The thing about racism is that it’s endemic to all human societies, even societies that don’t have big immigrant population. In America, racism has been a mainstay throughout its history. It’s an occupational hazard of immigration life here and has been since slavery and the first immigrants. Being an Indian immigrant comes with its own share of pitfalls: have Indians, the highest earners and the most educated among minorities, become victims of their own success? Maybe it explains part of the problem. What amplifies hostility is the chatter on internet forums and the plethora of online commentary pointing out India’s failures, especially when compared to China, whose advancement is the greatest success story in the history of humankind.
As an American of Indian background, I’ve tried to keep one foot in each of my cultures. I try to take pride in both while trying to acknowledge where both of them have gone horribly awry. I try to be honest about it.
With the H1B dust-up still swirling in Congress, I wanted to share my own reflections on racism, reconciling India’s failures with its successes, and what it means to be an immigrant in the US.
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