Beginning of hate crime?
Sunday - March 5, 2017 10:03 am ,
Category : WTN SPECIAL
Incidents of shooting on Indians and Indian-origin residents in the US don’t portend well for the Trump government. Whether or not it relates to the regime change is not clear, for these may be stray incidents coincidental with Trump’s rise, but Trump’s narrow nationalistic pride and pro-America stance smacks of racial hatred and tacitly they may encourage anti-socials to freely take up their war against non-whites.
Days after the killing of an Indian engineer in an apparent hate crime, an Indian-origin businessman who was well-liked in his neighbourhood was shot dead outside his home in Lancaster, South Carolina recently. Harnish Patel, 43, had closed his shop at 11.24 pm and barely 10 minutes later was shot dead outside his house, according to media reports. Shortly before this incident, Srinivas Kuchibhotla was shot dead in a pub in Olathe, Kansas, by a white man who screamed, ‘Get out of my country’.
The grimness of the story only intensified when Trump kept silent on the issue for long. The condemnation came long after when media and political pressure forced him to release the statement that the country condemned hate and evil, though the administration at the same time is reluctant to believe and own it as a racial or hate crime. America must not turn into a Nazi Germany because the present world order won’t sustain that. If the US thinks it can survive without Indians and Asians, it is a myopic idea. There are millions of doctors, engineers, technocrats, managers, scientists, teachers, researchers, entrepreneurs, scholars, artists, bankers from India or that of Indian origin who make America what it is. America’s strength through centuries has been its assimilating power. America has given hope and opportunity to millions from across the globe for centuries, millions to live the way they want in an air of freedom and growth, which is why the US has grown into such a cultural and economic heartthrob of the world. If America tries to push out non-whites, it will rob itself of its intellectual richness and material prosperity and its future will no longer be bright. Sole material growth cannot propel any country to greatness. It is the social fabric, its history and the philosophy behind that makes any country great or small. India may not be an economic superpower today, but it is her cultural richness that makes her stand out and earns her the respect she deserves. America is great today not because of its money but for the freedom, for the democratic values that it has upheld for centuries. The world is fast turning into a global village where a free exchange of ideas and sharing of technologies have unified the lots of peoples of all cultures and creeds and races into one universal conglomeration directed towards a common pursuit, i.e excellence. No country can grow in isolation, however rich it is. Tie-ups, deals, economic liaisons, investments, industries, partnerships are all global terms which define today’s business and culture. The US needs India as much as India needs the US. The Trump government must change its parochial obsession for America and Americans and think in terms of global good because, in the end, it is the only thing that is going to pay it rich dividends. No hate crime incident must be taken casually and the perpetrators of such crimes must get a strong message right from the first citizen. No one should take it for granted that in Trump regime hate crimes are accepted or endorsed. The president has to be prompt in condemnation and strong in action. The administration must understand that the fate of the US is entwined with the fate of Asia and India. It simply cannot ignore us.
Days after the killing of an Indian engineer in an apparent hate crime, an Indian-origin businessman who was well-liked in his neighbourhood was shot dead outside his home in Lancaster, South Carolina recently. Harnish Patel, 43, had closed his shop at 11.24 pm and barely 10 minutes later was shot dead outside his house, according to media reports. Shortly before this incident, Srinivas Kuchibhotla was shot dead in a pub in Olathe, Kansas, by a white man who screamed, ‘Get out of my country’.
The grimness of the story only intensified when Trump kept silent on the issue for long. The condemnation came long after when media and political pressure forced him to release the statement that the country condemned hate and evil, though the administration at the same time is reluctant to believe and own it as a racial or hate crime. America must not turn into a Nazi Germany because the present world order won’t sustain that. If the US thinks it can survive without Indians and Asians, it is a myopic idea. There are millions of doctors, engineers, technocrats, managers, scientists, teachers, researchers, entrepreneurs, scholars, artists, bankers from India or that of Indian origin who make America what it is. America’s strength through centuries has been its assimilating power. America has given hope and opportunity to millions from across the globe for centuries, millions to live the way they want in an air of freedom and growth, which is why the US has grown into such a cultural and economic heartthrob of the world. If America tries to push out non-whites, it will rob itself of its intellectual richness and material prosperity and its future will no longer be bright. Sole material growth cannot propel any country to greatness. It is the social fabric, its history and the philosophy behind that makes any country great or small. India may not be an economic superpower today, but it is her cultural richness that makes her stand out and earns her the respect she deserves. America is great today not because of its money but for the freedom, for the democratic values that it has upheld for centuries. The world is fast turning into a global village where a free exchange of ideas and sharing of technologies have unified the lots of peoples of all cultures and creeds and races into one universal conglomeration directed towards a common pursuit, i.e excellence. No country can grow in isolation, however rich it is. Tie-ups, deals, economic liaisons, investments, industries, partnerships are all global terms which define today’s business and culture. The US needs India as much as India needs the US. The Trump government must change its parochial obsession for America and Americans and think in terms of global good because, in the end, it is the only thing that is going to pay it rich dividends. No hate crime incident must be taken casually and the perpetrators of such crimes must get a strong message right from the first citizen. No one should take it for granted that in Trump regime hate crimes are accepted or endorsed. The president has to be prompt in condemnation and strong in action. The administration must understand that the fate of the US is entwined with the fate of Asia and India. It simply cannot ignore us.
