The case of Indian-American Republicans

Dinesh D'Souza has been getting a lot of attention lately in the media for publishing his article in Forbes depicting the thought process of our commander in chief. He starts out supporting his thesis by saying that to most Americans, "anti-colonialism is an unfamiliar idea" and he starts explaining it. First off, if you have gone through high school in America, there are numerous general education requirements and among them in U.S History and World History. I distinctly remember my sophomore year in Tamalpias High School, where I was reading literature and engaging in critical thinking about the 19th century in America when slavery was rampant. When one reads that over 100 years ago, a person of color was much judged by the color of his skin than the content of his character, Americans do realize what colonialism was about. So not only was Dinesh wrong in the fact that Americans are ignorant in this topic, as a matter of fact, at the end of of WWII, one of the contributing factors for Independence in many of the third world countries was coersion from American foreign policy that gained much clout over Europe.

The content of his article is just as misguided as his opening statements. Dinesh argues that Obama's moratorium on off shore drilling while allowing the import-export bank to finance oil exploration in Brazil is another product of his anti-colonial views. Has anyone recently heard of yet another malfunction in a oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico just last week? It's not that the Obama administration is punishing the oil industry, rather taking pro active measures in checking the safety of operations as to prevent another catastrophe from happening. Brazil always had more regulations and required more strenuous back up systems in place for oil rigs than America ever proposed. In addition, none of the directors in this bank is an Obama appointee (they are still waiting to be confirmed by the senate). Lastly, when Dinesh suggests that Obama is carrying his father's dream and running the country based on his father's experiences. Excuse me? Really... now you just want to attack someone's character and their dignity without even ever meeting them? Unfortunately, these are the kinds of attacks that garner lots of cheap publicity for his new book. Columbia Journalism Review puts it best on his article, ""gross piece of innuendo -- a fact-twisting, error-laden piece of paranoia. This is the worst kind of smear journalism -- a singularly disgusting work."

Reading such derogatory nonsense has opened my eyes to even more pressing issue in American politics today. There are many first and second generation Indian Americans who have been running for elected offices lately and all of them have been on the Republican tickets. This fact alone bedazzles me because India is more diverse than Europe, yet I haven't seen any Indian Americans running on a democratic ticket. Nikki Haley running for governor of South Carolina is a descendant of Sikh immigrants and is a Christian, not a Hindu like most Indians. Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana is also Indian by hereditary, but he claims that when he was growing up in the south, he has never experienced racism! These two candidates make me wonder whether if they are wearing the Indian hat just to court voters who value diversity rather than offering solutions based on their actual experiences. As a liberal advocate, I see a huge problem when new immigrants become enfranchised in America and vote against the progressive ideals that is much cherished in their home country. The median household income for Indian American families is the highest in the U.S., $60,093, nearly double the median income of all American families -- $38,885 (source, US Census Bureau). In addition to lower taxes, Indians are more biased towards the Republican party because it was George Bush who initiated the civilian nuclear accord with India that brought the country out of sidelines (although the accord had bi-partisan support in congress). So as a liberal Indian American, I am determined to fight these forces and advocate for the unprivileged, poor and the unrepresented.