--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: For all the talk > about America being such an open democracy ... how > many Americans of Indian origin have been > able to rise to a high-ranking political position ? > If you look at Britian, we have Keith Vaz, a > British-Goan who is a Member of the > British parliament, in addition to a couple of other > Indian origin MPs, as well as a couple of Indian > origin "Lords" ... members of the upper house of the > Lords! Britian also has more stringent "anti-racist" > laws !! --> I really dont think you can compare the absence of Indian political leaders in the US to the situation in the UK. The Indian population as a percentage of the total is far smaller in the US than the UK and their physical presence in the US has been much shorter for obvious reasons. Specifically, the south asian population is around 0.5% of the US population while it is about 2.5% in the UK. Furthermore, the south asian population is very ghettoized in the UK thus increasing their chances for political representation.
Even so, there are signs of increasing and effective political activity by Indians in the US. Bobby Jindal recently almost won the governership of the southern state of Louisiana - probably still a home to many white extremist groups. In Maryland, Kumar Bharve is the majority head of the state legislature, while in California, Ro Khanna has a good chance of unseating incumbent Tom Lantos for his congressional seat. On a national level, there are a variety of Indian dominated lobby groups such as the hoteliers lobbyists (the patel-motel fellows), the pro India caucus and a variety of Indian political action committees. However, I do have to agree with your general thesis that south asians have suffered to a greater degree as a result of the policies enacted by the present adminstration. Just as the internment of the Japanese-Americans half a century ago, I suspect this period will also be viewed negatively through the eyes of history. Marlon ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################