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More on immigration, race and civil rights in America

I received a number of email responses to my column, Welcome to America. Now here are your handcuffs, regarding the incident where forty Indian software engineers were shackled in an INS raid. Interestingly, there was a brief item on February 24 in the Indian media that the INS had dropped charges against these engineers. No futher elaboration. I wonder -- were they innocent, or is this a goodwill gesture before the Clintonian visit to India?

Furthermore, I continue to be unhappy that this story got no airplay at all in the mainstream US media, in sharp contrast to the oceans of ink wasted on that poor Cuban child. The subtext there was alleged American compassion -- but in reality it shows the clout of sharply anti-Castro Cuban-Americans in Miami. Why doesn't an incident of apparent American official malfeasance against Indians get any visibility in the US media? It is a consequence of the perennial apathy of Indian-Americans.

In the week since my column was published, some, including reader Lalita, have also written to me about the Ahmedou Diallo case: a black immigrant from Guinea shot to death by four white undercover policemen in the Bronx, a mostly black neighborhood in white-majority New York City. Blacks and whites have traditionally been at loggerheads in the Bronx, and there have been race riots there in the past. The policemen were acquitted of all charges on February 25 after a trial which got plenty of airplay, partly because American blacks made this a cause.

But nothing similar happened in the case of Charanjit Singh Aujla, a responsible family man with a master's degree in education, an Indian-American, also shot to death in dubious circumstances in Jackson, Mississippi on December 4, 1998. Aujla was shot in the back of his head by six white sheriff's deputies in the liquor store where he worked, as part of a 'sting' operation where a minor attempted to illegally purchase liquor.

Why is nobody crying for Charanjit Singh Aujla? Why was there no gavel-to-gavel television coverage? Was Aujla a child of some lesser God? Why didn't the Indian-American community insist on justice for him? We cannot let this poor man be a mere number, faceless and forgotten -- but it looks like there is no followup to the case; fatalistically, we have given up. Why?

I would like to clarify my position. I am not accusing the US of wholesale racism -- I believe it is on average less racist towards Indians than the UK, Germany, or Hong Kong. I am only interested in protecting the interests of people of Indian origin in the US. As is usual with me, this is an enlightened self-interest point of view -- reforming American society, a herculean task, is not on my agenda; I merely want my fellow ethnic Indians to stand up for their rights.

Racism is not the issue, really, it is the self-respect to demand our rights. Otherwise, we will lose them in the long run, and racial profiling will begin. Remember that rights only go to those who are vocal. For instance, a few years ago local Chinese-Americans got Indians declared a non-minority in San Francisco so the Indians couldn't get government contracts set aside for ethnic minorities! This was turned around after much litigation.

The argument was that Indians were a. not Asian and b. not discriminated against in the past. Wrong on both counts. Although this may surprise some Americans, "Asian" does include a lot of brown people in addition to yellow people; and Indians were also severely discriminated against in the past in the US. I repeat, we have to protect our rights today for the future.

It is my belief that interaction between the US and India will increase in future: for one, Indians are making waves in a number of areas -- not only in literature and in high technology, but also in high fashion, beauty contests, haute cuisine, film and entertainment. India is likely to be, in the near future, a major trading power, especially in information technology, pharmaceuticals, agricultural products, animation/film/advertising and medical services.

I understand that this week Azim Premji of Wipro, who lives in Bangalore, became the second richest human being on the planet, overtaking the legendary American investor Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway. And that he has a shot at overtaking American Bill Gates when Wipro goes public on the NASDAQ. Imagine, an Indian, an industrialist and not a maharaja!

The number of Indians travelling to the US will increase. It is important that Indian-Americans take the right steps now to organize themselves. There needs to be a process in place to ensure that such atrocities as the apparent racial profiling and humiliation of the Indian software engineers do not recur. Or that overly zealous INS officials do not ride roughshod over the rights of Indian nationals just because Indian-Americans are quiescent.

I am now wondering how we can take the momentum of the protests against the INS forward. There are several things that could be done collectively:

1. A candlelight vigil or picketing of INS offices
2. A lawsuit (perhaps class-action litigation) against the violation of the rights of Indian nationals
3. A mass sick-out as peaceful, democratic industrial action
4. A human chain or other symbolic and mediagenic activity
5. Insistent questioning of Bill Clinton and his troupe on this visit to India

The first is the most obvious -- that groups of Indian-Americans picket local INS offices in a completely peaceful manner. I would suggest, however, being a discreet person, that it should only be US citizens and resident aliens who participate in this sort of activity, as they have constitutionally-guaranteed rights which are not extended to non-resident aliens.

The second is interesting: a large, multi-million-dollar class action suit against the INS for inhumane treatment of the software engineers. There are any number of immigration lawyers who advertise in India Abroad, India Post, etc, and they might offer their services on a contingency basis. The American Civil Liberties Union may also be interested. Is it also time to set up an Indian Legal Defense Fund of some sort?

Then there is the question of whether the engineers have a legal leg to stand on. I have no idea, being no lawyer. However, reader Prajod suggested that they may technically be in violation of the rules, as the H1-B visas are indeed issued for use in a particular city, based on the prevailing wages in that city. (H1-B workers must be paid the prevailing wages that comparable Americans make, so that there be no question of low-cost foreigners displacing natives.)

However, if they were in violation, it would have been the fault of their employers, the subcontracting companies, which should have been charged with breaking the law. The individual employees were quite likely innocent, and the INS's treatment of them -- especially if one were to believe the alleged racial statements and actions of the migra, INS agents -- inappropriate. Prajod also believes that the migra have sweeping powers, exceeding those of the police and FBI -- he quoted a lawyer, a former INS agent.

Readers including John said that the bodyshopping agencies are unscrupulous and exploitative. That may well be true, but it is a different matter -- to be pursued in civil courts. This has nothing to do with the Gestapo-like treatment meted out to the individuals, including shackling and humiliating them, as well as, in a particular loss of face, their spouses, including pregnant women.

If, as is alleged, some women were held without food and water for hours, and in some cases given inedible food -- beef for strict vegetarians -- perhaps there is a case for sexual harassment as well, not to mention potential trauma to the foetuses of pregnant women. I wonder if the various Indian-American womens' groups, including Narika, Maitri, SAWNET etc. would consider working with, say, the National Organization of Women, to pursue this.

I really like the third idea. My neo-liberal friend Bapa Rao came up with a splendid suggestion of a token protest -- a mass sick-in by all software engineers of Indian origin in the US to express their solidarity with the unfortunate victims of the INS raid. Can this be done in a few areas where there are large numbers of Indian developers, like in the Silicon Valley? And then in Los Angeles, Washington, New York, Austin, Houston, Seattle, etc.?

This is an interesting idea, especially if such a sick-in can be staggered over several days over several cities to get maximum media impact, as another friend suggested to me. I wonder if some grass-roots group can organize this and get the US media to pay attention to it. The television footage of empty cubicles will convey some meaning, won't it?

It may, of course, also strengthen the hands of the opponents of H1-B visas -- the idea that America is dependent on foreign labor for its current prosperity, while true, is unpalatable to some. The March/April 2000 issue of Foreign Affairs magazine has some interesting data -- it says the US economy is being sustained at its high pace of growth to a large extent through immigrant labor. They say the unemployment rate would fall to an unsustainable 0.5 per cent -- thus causing raging inflation -- were it not for the additional skilled and unskilled labor through immigration.

Incidentally, of the immigrants, the top three 'donor' countries are Mexico, India and China. India had the largest number of H1-B visas, that is, skilled workers, as was also mentioned in the San Jose Mercury News recently -- some 46 per cent in 1999; and as high as 60 per cent in 2000, it is rumored.

The fourth possibility, something that might be quite media-genic, could easily be organized by a small group of people. I have in mind the human chain that was formed across the Golden Gate Bridge during the Kargil war, primarily by a group of engineers in the Silicon Valley. This received a fair amount of media attention.

However, the Indian-American groups have been relatively ill-connected into the mainstream media, even though a number of ethnic subcontinentals are visible in the media -- e.g. Riz Khan at CNN, Minal Hajratwala at the San Jose Mercury News, Pico Iyer in Newsweek, Fareed Zakaria at Foreign Affairs, et al. Any media-targeted activity should be preceded by cultivating media-people.

Finally, it would be entirely appropriate to question Bill Clinton about this issue when he is on his tour of India in the near future -- the timing is perfect. The entire US press corps will be there in India with him, and insistent, knowledgeable questioning will get a fair amount of coverage; although it is likely that the Indian PR pooh-bahs would rather sweep this under a carpet to avoid 'embarrassing' Clinton.

I also got e-mail from a gentleman who runs the Center for Immigration Studies, a non-profit organization that analyzes immigration issues. See details at the bottom of this article. I am merely passing this information on to you with no endorsement from me.

Reader Ravi from Pennsylvania said Indians have not been interested in forming rainbow coalitions, with blacks and Hispanics. I think we should, in fact, form coalitions -- for purposes of collective bargaining. Furthermore, we are here because of the blood, sweat and tears of countless blacks who suffered during the Civil Rights movement. Not that individual blacks see this in particular -- it's only Indians who talk about Mahatma Gandhi inspiring Martin Luther King and so forth -- blacks may see Indians as taking away jobs they would by rights have, although whether that is quite true is debatable.

I got a rude letter from someone purporting to be an American, ranting at Indians coming in and "taking jobs away from natives". This could be a forgery or a prank, as it was from an anonymous e-mail id. But this person is wrong -- Indians, according to recent reports, are founders or top managers in 40 per cent of all the Internet companies in the recent past, creating sales of some $ 3.6 billion, and employing hundreds or even thousands of people.

Finally, readers Prashanti and Girish chided me for 'defending' Bali Reddy Lakireddy. In fact I was merely stating that it is not an open-and-shut case; even someone accused of being a monster has the right to have his side heard. I am making the famous distinction someone made, Voltaire maybe: "I disagree with your opinion, but I shall defend to the death your right to have it."

Similarly, I may or may not think Lakireddy is a good person, but I'll defend his right to have a fair trial, and I will not pre-judge him. How do we know the facts are as represented until the trial? And who am I to judge?

Young women have always slept with old men for material benefits. For instance, consider the young and beautiful Abishag the Shunnamite who 'ministered to' the aged and decrepit King Solomon in the Old Testament. (I have always wanted to talk about Abishag the Shunnamite, what a euphonious name!). Or take those quintessential Californians, the Eagles, in 'You can't hide your lyin' eyes' : "Rich old man, she wont have to worry… it breaks her heart her love is only given to a man with hands as cold as ice…" I am neither justifying nor decrying this practice, I am merely pointing out that it exists.

The Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, DC, operates two free e-mail information services (listservs) on immigration policy.

**CISNEWS** is a daily list of full-text news items, announcements, reviews, queries, etc. To join CISNEWS, go to: http://mail.cis.org/guest/RemoteListSummary/CISNEWS

**This Week in Immigration** is a weekly roundup of immigration news, delivered Friday afternoons, for those don't need the depth that CISNEWS provides. To subscribe to This Week in Immigration, go to: http://mail.cis.org/guest/RemoteListSummary/THISWEEK If you have any questions or problems, contact the Center at center@cis.org

The Center for Immigration Studies, founded in 1985, is an independent, non-profit research organization that examines and critiques the impact of immigration on the United States. CISNEWS is partly supported by a grant from The German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Rajeev Srinivasan