In New York City, I bought a Covid mask at a pharmacy owned by a South Asian family; two generations of Native Americans worked in the store and served customers. In Washington, DC, I stopped by a Native American-owned liquor store. On the way back to Colorado, I visited a Dunkin Donuts at the airport and was served by a South Asian man and his sons. In many other stores where I was a customer, I interacted with more South Asian owners than, say, Black Africans, Turks, or Arabs. I write about all this to highlight that Native Americans are the most important immigrant minority group in America today. They have excelled in commerce, science, politics, and many other areas of American life. This is truly admirable; and as someone born in Africa, I can’t help but feel a twinge of envy.
The Indians who serve the travellers are but a tiny number in the vast wheel of commerce and industry. Most of us have no idea where they come from, and how and why they are on our roads, in our hotels and in our airports. We are interested above all in the service they render; as long as it is acceptable, we are satisfied. Of course, there is a small, sad group to whom “foreigners” are anathema; they shed “foreign blood” in our occasional national outbursts of racist antipathy.
I am personally impressed by this group, which is predominantly Hindu – 14.2% of Indians are Muslims. The majority come from the upper castes, so are better educated and have higher earning potential anyway. Many come to America to fill highly specialized positions. There are many Indian CEOs of Fortune 500 companies like Microsoft, Google and others.
When I come into contact with them, I think of their progress far from India and the importance of the Indian diaspora in America and elsewhere. Initially, many Indians came to the US to study and most stayed here and became part of the Indian diaspora. The British imperialists who colonized India dispersed many of them to South and East Africa, the West Indies, Fiji and other Polynesian islands where they worked in the construction of railways and other enterprises. When the British Empire crumbled, the Indians stayed behind.
Because of their work ethic, Indians have done very well while maintaining a certain racial purity. They are all Hindus who pray from the same holy scripture – the Bhagavad Gita – and strictly adhere to the caste system while limiting interpersonal relationships with the “natives.” They are, too much so, entirely family-oriented, unlike many Americans for whom family is sometimes an unwelcome obstacle. Much to the chagrin of their elders, generational differences eventually show themselves. Second and third generation Indians are more integrated into the American state, and some, like Vivek Ramaswamy, learn to behave as outrageously as native white Americans.
After Donald Trump rhetorically raised the question of whether Kamala Harris was Native American or black, I thought of Vice President Harris and Nikki Haley. I understand where Trump is coming from when he went down this path; for years he spread “birther” rumors against President Barack Obama. Trump has forgotten that being an American and a patriot means being willing to defend the nation and make sacrifices for it. Harris and Haley, like Obama, are citizens whose patriotism is sacrosanct.
Patriotism is an abstract concept. It cannot be weighed or measured. Our congressional delegation, including Indian-Americans, are patriots — like all of us. The father of the Gold Star, Khizr Khan, whose son was killed in Iraq fighting for America, is a patriot. Indians, Arabs, and Hispanics I meet every day are patriots who would give anything for the nation. Native Americans and African Americans, people who have toiled in obscurity for centuries, are the greatest patriots — they ask so little and sometimes give so much, including their lives. And they are not “suckers.”
The next president of America may well be Kamala Harris – an American of black and Indian descent. Her parents were a black Jamaican economist and an Indian scientist. Harris is American. I am grateful that South Asians have carved out a place for themselves in our society. They are American citizens, just as Jews and other Europeans are legitimate American citizens – not unlike the original Pilgrim Fathers of the Mayflower. American Indians live comfortably here, like all other diasporas. They have the legitimacy and the right to be Americans.
Pius Kamau, MD, a retired general surgeon, is president of Aurora-based Africa America Higher Education Partnerships; co-founder of Africa Enterprise Group; and an activist for STEM education for minority students. He is a commentator on National Public Radio, a blogger at the Huffington Post, a former columnist for Denver dailies, and a guest on the Never Again podcast.
