#BlackLivesMatter and the Model Minority Complex

Indian-Americans have a strange relationship with America. Larger waves of immigration are fairly recent and our community is not as entrenched as most other groups in America. I hate to generalize, but most of our parents harbor many of the same feelings towards other out-groups that White people of the same age might. Sweeping generalizations are abound in political discussions had at parties, and many of our parents buy into the model minority concept. They struggled in Jackson Heights or Cherry Hill or wherever for many years and don’t understand why other groups have not been as successful.

The vast majority of Indian-Americans are also foreign-born (87.2%), meaning that I am among the first Indian-Americans that are born and raised here — and that colors how we perceive life. India is definitely not a homogenous country, but there is a definite sense of who is ‘’Indian” and who is not. Marginalization of those hailing from the northeastern regions, racism towards African students, and violence between religious groups are features of India’s past and present. But most people did not leave India to escape these issues, they came essentially to make more money and live better lives. The New Colossus narrative does not really apply here. Some 70% of Indian Americans had a college degree or more, which is about 2.5 times higher than the country as a whole.

Indians have faced racism in America but for whatever reason, whether it be our wealth or small population size (and the accompanying lack of importance), we have not been systematically marginalized on a large scale by the US government when it represented us.

We don’t spend time near these issues either. America is remarkably segregated by race. African-Americans live in different neighborhoods from Asian-Americans and White people in the suburbs and we have our own ethnic enclaves in the city. So when I say I have no idea how Indian-Americans fit into the racial structure of America, believe that I mean it. I mean we are the wealthiest group in America and yet I feel I don’t belong at times. We are not represented in media, and when we are it is usually stereotyping and emasculating for comedic purposes. Bullied after terrorist attacks and made fun of for our mothers’ bindis, shamed for our academic success and chided for our frugality, told we smell bad and that our religion makes no sense; our skin is our most salient feature, followed by our parents’ accent. And yet we are thrown in the faces of other groups as “model minorities”.

This is all to say, our experience is different from African-Americans. Our parents were selected by the American government because we would contribute to the American economy using their foreign education in a way that was mutually beneficial. African-Americans’ ancestors were dragged here in cargo ships and forced to work in cotton fields in a way that was parasitic. They were then legally marginalized until 1964 (Only 50 years ago) and continue to be culturally marginalized until this day. So I am asking that we not be thrown in their faces as something to aspire to. African-Americans in this country are demanding to be treated as equals in this country; that is the greater point of the Black Lives Matter movement. It is a movement for specific change but also for a greater mindset change in our country.

I guess what I am asking of Indian-Americans is a greater understanding or context and a denial of the “Model Minority” narrative. The argument shouldn’t be allowed to be framed as black vs. everyone else and Indian-Americans need to gain a better understanding of the historical context of our existence. Racism is a feature of our culture that needs to be overcome, and it starts with understanding the need for the Black Lives Matter movement.