Not All Indians

Last week, my social media feed was full of Zarna Garg and her daughter Zoya Garg’s interview on The Daily Beast.

I listened to it the first time shaking my head almost the entire time. My first instinct was anger, followed by disgust. I uploaded a short clip on TikTok and thought that was it.

It has been days now and I keep going back to the clip. I have previously reviewed Zarna’s memoir here and the one striking thing about it was the absolute lack of interrogation of her privilege. This interview yet again made the point I was trying to make in my earlier post. Dissecting parts of the interview, here are my thoughts.

– Indians in general are okay with corrupt politicians

No, they are not. It is precisely because there is so much corruption at every level of Government service that a bulk of us chose to immigrate. Yes, we waited in line, we filled out reams of paperwork, agonized over the waiting times and paid our dues while we waited. But, doing so in itself is/was a privilege. We were not fleeing murderous regimes or escaping drug cartels. We were making an active choice to find a life better than the one we were leaving behind. We immigrated precisely because we thought the governing mechanism in America worked. Taxes paid for public education that was good, average interactions with the federal mechanisms – licenses, passports, registrations of deeds worked like well oiled machines. Bribery was uncommon at all levels of government.

– Nobody who is not a criminal wants to do this job

Again, a resounding no. Every single person running for office I have met and interacted with locally are doing so because they care. They do so because they see a need that is not being addressed. They do so because they want a better school system, better environment, better roads, better accounting, better public spaces where they live. As someone who has been mobilizing with They See Blue locally, I can say from lived experience, it is not true for large swaths of America at most levels of Government. We have an exception at the highest levels in the government and that is an issue. It is a huge issue with this ‘Indian’. When Zarna says “… of course he has cheated on his wife, they all do…” I am old enough to remember a President impeached for lying about consensual sex in the Oval office. I remember a democratic senator stepping down because of an inappropriate photo that was a joke. Yes, standards apply and it must apply to people running for and getting elected to public office.

– Indian people are by and large legal immigrants

Ding ding ding – Nope. Yes, a good portion are but there is an equally invisible portion of people of Indian origin who enter the country legally and overstay their visas. There are people crossing borders illegally. Please see below.

This opinion by Zarna is emblematic of privileged people being unable to see past and empathize with experiences unlike their own. The bubbles they are in become echo chambers amplifying these view points. It is okay until it becomes something one spouts off on an international platform claiming to represent all of us. So, no, this ‘Indian’ does not agree. Being human is to seek better opportunities. Immigration policies must be humane. What we see being executed today by ICE is neither humane nor legal.

– Usha Vance is aspirational as a girl dating American guys…

The question was what do Indians think of Usha Vance and the answer while it started off as personal opinion by Zoya Garg quickly veered into making ‘dating white guys’ the aspiration. We have had plenty of people modeling healthy interracial relationships in the US public sphere. I will say less here because all I can do is shake my head that a 22 year old ivy league educated child feels dating white guys is aspirational. Then, she goes on to discard what Vance has said publicly about wanting his wife to convert.

So, speaking for Indian Americans who do not agree with Zarna or her daughter, people with large platforms have a responsibility to think before they speak. In the event they feel compelled to express their personal opinions on large platforms, they are obligated to qualify their statements with “in my opinion” and not push off personal opinions as views held by a large group of people who vehemently disagree.

This Indian American wants ethics in government. This Indian American believes relationships must have give and take. This Indian American is very unhappy with her country’s descent into fascism. This Indian American says not all Indians.

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