Removing Agency from Usha Vance
The difficult conversation Indian Americans must have is: when you normalize anti-Indian racism the white supremacist gets a double verification of validation from you.
One of the key concerns the Indian American left bring up is alleging that ALL Indian Americans who do not agree with all aspects of Democrat way of functioning makes them automatically "act superior to other South Asians", while failing to acknowledge that Indian diaspora come in all shapes, colors and views as well- a majority identifying as politically homeless due to failure of both the left and the right ecosystems of addressing rising Indian hate across the spectrum.
Even popular human rights activist Elica Le Bon pointed out "The lack of celebration from those who typically champion diversity reflects the sentiments of the movement as not “advancing people of color,” but “advancing people of color who share my views.”
This is not “anti-racism,” but conditional racism. It is to be insincere about diversity as an objective, reducing it to a Trojan horse for political partisanship." She also called out the sexism from the Democrat supporters who removed agency from a woman of color, dating it to antique conservative Christian stereotype of equating a woman's views as akin to her husband's - removing agency and autonomy from her.
How many times has the left ecosystem failed Indian Americans and Hindu Americans- those who are of Carribbean, Bangladeshi, Nepali, Sri Lankan origin? The left talks of lack of empathy from Usha Vance on fellow persons of color but never join Indian voices condemning police brutality against Janhavi Kandula, an Indian immigrant student who died from a car run over her and the police saying "she had limited value". Well, that is the reality of how little "value" both the right and left view Indians.
So to the Indian democrats: if your allegation is we "act superior to other South Asians" that applies to you as well- why are you silent when Indian Americans lost their lives to hate crimes like Chandra Nagamallliah or institutionalised hate like Janhavi Kandula. or the gunshots on a temple in Utah where devotees were praying inside. Should I say, you subconsciously value your own people less than when others face hate? And it is not the fault of Democrat supporters for not standing up against Indian hate- because you, the token privileged minority are their precedent that they think "if she isn't speaking up despite having a platform of million followers, maybe it is not that serious for me to speak up either for my algorithm"- you are validating dehumanization of Indian lives.
Regardless of your political spectrum, no one can take away Indian cultural identity from you. Most of the racism doesn't differentiate your political affiliation but your culture, your heritage and colour of your skin. So criticise Usha responsibly, without validating xenophobic rhetoric that minimises and dehumanises Indian diaspora's lived experiences.
Indian lives have been so actively dehumanised online even during the Air India crash that killed 200+ victims, or when India Pakistan war happened with a potential threat of nuke, online trolls cheered for both countries to finish each other or laugh at crash victims' deaths. The American democrat ecocsytem- especially Indian Americans like Pramila Jayapal whose home state saw the police killing of Janhavi Kandula did nothing for her as one left would have ideally for George Floyd or Breonna Taylor. Not a single democrat was visibly seen condemning rising hate crimes against Indian Americans, while thinking Usha Vance gave them a green signal to normalise Indian racism online under the smokescreen of political "critique".
What Indian diaspora want is introspection from the democrats not more hate or alienation that ends up pushing potential allies. Interestingly, no one wants to talk about the quiet part- Usha Chilukuri had a past affiliation with Democrat ideology before switching - signalling a question: "Where did you fail another person of color? Maybe you should introspect"
That being said, I am not defending Usha. As a strong believer of holding people accountable, I have called her out as well as Democrat token Indian Americans for not speaking up against rising Indian hate in America, as other ethnic minority politicians have consistently.
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