Anti-Blackness in the Indian Community: Dissecting Privilege
By Iniya Muthukumaren
Disclaimer: In no way is the Indian community in the U.S. a monolith in terms of the privilege its people hold and the issues they face. This article looks broadly at the historical, economic, and political trends of the past sixty years that have affected Indian Americans in order to better understand the potential roots of anti-Blackness in this community.
In response to the current racial reckoning across this country, we are witnessing a greater push for the Indian community in the U.S. to no longer remain passive. It is no secret that anti-Blackness is prevalent in the Indian community in the U.S., from the way Indians from older generations often view Black people as “irresponsible” and “lazy,” to the cultural staple of skin-bleaching creams, to the usage of the n-word by non-Black Indians.
To better understand this inexcusable anti-Blackness rampant in the Indian community, I feel that it is important to start with the structural advantages that Indians in the U.S. have that blinds them to the plight of the Black community.
According to the Migration Policy Institute, in 1960, there were around 12,000 Indians living in America. Once President Lyndon B. Johnson passed the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, the quotas for those residing in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Southern and Eastern Europe were lifted. The U.S. then gave visas to those possessing certain degrees and skill sets and/or to those reuniting with their families. Subsequently, there was a large influx of Indians immigrants to the U.S.
Fast forward two and a half decades, and Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1990, which gave visa preference to those with exceptional STEM skills and advanced degrees. As a result, by 2000 there were about 1.9 million Indians living in America, according to the Pew Research Center.
In the years following 2000, Indians had the highest educational attainment and median income of all ethnic groups in this country. This did not occur plainly because Indians possess more drive and talent than other minorities. This upward mobility was rather enabled because of the filter that allowed already highly educated, upper-class Indians to arrive in the U.S. and set off a cycle of success that granted privilege to the Indian community for generations.
When I hear Indian aunties and uncles say that Black people themselves are the cause of their own issues due to their “irresponsibility,” and proceed to state how they came to America with such little guidance but got to where they are now because of their hard work, I cannot help but feel my blood boil. It is not a coincidence that people often attribute their successes to their hard work but prescribe their failures as being caused by external factors. Indians who make such statements fail to understand the structural inequities that facilitate their prosperity and at the same time oppress other minorities such as Black people.
This lack of understanding of the difference in the Indian American and African American experience in the U.S. likely stems from the fact that Indians benefited from a different social transition into this country since most arrived after 1965, right after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed. Indians who immigrated post-1965 benefited from the active fight that the Black community led in order to get these acts passed. However, even after the passage of these acts, Black people were and still are trapped in cyclical forms of oppression fueled by systemic racism in the spheres of education, healthcare, employment, criminal justice, housing, and surveillance. Instead of Indians in the U.S. being aware of their privilege, some have internalized the model minority myth, which heralds Asian Americans as emblems of the “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” mentality.
Members of the Indian community who have internalized the model minority myth have become ignorant to how other minorities are sealed off from the opportunities that Indians directly benefit from. It is also important to consider that Indians willingly came to this country. According to the Pew Research Center, most of the 40 million people that make up the U.S.-born Black population can trace their roots to enslaved African people brought to this country against their will. One cannot truly be an ally for the Black community if they believe their struggles as a person of color are synonymous with the racism Black people have historically experienced in this country. It is absolutely crucial that Indians acknowledge their privilege to dismantle the model minority myth, so that it is not used as a weapon against minority groups that are systematically oppressed.
As I continue this series in the coming weeks, I will be looking into specific examples of how anti-Blackness within the Indian community is rooted in their privilege.
Iniya Muthukumaren is a junior at UNC-Chapel Hill, and is a part of Monsoon’s content creation team. She’s a big fan of Indian gangster movies and has synesthesia.