[Assam] In Jews, Indian-Americans See a Role Model in Activism

Tue Oct 2 12:58:11 CDT 2007

WHAT is the unity and how does it manifest itself in its diversity?

How many non-sectarian or pan-ethnic desi-orgs in Houston ?

>  "we are Indians"

*** That is akin to Jewish Americans going about proclaiming 
themselves Israelis or Germans or Ukrainians or Russians. At least 
they have a commitment to their adopted land :-).

At 12:41 PM -0500 10/2/07, Alpana B. Sarangapani wrote:
>  >**** Can they?
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>  >Is it a DEFINITIVE proof?
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>Haven't they been? What else is needed? That they chant "we are 
>Indians" everywhere they go, in addition to having this unique type 
>of "unity in diversity"?
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>"In order to make spiritual progress you must be patient like a tree 
>and humble like a blade of grass"
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>- Lakshmana
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>Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 12:26:32 -0500
>To: assam at assamnet.org
>From: cmahanta at charter.net
>Subject: Re: [Assam] In Jews, Indian-Americans See a Role Model in Activism
>
>.ExternalClass blockquote, .ExternalClass dl, .ExternalClass ul, 
>.ExternalClass ol, .ExternalClass li 
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>  >Since Indians cannot unite as depicted by some
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>**** Can they?
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>Is it a DEFINITIVE proof?
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>At 10:21 AM -0700 10/2/07, Dilip/Dil Deka wrote:
>
>The following article from the NYT caught my attention. Since 
>Indians cannot unite as depicted by some in this net, how do these 
>first generation Indians in USA manage to run an organization as 
>written here?
>
>Comments from netters, especially those in California who may know 
>more about the group, will help us all in understanding better. 
>There may be organizations like this in the east coast too.
>
>Dilip
>
>
>
>From the New York Times
>
>
>
>In Jews, Indian-Americans See a Role Model in Activism
>
>
>
>
>Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 12:26:32 -0500
>To: assam at assamnet.org
>From: cmahanta at charter.net
>Subject: Re: [Assam] In Jews, Indian-Americans See a Role Model in Activism
>
>.ExternalClass blockquote, .ExternalClass dl, .ExternalClass ul, 
>.ExternalClass ol, .ExternalClass li 
>{padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0;}
>  >Since Indians cannot unite as depicted by some
>
>
>**** Can they?
>
>Is it a DEFINITIVE proof?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>At 10:21 AM -0700 10/2/07, Dilip/Dil Deka wrote:
>
>The following article from the NYT caught my attention. Since 
>Indians cannot unite as depicted by some in this net, how do these 
>first generation Indians in USA manage to run an organization as 
>written here?
>
>Comments from netters, especially those in California who may know 
>more about the group, will help us all in understanding better. 
>There may be organizations like this in the east coast too.
>
>Dilip
>
>
>
>From the New York Times
>
>
>
>In Jews, Indian-Americans See a Role Model in Activism
>
>
>Heidi Schumann for The New York Times
>
>A dance class at the India Community Center in Milpitas, Calif., 
>which was created by Indian-Americans based on models by Jewish 
>groups.
>
>by 
><http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/neela_banerjee/index.html?inline=nyt-per>NEELA 
>BANERJEE
>
>Published: October 2, 2007
>
>When Anil Godhwani and his brother, Gautam, looked into creating a 
>community center for Indian-Americans in Silicon Valley, they turned 
>to the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco as a model.
>
><http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/02/us/02hindu.html?th&emc=th#secondParagraph>Skip 
>to next paragraph
>
>Enlarge This Image
>
>
>
>Heidi Schumann for The New York Times
>
>Rajiv Hora in a yoga class at the center, which promotes the variety 
>of Indian culture.
>
>When the Hindu American Foundation began, it looked to groups like 
>the 
><http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/antidefamation_league/index.html?inline=nyt-org>Anti-Defamation 
>League and the 
><http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/w/wiesenthal_simon_center/index.html?inline=nyt-org>Simon 
>Wiesenthal Center for guidance with its advocacy and lobbying 
>efforts.
>
>Indian-Americans, who now number 2.4 million in this country, are 
>turning to American Jews as role models and partners in areas like 
>establishing community centers, advocating on civil rights issues 
>and lobbying Congress.
>
>Indians often say they see a version of themselves and what they 
>hope to be in the experience of Jews in American politics: a small 
>minority that has succeeded in combating prejudice and building 
>political clout.
>
>Sanjay Puri, the chairman of the U.S. India Political Action 
>Committee, said: "What the Jewish community has achieved politically 
>is tremendous, and members of Congress definitely pay a lot of 
>attention to issues that are important to them. We will use our own 
>model to get to where we want, but we have used them as a benchmark."
>
>One instance of Indians following the example of Jews occurred last 
>year when Indian-American groups, including associations of doctors 
>and hotel owners, banded together with political activists to win 
>passage of the United States-India Peaceful Nuclear Cooperation Act, 
>which allows New Delhi to buy fuel, reactors and other technology to 
>expand its civilian nuclear program.
>
>"Indian-Americans have taken a page out of the Jewish community's 
>book to enhance relations between the homeland and the motherland," 
>said Nissim B. Reuben, program officer for India-Israel-United 
>States Relations at the 
><http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/american_jewish_committee/index.html?inline=nyt-org>American 
>Jewish Committee and himself an Indian Jew.
>
>The American Jewish Committee, like some other Jewish groups, has 
>worked with Indians on 
><http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/i/immigration_and_refugees/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>immigration 
>and hate crimes legislation. It has taken three groups of 
>Indian-Americans to Israel, where they have met Arabs and 
><http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/p/palestinians/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>Palestinians, 
>as well as Jews.
>
>Many Indian-Americans, like the Godhwanis and others with the India 
>Community Center in Milpitas, Calif., have taken an avowedly 
>nonsectarian approach in creating institutions. But among Hindus, 
>who are a majority in India and among Indian-Americans here, some 
>assert that a vital bond they share with Jews is the threat to India 
>and Israel from Muslim terrorists.
>
>"Some on both sides of the discussion feel that way, and take a 
>stance that is anti-Muslim or anti-terrorist, depending on your 
>point of view," said Nathan Katz, professor of religious studies at 
>Florida International University in Miami.
>
>Most Jewish groups, however, have tried to avoid a sectarian cast to 
>their work with Indian-Americans. Instead, Jews said they were 
>struck by the parallels between the issues that Jews and Indians had 
>faced.
>
>"It echoes 30 years ago," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean 
>of the Wiesenthal center. "There is the same feeling of a growing 
>community that says, 'We want our voices to be represented, and how 
>do we that?' "
>
>For years, many Indians who immigrated to the United States in the 
>late 1960s and early 1970s considered India their home. Now, most 
>are rooted in the United States, as are their children, and they 
>have moved with astonishing speed into politics, said Representative 
>Frank Pallone Jr., Democrat of New Jersey, where there is a large 
>Indian-American constituency. Mr. Pallone is a founder of the 
>Congressional Caucus on India. Representative Bobby Jindal, 
><http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/r/republican_party/index.html?inline=nyt-org>aRepublican 
>from Louisiana who is Indian-American, is running for governor of 
>his state, and Indian-Americans hold or are vying for other local 
>elected positions nationwide.
>
>Indian-Americans have reached out to American Jews, in part, because 
>of the growing friendship between India and Israel, whose chilly 
>cold war relations began to thaw in the 1990s.
>
>Indian and Israeli heads of state have recently visited each other's 
>countries. The countries have strengthened trade and intelligence 
>ties. In February, the chief rabbi of Israel, Yona Metzger, met with 
>Hindu leaders in India, after which the Jewish and Hindu clerics 
>declared common beliefs, among them that their "respective 
>traditions teach that there is one supreme being." The statement was 
>a breakthrough because many Jews had long considered Hinduism a form 
>of idolatry, Professor Katz said.
>
>Inspired by the Wiesenthal Center, which produces a CD annually that 
>compiles Internet hate speech, the Hindu American Foundation issued 
>its own report this year about "online hatred and bigotry against 
>Hindus," Suhag Shukla, the foundation's legal counsel, said. The 
>foundation also learned from the success of Jewish groups that it 
>needed a full-time staff member to lobby Congress.
>
>The Hindu American Foundation is among those who contend that Jews 
>and Hindus are natural allies because of the common threat Israel 
>and India face from Islamic terrorists. "There are the shared 
>terrorist threats where we are the religious minority, for example 
>Jammu-Kashmir and Islamic terrorism there or the situation in 
>Israel," Ms. Shukla said, referring to the anti-Indian insurgency in 
>the northern state.
>
>Those parallels disturb some Indian-Americans, who contend they veil 
>a deeper anti-Muslim sentiment.
>
>"This makes me relatively suspicious, because there is the desire to 
>reduce the complexity of the issues in a conflict," said Vijay 
>Prashad, professor of South Asian history at Trinity College in 
>Hartford.
>
>The India Community Center in Milpitas, Calif., represents the 
>nonsectarian approach many Indian-Americans take to replicating the 
>experience of American Jews. When Anil Godhwani began talking to 
>other Indians in Silicon Valley about opening a center, "more than 
>one person talked to us about making this a Hindu community center - 
>sometimes in very strong terms," he said. That was never his 
>intention, though he was raised Hindu.
>
>A Silicon Valley millionaire who sold his company to Netscape in the 
>late 1990s, Mr. Godhwani said he and his brother envisioned a place 
>that promoted the variety of Indian culture to Indian-Americans and 
>non-Indians alike. The Godhwanis canvassed other ethnic centers and 
>the 
><http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/y/young_mens_christian_association/index.html?inline=nyt-org>Y.M.C.A. 
>But the Jewish Community Center model resonated with them. It 
>celebrated Jewish culture while avoiding the divisiveness of 
>politics and religion. And it welcomed outsiders. The India 
>Community Center occupies a 40,000-square-foot building that offers, 
>among other things, free medical care for the uninsured, Indian 
>language classes and Bollywood-style aerobics but keeps out 
>religious activities.
>
>Talat Hassan, chairwoman of the center's board of trustees, said, 
>"Those of us who grew up in the '50s, '60s and '70s in India grew up 
>in a truly inclusive atmosphere, and that is the gift that India can 
>give to rest of the world: the ability to embrace diversity in very 
>deep way."
>
>"Then we came here, and maybe India was changing in this way too," 
>Ms. Hassan said, "but Indian-Americans were organized around 
>religion, and we found that to be very divisive. We thought there 
>should be a place where people can come together as 
>Indian-Americans, period, regardless of religion."
>
>
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