Since Indians cannot unite as depicted by some
**** Can they?
Is it a DEFINITIVE proof?
At 10:21 AM -0700 10/2/07, Dilip/Dil Deka wrote:
The following article from the NYT caught my
attention. Since Indians cannot unite as
depicted by some in this net, how do these first
generation Indians in USA manage to run an
organization as written here?
Comments from netters, especially those in
California who may know more about the group,
will help us all in understanding better. There
may be organizations like this in the east coast
too.
Dilip
From the New York Times
In Jews, Indian-Americans See a Role Model in Activism
Heidi Schumann for The New York Times
A dance class at the India Community Center in
Milpitas, Calif., which was created by
Indian-Americans based on models by Jewish
groups.
by
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/neela_banerjee/index.html?inline=nyt-per>NEELA
BANERJEE
Published: October 2, 2007
When Anil Godhwani and his brother, Gautam,
looked into creating a community center for
Indian-Americans in Silicon Valley, they turned
to the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco
as a model.
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Heidi Schumann for The New York Times
Rajiv Hora in a yoga class at the center, which
promotes the variety of Indian culture.
When the Hindu American Foundation began, it
looked to groups like the
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/antidefamation_league/index.html?inline=nyt-org>Anti-Defamation
League and the
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/w/wiesenthal_simon_center/index.html?inline=nyt-org>Simon
Wiesenthal Center for guidance with its advocacy
and lobbying efforts.
Indian-Americans, who now number 2.4 million in
this country, are turning to American Jews as
role models and partners in areas like
establishing community centers, advocating on
civil rights issues and lobbying Congress.
Indians often say they see a version of
themselves and what they hope to be in the
experience of Jews in American politics: a small
minority that has succeeded in combating
prejudice and building political clout.
Sanjay Puri, the chairman of the U.S. India
Political Action Committee, said: What the
Jewish community has achieved politically is
tremendous, and members of Congress definitely
pay a lot of attention to issues that are
important to them. We will use our own model to
get to where we want, but we have used them as a
benchmark.
One instance of Indians following the example of
Jews occurred last year when Indian-American
groups, including associations of doctors and
hotel owners, banded together with political
activists to win passage of the United
States-India Peaceful Nuclear Cooperation Act,
which allows New Delhi to buy fuel, reactors and
other technology to expand its civilian nuclear
program.
Indian-Americans have taken a page out of the
Jewish communitys book to enhance relations
between the homeland and the motherland, said
Nissim B. Reuben, program officer for
India-Israel-United States Relations at the
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/american_jewish_committee/index.html?inline=nyt-org>American
Jewish Committee and himself an Indian Jew.
The American Jewish Committee, like some other
Jewish groups, has worked with Indians on
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/i/immigration_and_refugees/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>immigration
and hate crimes legislation. It has taken three
groups of Indian-Americans to Israel, where they
have met Arabs and
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/p/palestinians/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>Palestinians,
as well as Jews.
Many Indian-Americans, like the Godhwanis and
others with the India Community Center in
Milpitas, Calif., have taken an avowedly
nonsectarian approach in creating institutions.
But among Hindus, who are a majority in India
and among Indian-Americans here, some assert
that a vital bond they share with Jews is the
threat to India and Israel from Muslim
terrorists.
Some on both sides of the discussion feel that
way, and take a stance that is anti-Muslim or
anti-terrorist, depending on your point of
view, said Nathan Katz, professor of religious
studies at Florida International University in
Miami.
Most Jewish groups, however, have tried to avoid
a sectarian cast to their work with
Indian-Americans. Instead, Jews said they were
struck by the parallels between the issues that
Jews and Indians had faced.
It echoes 30 years ago, said Rabbi Abraham
Cooper, associate dean of the Wiesenthal center.
There is the same feeling of a growing
community that says, We want our voices to be
represented, and how do we that?
For years, many Indians who immigrated to the
United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s
considered India their home. Now, most are
rooted in the United States, as are their
children, and they have moved with astonishing
speed into politics, said Representative Frank
Pallone Jr., Democrat of New Jersey, where there
is a large Indian-American constituency. Mr.
Pallone is a founder of the Congressional Caucus
on India. Representative Bobby Jindal,
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/r/republican_party/index.html?inline=nyt-org>aRepublican
from Louisiana who is Indian-American, is
running for governor of his state, and
Indian-Americans hold or are vying for other
local elected positions nationwide.
Indian-Americans have reached out to American
Jews, in part, because of the growing friendship
between India and Israel, whose chilly cold war
relations began to thaw in the 1990s.
Indian and Israeli heads of state have recently
visited each others countries. The countries
have strengthened trade and intelligence ties.
In February, the chief rabbi of Israel, Yona
Metzger, met with Hindu leaders in India, after
which the Jewish and Hindu clerics declared
common beliefs, among them that their
respective traditions teach that there is one
supreme being. The statement was a breakthrough
because many Jews had long considered Hinduism a
form of idolatry, Professor Katz said.
Inspired by the Wiesenthal Center, which
produces a CD annually that compiles Internet
hate speech, the Hindu American Foundation
issued its own report this year about online
hatred and bigotry against Hindus, Suhag
Shukla, the foundations legal counsel, said.
The foundation also learned from the success of
Jewish groups that it needed a full-time staff
member to lobby Congress.
The Hindu American Foundation is among those who
contend that Jews and Hindus are natural allies
because of the common threat Israel and India
face from Islamic terrorists. There are the
shared terrorist threats where we are the
religious minority, for example Jammu-Kashmir
and Islamic terrorism there or the situation in
Israel, Ms. Shukla said, referring to the
anti-Indian insurgency in the northern state.
Those parallels disturb some Indian-Americans,
who contend they veil a deeper anti-Muslim
sentiment.
This makes me relatively suspicious, because
there is the desire to reduce the complexity of
the issues in a conflict, said Vijay Prashad,
professor of South Asian history at Trinity
College in Hartford.
The India Community Center in Milpitas, Calif.,
represents the nonsectarian approach many
Indian-Americans take to replicating the
experience of American Jews. When Anil Godhwani
began talking to other Indians in Silicon Valley
about opening a center, more than one person
talked to us about making this a Hindu community
center sometimes in very strong terms, he
said. That was never his intention, though he
was raised Hindu.
A Silicon Valley millionaire who sold his
company to Netscape in the late 1990s, Mr.
Godhwani said he and his brother envisioned a
place that promoted the variety of Indian
culture to Indian-Americans and non-Indians
alike. The Godhwanis canvassed other ethnic
centers and the
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/y/young_mens_christian_association/index.html?inline=nyt-org>Y.M.C.A.
But the Jewish Community Center model resonated
with them. It celebrated Jewish culture while
avoiding the divisiveness of politics and
religion. And it welcomed outsiders. The India
Community Center occupies a 40,000-square-foot
building that offers, among other things, free
medical care for the uninsured, Indian language
classes and Bollywood-style aerobics but keeps
out religious activities.
Talat Hassan, chairwoman of the centers board
of trustees, said, Those of us who grew up in
the 50s, 60s and 70s in India grew up in a
truly inclusive atmosphere, and that is the gift
that India can give to rest of the world: the
ability to embrace diversity in very deep way.
Then we came here, and maybe India was changing
in this way too, Ms. Hassan said, but
Indian-Americans were organized around religion,
and we found that to be very divisive. We
thought there should be a place where people can
come together as Indian-Americans, period,
regardless of religion.
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