The United States of America is the oldest democracy on earth, it is also the land of immigrants from where people all over the world come in search of the ‘Great American Dream’. In fact, the people ruling the country are not the original inhabitants of the state, with the native Red Indian tribes more or less disappeared from the country.
“Remember, remember always, that all of America, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.” were the words of Franklin D. Roosevelt the 32nd president of United States. Like any other public policy, Immigration is a double edged sword which suits you if you are the beneficiary of the policy and you loathe it if it goes against you.
The Incident: – This week Srinivas Kuchibhotla and his friend Alok Madasani who were enjoying their after-work drinks in a Kansas bar were attacked by Adam Purinton an ex-US Navy veteran. As reported by various news sources Purinton was abusing them with ethnic slurs when they complained to the management of the bar and he was apparently thrown out. Later he came back and shouted in a rage “go back to your country” before firing on the two men. Srinivas was killed in this incident and Alok was wounded. Ian Grillot a white man aged 24 years who has been hailed as a hero in this entire incident, tried to save the duo and got hit by a bullet on his chest,
The After Effects: -Media across the world is terming it as an after effect of Trump and his immigration policies and the after effects of his harsh tone on illegal immigrants. ‘Secular’ journos like Barkha Dutt who play politics on every issue instead of expressing condolences with the family of the deceased are quick to blame on a section of Indian people who had supported Trump during his presidential campaign. Mainstream media in India has made sure that this incident receives the maximum highlight and fits in line with their political narrative that Trump is bad for US, India and the entire world, basically a modern-day Hitler. They have created an environment that propagates that all Indians in America are not safe and the millions of people who are planning to go to the US should just abandon their dream.
The Reality: -As per the last Govt. survey in the United States of America, Indian American people constituted 4 million people, which is around 1. 25% of the entire population. From 1. 6 million in 2000 to 2. 8 million in 2010, we were the fastest growing ethnic group in the US in the last decade at a rate of 69. 37%. According to US census reports 2013, Indian American are the highest income household in the United States with a median household income of $101,591 compare that to $51,939, the median income for all Americans in the same time period.
According to FBI statistics 2015, out of the 4029 single-bias hate incidents in the US, only 3. 3% were anti-Asian bias. There is nothing specific for India as they are a part of the larger Asian community, Hate crimes inspired by religious bias records show that out of 1354 offences 51. 3% were anti-Jewish and only o. 4%(6 offences) were Anti-Sikh and o. 4%(5 offences) were Anti Hindu. Remember all these incidents for a population of more than 4 million people which roughly makes these statistics a mere 0.0002% of the entire Indian population.
What do these data communicates to us? – That Indians are amongst the richest communities in America. The Indian Scientists, Professors, Engineers, Doctors and Entrepreneurs pay the a huge amount in federal taxes and create jobs for the average American. There has also been some amount of hate crimes on and off every year during the last 8 years of Obama administration which the media purposefully try to cover up as gun violence. So this entire rhetoric of hate crime is not something new to the US political landscape
But all these numbers are pretty negligible, if we compare to the huge number of Indians immigrating to America and becoming so successful in their endeavours, this would not have been possible if the average American would not have been with their side.
Trump himself stated during his presidential campaign that during his regime, Indian’s are going to have a true friend in the White House and he is looking forward to working with PM Modi. Sure, he must have put some restrictions on H1B visa of which the biggest beneficiaries were Indians. But there is more to India than H1B. The US has always been a Pakistan supporter during our conflicts and has provided billions of dollars as aides to the country. India can definitely look forward to a much better Indo-US relationship than which has happened in Human history. The fact that US has made some revolutionary changes in its export control laws to benefit India testifies the fact.
Unfortunately, the elite mainstream media does not want to go above its narrow self-interest and the current political situation does not help them. Thus, they want to blow things out of proportion like the Dadri incident to create a fear psychosis among the masses and divert them from the real issues.