leads Jim Webb for re-election but may be threatened by voter distaste for the Iraq war and President Bush, according to The Times-Dispatch Poll.

Popular and well-known, the Republican senator is favored for a second term by 48 percent, while Democrat Webb, still struggling to get out his name and message, is backed by 32 per cent. Twenty percent are undecided.

That the support for Allen, the state’s dominant Republican for more than a decade, is under 50 percent suggests he is handicapped by anti-GOP sentiment, much of it attributed to uncertainty over Iraq…

As an early snapshot of a race that could help decide control of the Senate, the poll suggests Allen is using the advantages of incumbency, including a huge edge in fundraising, to navigate potential hazards. [Link]

2) When that first domino fell, the Democratic leadership decided to strategically cut their losses and run. They wrote off both Webb and Virgina:

To hear national Democratic party leaders tell it, Democrat James Webb has a solid chance of ousting Republican Sen. George Allen this fall.

“You might find Cinderella in Virginia,” Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., told Congressional Quarterly this spring. “Allen’s numbers are not very strong.”

But in the first major spending decision of the fall campaign, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee – which Schumer heads – took a pass on Virginia.

The committee, which helps elect Democratic senators, has reserved a reported $25 million worth of television ads in states where Republican incumbents are considered vulnerable. Virginia is not one of them.

The spending plan, first reported by The Associated Press, came within days of a Mason-Dixon poll showing Allen leading Webb by 16 percentage points. [Link]

Continue reading →

Jindal: Congressman, Finger-Inker…and Obstetrician?

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selia.jpg Putting aside his politics for a moment, I think most of us are capable of agreeing that Congressman Bobby Jindal has accomplished several things which would make any brown parent gloat; a quondam Rhodes Scholar, he was appointed Secretary of Louisiana’s Department of Health before serving as President of the University of Louisiana. Later, he was an Assistant Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Just one of those titles would make my family faint with joy, but I happen to think his latest accomplishment is the coolest of them all (via CNN):

Rep. Bobby Jindal barely had time to call 911 when his wife woke with labor pains Tuesday. Minutes later, he helped deliver his own son.
Slade Ryan Jindal arrived before the ambulance did at about 3:25 a.m. Jindal, coached over the phone by a nurse at the doctor’s office, put the baby in the arms of his wife, Supriya, and tied off the umbilical cord with a shoestring.

Dr. Bobby Jindal? It almost happened– according to his official bio, he “turned down admissions to medical and law schools at both Harvard and Yale.” On a more serious note, it’s probable that this unexpected turn in Supriya Jindal’s pregnancy was extra-worrisome, beyond the obvious not-in-a-hospital angle.

The Jindals already had two children, Selia who is four and Shaan, who is two. Shaan was born with two holes in his heart, requiring open heart surgery soon after his birth. Due to her son’s medical issues, the Congressman’s wife was being watched closely in the days before her delivery.

Supriya Jindal had been to the hospital twice in the last week with pains thought to be contractions, her husband said. She was at the doctor’s office as recently as Monday and was told there were no signs the baby would be coming as soon as it did, he said.
Mother and baby were resting comfortably Tuesday at a nearby hospital.
“We were very fortunate. There were no complications,” said Bobby Jindal, 35.

Two days early and weighing a healthy eight pounds, Slade Jindal entered the world on a very special day. His older siblings were typically oblivious (when my little sister was born, I looked at her for four seconds before requesting Baskin Robbins):

Slade’s 4-year-old sister, Selia, and 2-year-old brother, Shaan, were at the house and slept through the birth, Jindal spokesman Trey Williams said.

Continue reading →

Dear "Dr. Vijay," yo mamma’s a "Macaca"

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Nothing riles me up more than blatant, plain-for-all-to-see, lapdogism (another word to add to the Urban Dictionary please). Stay with me a moment. Dr. Raghavendra Vijayanagar (who goes by “Dr. Vijay”) is the chairman of the Indian American Republican Council (IARC) which was formed in 2002. Their purpose:

The IARC is a 501 (c)(4) organization, and is the only national organization in America representing Indian American Republicans. While we come from many parts of India and live across the U.S., we are united in our belief that less government, more liberty, and a strong national defense are in the best interests of our country and we share these values with the Republican Party. [Link]

After Senator Joseph Biden (D) made a comment earlier this year which stereotyped Indians as being in every donut shop and 7-11 in his state of Delaware, this is the statement released by the IARC:

“Joe Biden has a history of making insensitive and inappropriate remarks,” said Dr. Vijay. “But even for him, this recent gaffe is clearly over the top. But this isn’t the first time a Senate Democrat has insulted Indian Americans. In 2004, Senator John Kerry referred to Sikhs as terrorists and Senator Hillary Clinton jokingly referred to Mahatma Gandhi as a gas station owner. A clear double-standard in the mainstream media will likely ensure Senator Biden gets a pass over these comments that would get a Republican in deep trouble if he ever made a similar statement…”

“Senator Biden will be surprised to hear that I am a cardiothoracic surgeon, leading a national association of Indian Americans who are physicians, attorneys, and small business owners. It’s amazing to know we don’t all work at Dunkin Donuts or the local 7/11. The contributions to America by Indian Americans in the fields of medicine, education, science, and business have been well-documented. We’re not asking Senator Biden to apologize for his embarrassing, stereotypical comments. However, we do appreciate knowing what he really thinks of his Indian American constituents in Delaware…” [Link]

And what did Dr. Vijay have to say after Senator George Allen (R) hurled an alleged racial slur at an Indian American this past week? Continue reading →

Secular Constitutions: the U.S. and India

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Happy Indian Independence day, everyone!

In the comments of some recent posts at Sepia Mutiny, some readers have questioned why India needs “secularism,” and even just what secularism means in India. Similar questions were also raised in response to Abhi’s “jingoism in the blogsophere” post from a few weeks ago. Since I have researched the issue of secularism as part of my academic work, I thought it might be interesting to look at the Indian and American approaches to secularism in comparison as a thought-exercise. Instead of focusing on recent issues such as the train bombings in Mumbai last month, or almost-current events like the Gujarat riots of 2002, I wanted to back up a little and take a brief look at the texts of the respective Constitutions themselves. I think this comparative exercise might shed some insight on the value and importance of secularism in both countries. Continue reading →

Social Activism Made Easier

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A wise man once said, “When the world around you is full of shit, it is a good idea to pick up your shovel” That man is probably my dad, it sounds like something he would make up on the spot and in turn attribute it to some credible source (“Confucius said it”). The words do ring true but anyone who has ever picked up that shovel will know that between shovel and shit there exists a whole barrage of questions. Where do I begin de-shiting? Will this shovel do OK for all this shit? It is too much shit, how should I get others to help me in getting rid of it all? Snakes on a plane?

Twenty two year old British Columbia native Dev Aujla’s organization Dream Now appears to have some answers. Dream Now is a great initiative that helps youth organize their efforts in creating and running grass roots non-profit projects. They provide management tools and, more importantly, mentorship to participants around the globe. It all starts with an idea and rest is made easier with step-by-step guide from brain storming to project completion.

ts05_kingsley_lime.jpg

Dev’s younger brother, Aaron Aujla has also begun spreading the good word through his clothing label Auj. Every cashmere tee has an access code which, when entered, will result in a phone call from a Dream Now mentor. Cashmere tees? Yes. Preppy? Most def. Making saving the world sexy? Hopefully. Current customers include students who patented a free water purification system in Uganda, a “future dentist” who is starting an organization to bring relief to children, and Simon Jackson.

The two brothers, who have relocated shop to the centre of the universe a.k.a. Queen St. West, Toronto, have been featured in CBC’s new docu-series ‘Make Some Noise‘. The series chronicles the efforts made by young people to create change in the world around them. Watch their segment. Watch it! Makes my cynical bones itch with enthusiasm.

Big ups to the Aujlas for their energy and dedication to making and helping make do-good dreams come true.

Continue reading →