How does Indian-American intersect with BLM?

by philg

Message in a discussion group from an (East) Asian immigrant:

My town is half Indian. Everyone is “Love is love”, “BLM”. I want to see their daughter fall in love with a Dalit boy.

Readers: How are your Indian-American friends doing with BLM? What does it mean to folks who recently showed up and missed nearly 400 years of Black-white relations? Are they identifying with the oppressed or the oppressors?

5 thoughts on “How does Indian-American intersect with BLM?”

  1. Currently, the only two Indian-American friends I have are the owners of our local convenience store. They are more “acquaintences” than “friends”. I invited them to dinner with my family last year and they made up an excuse to decline.

    They have two young boys, one grade-school age, the other a toddler, and barely interact with anyone here in town. I’ve never seen them socialize outside their business with anyone who lives here. They’re pleasant enough people, work hard and run a good business, and their school-age son apparently gets along well with his friends at school. I talk with him occasionally, he’s polite and quite intelligent. The father wants him out of the local school system as quickly as possible, though. Last year I talked with him and he said: “We’re going to enroll him in private school soon I think. I can’t believe what these crazy people teach at [local school.] I want him to be an engineer. They fill his head with junk.”

  3. I think I have a unique perspective as I (white male) have been married to an Indian woman for 20+ years. She moved to the US with her family when she was 9. My wife and her family definitely identify with the non-BLMers but maybe it’s a caste and religion thing? Indian culture and mores are super complicated. A funny anecdote: her brother, an former US military fighter pilot who literally put his life on the line for his adopted country now works in Finance was told by his white boss that he had to attend BLM sensitivity training. The brother’s response: have you looked at my skin color?!?!?

  4. He does need sensitivity training if he thinks that Indian-Americans are Black. The term Black is used for people of African (Negro) ancestry. Indian-Americans are Caucasians.

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