Why is ‘America first’ putting Indian lives at risk?
America’s Indian community is feeling the brunt of a rise in Trump-fuelled anti-immigrant sentiment. Beyond the fear, a sense of strength and solidarity is emerging
The masked man who shot Deep Rai in a suburb of Seattle had a simple sounding message: “Go back to your own country”.
Except that Rai was exactly where he had every right to be. Not only was Rai in his own country, he was in his own driveway, working on his own car, when the gunman approached. An everyday American, involved in an everyday American scene.
The attacker remains at large, but police are working on the motive that this was a hate crime in which Rai, a US citizen, was targeted for his ethnicity – he is a Sikh of Indian origin.
Rai is recovering from the attack, but the scars to America’s Indian community may take longer to heal. Many view it against a pattern of attacks nationwide that they say reflects a growing intolerance of immigration. Many blame US President Donald Trump’s policies – such as his plans for a US-Mexico wall – for the rise in anti-immigrant rhetoric. On Wednesday, a judge in Hawaii issued a temporary restraining order to halt Trump’s second attempt to implement a ban on travellers from a handful of Muslim-majority nations. The ban had been scheduled to take effect the next day.
Will the real Donald Trump please stand up?
Barely a week prior to the attack on Rai, two Indian tech workers were shot, one of them killed, in a Kansas bar after the shooter harassed them over their immigration status. Among the last words heard by Srinivas Kuchibhotla were his attacker’s demand that he and Alok Madasani “get out of my country”.
