An
Indian Muslim Writer Takes on the big United States
By
Allabaksh Hyderabadi
RECENTLY
THE US media had come down to downright racist abuses when the
golfer Vijay Singh, one of the best international players, questioned
the wisdom of inviting women golfers to compete with their male
colleagues in top golf tournaments in the world.
A Fijian by birth and nationality, Vijay Singh is obviously of
Indian origin. That was enough for the self-righteous pundits
in the US to denounce his Indian heritage. The preaching Americans
held that India was a primitive land where things like gender
equality were unknown. In other words, Vijay Singh represented
an uncivilized society and, hence, had behaved true to form.
And
true to the India’s “primitive” and “uncivilized”
traditions, the insults were quietly stomached by the Indian media,
golf players (mostly big sahibs) and the (supplicating) government.
The US, after all, is the sole super power. Displeasing anyone
in that god’s own land can be pretty risky. So the US remains
free to give sermons to India on gender equality, human rights
and many other related and un-related issues-except one. And that
is “hate crime”.
After
9/11 it is clearly kosher in the US to insult and harass and even
kill-brownskinned people. Indian politicians, captains of industry
and film stars, all have been subjected to humiliation in the
US-some of them, in fact, when they were on way to the US in an
airplane! But one does not expect the US government to apologize
or express “concern” at such incidents. Contrast this
with what happened a few years ago when, if memory serves right,
the US threatened the tiny Island State of Singapore for daring
to inflict its severe traffic offence punishment on a US youth.
It
is perhaps a peculiar “pastime” of a “primitive”
country like India to convey regrets and sorrows, often with personal
visits by officials, to the unintended victims of any harassment.
So
it was that yet another Indian youth, Saurabh Bhalerao (24) of
Indore, who is a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts,
Dartmouth, moon shining as a Pizza delivery man, had to suffer
serious stab wounds the other day when he was attacked for no
fault of his but the fact that he looked like an “Iraqi”,
or at least a “Moslem”.
It is notable that reports that one read in a section of the Indian
media did not mention if the US authorities were regretful of
continuous “hate crime” in the US where the victims
are often Indians or people from other parts of South Asia. It
would appear that the US authorities take these hate crimes as
just one of those aberrations of an affluent society. So nothing
special needs to be done about it. Why? Because the victims are
from the less affluent and “uncivilized” societies?
Is the average American aware of the customs, traditions and culture
of “brown” nations? Has the US government done anything
to educate them about it in view of the continuing “hate
crimes” against them? Does any US official visit the families
of victims or sends a message of regrets.
The
answer is “no” to all these queries. The frequency
with which these “hate crimes” continue to occur suggest
that the American authorities have either not really woken up
to the dangers arising from it or are too unconcerned about it.
9/11 took place over two years ago and here we have Americans
who continue to believe that every brown skinned person they encounter
on their streets is an “Arab” and a “Moslem”
and, therefore, an unwanted “terrorist” undeservedly
enjoying their bountiful hospitality.
In
the two years since that black September day, the average American,
who is said to be more intelligent, better read and certainly
many times more prosperous than his third world counterpart, remains
blissfully unaware that every brownskinned person is not a part
of the huge army of Osama bin Laden. And the American decidedly
thinks that only Osama’s followers wear turbans. The average
(Christian) American’s knowledge about other religions is
zilch.
Among
the Indians, the Sikhs are particularly vulnerable to these thoroughly
unprovoked and condemnable racial attacks. A few Sikhs have died
and more may meet this misfortune in future. The Sikhs are twice
at fault: their skin, and their beard and turban. For the average
citizen of the world’s greatest power, now busy seeking
to revive the imperialist order, beard and turban are like the
red rag before the bull.
Community
leaders of the ethnic Indians might or might not have conveyed
their concerns to the authorities in the US. But as far as one
knows the government of India and its outposts in the US, the
missions in Washington, New York and elsewhere, have decided to
maintain a stoic silence about these incidents. The Prime Minister’s
friend, who was appointed an “extra” envoy to the
US to reward his services to Atal Behari Vajpayee during his annual
pilgrimage to the US, is nowhere in the picture. It looks as though
he appears in picture frames only when Vajpayee sets foot in the
US.
The
more conscientious Indians might dismiss the need to take up the
matter with US authorities as it is their “internal matter”.
Yes it is. But by the same yardstick, most crimes and misdemeanors
committed within India are also India’s “internal
affairs”. But the US vigorously rakes some of these issues
up, first by circulating reports all across the globe and then
asking the government to stop whatever displeases the US State
Department.
Indian
protests, such as they are, are almost mute if not apologetic.
The divine powers of the sole superpower! There is no doubt that
the Americans “admire” the Indian pusillanimity and
the government in New Delhi is beholden to them for that. By the
grace of Ram and Ayodhya, the Americans do not follow up their
adverse State Department reports on India by threatening sanctions
and worse. But the long rope given deliberately to the Americans
by the Indian government is not going to help the 1.8 million
strong Indian community in the US. The “hate” for
ethnic Indians in the Anglo-Saxon dominated US will continue to
grow rather alarmingly.
A
decade back, the so-called “dot buster” gangs made
Indian women special targets of their attacks. What attracted
the ire of the American hooligans was the “bindi”
or the “dot” that Indian women apply on their forehead.
The only thing “offensive” about it was that it did
not conform to the conventional make up of US women. The US did
nothing to educate their citizens that the “bindi”
was an innocuous part of an Indian woman’s make-up.
In
recent days, the “hate” for ethnic Indians has stemmed
from their success at IT-related jobs that allegedly threatens
to throw many Americans out of job. The US government covertly
or overtly supports the paranoiac Americans. Possibly, because
the country is already in election mode. The US administration
is too busy building up its imperial world to worry about small
matters like removing prejudice or ignorance from the minds of
their valiant people. Only “primitive” countries have
the time for that sort of job. - Courtesy Samachar
