Fear and loathing on US streets
HYDERABAD: The Kansas shooting incident killing a Telugu engineer and injuring another, both from Hyderabad, has sent ripples across the Indian community in the United States.
While racist hate attacks are not new in that country, some from the Indian diaspora believe that ascension of Donald Trump to the presidency has boosted the confidence of racist elements in society which might cause occurrence of such incidents.
It is well known that David Duke, former head of Ku Klux Klan and French far right Presidential candidate, Marine Le Pen are some of President Trump’s admirers, many of them point out.
Priya V, a Minnesota state resident says, “Donald Trump’s hasty comments and decisions are definitely provoking Americans to turn against immigrants. I am now living in Minneapolis. The city’s downtown has a lot of night clubs including gay clubs. I fear that these clubs might become a target anytime just like it happened in Orlando. I am avoiding such crowded places these days.”
She further said, “While such attacks have occurred earlier also, the present political atmosphere in the country is one which fortifies the confidence of people whose views are anti-immigrant.”
Unlike the Milpitas homicide incident in which an Indian student from Telangana was killed, the racial hate attack of Kansas, killing a Hyderabadi engineer and injuring another, garnered lot of buzz on social media.
Social media messages were directed at United States President Donald Trump for spreading xenophobia. Tweet by one Naveen from the US on the Kansas incident went, “Absolutely despicable! This is what happens when you normalise racism and hatred by calling it *political incorrectness*.”
Social media users also attacked Indians, NRIs and Hindu nationalist groups in India and the US who supported Donald Trump’s presidency.
Speaking to some Indians staying in the US revealed that not all are angry and afraid.
An engineer from Hyderabad working in Michigan said, “Such incidents have occurred during former President Barack Obama’s regime as well. There has always been an anti-immigration rhetoric in the US.
Nothing new
in it but just that it has been getting excessive media coverage now. There are some instances where people comment on the Internet on immigrants, which is hurtful but such people are few. Nationalistic fervour is now running high across many countries in the world. At the end of the day I am an immigrant and I have to respect the laws of this country.”