Anti-Asian Hate crimes has climbed up in United States and it is disturbing for Indian community living there

Lately, Anti-Indian narrative is swirling in United States of America as there has been a rise in physical and verbal attack on Indian-Americans around the country. Six murders including of an 8 months old infant has within a week has put people in distress of the community. Reports of hate crime have increased rapidly in the country towards a community that is the highest earning one. According to the information, United States is the home of 4.5 million Indians which makes 1.4% of the American population and that contributes in boosting American economy too. President Joe Biden appreciated the fact; Indian-Americans are serving as a member of American administration. He said, ‘It’s amazing, Indian-Americans are taking over the country, my Vice President Kamala Harris, my speech writer Vinay Reddy. You guys are incredible!’

However, situation of Indian Americans is deteriorating day by day and have brought several questions of safety of this ethnic group. Some of the cases were, a Sikh family of 4 were kidnapped and murdered few days ago in California. A 29 year old University student was stabbed to death in the campus. A Walmart employee, Gurpreet Kaur Dosanjh was shot dead in California. Whereas in June, two of the Indians were shot dead in New York and Maryland. Center for the study of hate and extremism says, Anti-Asian hate crimes have increased with the margin of 339 percent comparing to last year. Cities like New York, Los Angeles and others have recorded surge in the numbers than last year, comparatively. According to Federal Bureau of Investigation 161 hate crimes were recorded against Asians in 2019 that surpassed to 279 in 2020. Specifically, 54 Anti-Asian hate crimes occurred against the Sikh community in 2019 that reached to 89 in 2020.

Navneet Kaur is a 35 years old Sikh woman, lives in New York. Earlier, she was a primary teacher in India and later shifted to US. Considering the fact that racism is at extreme level in US, she said, ‘I was aware with the fact that racism exist there but after living, I realized it is everywhere. People look at you as if you are living wrongly or are not following a certain lifestyle. I wear Indian clothes frequently, and I think it has become a problem for lot of people around me. They expect from you to speak, dress, and behave in a certain way, which is not possible. Nobody asked us to follow a specific lifestyle before letting us enter, then why now?’ Navneet thinks, American administration should release a law in protection of ethnic groups living in the country, legally. ‘We have not been trafficked or crossed borders illegally. If people getting a permit to live in this country than it is a responsibility of the administration to consider our safety’, she said.

 On asking, does she think Sikh community is the targeted one out of the others in United States to which she said, ‘It is possibly because of the majority. Large number of Indian Sikhs migrates to different countries including Canada, Unites States, New Zealand United Kingdom. And it is due to multiple reasons, some move to their family members, education purpose and for careers. So maybe, they are seen everywhere which bothers people.’ According to Navneet, Indian community should unite together and bring this matter to embassy. ‘There are millions of people like me who wants a better future for their kids abroad. Living in the fear of racism will affect our upbringing and mental development of our kids. The matter should reach to Indian embassy for a better solution and our Indian community should push this in a right direction’, she said. She recalled her personal experience and told EAT news, ‘We live in Boston and in my initial days, I use to wear Indian clothes every now and then. I came out wearing a salwar suit (Indian attire) with a Bindi on my forehead. Two women were continuously looking at me and were laughing. I felt disrespected. After few weeks I became familiar with the neighborhood and now such instance does not bother me until I read Anti-Asian hate crimes.’

Two months back, a video got viral where a Mexican-American woman assaulted 4 Indian-American women outside a restaurant in Texas. The accused in a video was seen saying, ‘Go back to India. You guys are everywhere.’ She did physical violence and threatened them to shoot. Chief of Delhi Commission of Women, Swati Maliwal shared the video and called it ‘highly condemnable’. She tweeted, ‘This racist act in the USA is highly condemnable. The probe this lady has with Indian women is Indians are everywhere. Yes Ma’am. We are everywhere. Check it out; we are CEOs of your top most companies as well. Strongest action must be taken against her for her abhorrent behavior!’ Esmeralda Upton was arrested later and charged with assault, bodily injury and terrorist threats. She is being held on a total bond amount of $10,000.

As of 2019, 2.7 million Indian immigrants reside in United States whereas 20 percent of international students are Indians there. With such a large percentage of Indian representation, assurity of safety and security should be demanded by Indian administration of its citizens.