Fight For Sam바카라�s Soul

A giant heart in gaudy pink, radiating silver blue rays, thr­obbed vigorously on the scr­een behind. Two young cou­­­­ples, dressed in black, danced suggestively to a soft melody on the dimly-lit stage. But the music was suddenly disrupted by shouting and sounds of gunshot. A couple of terrorists, cloaked in green burqas and carrying glow-in-the-dark plastic guns, jumped on to the stage바카라�firing in the air and forcing the hapless foursome into a huddle. They hollered in Arabic and guffawed like villains from bad movies. But before long, a group of spr­ightly American Rangers came out of nowhere and kicked their asses with Chuck Norris moves, saving the day. The bemused audience clapped in appreciation.

Mid-October evenings aren바카라�t terribly cold in Edison, New Jersey and so the 2,000-odd Indians who had gathered for the 바카라�Hindus for Trump바카라� gala바카라�setting of the above show바카라�could display their emb­roidered salwars and colourful churidaars. Many were Telugus, and they hadn바카라�t come there as much for the politics as for watching Prabhu Deva. Malaika Arora Khan was another big draw. But the biggest name on the ticket was The Donald himself. Three weeks before the presidential election, in the middle of the campaign of his life, he came. He saw. And he conquered with these words: 바카라�I am a big fan of Hindu, and I am a big fan of India바카라�Big, big fan.바카라�

Indians in America, or at least a rich and visible section of the community, have looked upon Trump as one of their own. They found common cause with his religiously-tinged hyperbolic nationalism; it reminded them of someone closer home. Shalabh Kumar, chairman of the Repub­lican Hindu Coalition that organised the Edison event, contributed close to $1 mil­­lion to the Trump coffers. The organisation later launched a $400,000 digital ad campaign for him, with its slogan, 바카라�Ab ki baar Trump sarkaar바카라�, echoing the ref­rain that catapulted Narendra Modi to power. Many Indians were also hoping that Trump, a businessman first and for­emost, would make it easier for Indian professionals working in the Silicon Valley to get green cards.

Things haven바카라�t worked out quite as exp­ected. A series of bills have been tabled in Congress, targeting the visa category that Indians predominantly rely on to work in the U.S. In addition, the Muslim-baiting xenophobia that so endeared Trump to Hindu-nationalist Indians here quickly sho­wed its true colours. A tide of white supremacism started mounting almost immediately after Trump바카라�s victory, inundating minorities of all hues in its wake. The Southern Poverty Law Center rep­orted more than 1,000 바카라�bias-related incidents바카라� in the first five weeks after the November 8 election바카라�or almost 30 every day. Most of these were directed against Blacks, Muslims, lesbians and gays, or immigrants in general. Now, Indians too have become targets.

Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Mad­asani, two 32-year-old Indian engineers working for the technology company Garmin, were shot at on February 22 inside a bar in Olathe, Kansas. The suspect, Adam Purinton, 51, had reportedly been throwing racial slurs their way, shouting, 바카라�Get out of my country바카라�, and had been asked by the Austin바카라�s Bar and Grill staff to leave. But he came back with a gun in hand and started shooting at the two Indians. Kuchibhotla was killed. Madasani sustained injuries, as did Ian Grillot, an American patron who tried to intervene. Purinton, a US Navy veteran, was charged with murder.

Local Indian residents say the news came as a shock to them, especially bec­ause they have always felt safe in this part of Middle America. 바카라�When we heard about it, we were all very scared,바카라� says Parvati Chillara, a private information technology consultant from Overland Park, a seven-minute drive from Olathe. 바카라�I have lived here for 20 years and I think I heard something like this for the first time.바카라�

바카라�It was really scary,바카라� says Chinmay Ratnaparkhi, a Master바카라�s student of computer science at the Kansas Univ­ersity in Lawrence, about half an hour away. Ratnaparkhi, 23, arrived here at the start of his undergraduate education and has lived in the area for almost five years. 바카라�I haven바카라�t heard anything like this in Kansas. It was very shocking. I didn바카라�t know how to react.바카라�

Ratnaparkhi is the president of the Association of Indian Students at his university. When he learnt about the Olathe shooting, he spoke to other Indian students. 바카라�The most common response was anger,바카라� he says. 바카라�People are getting frustrated. Why is this happening? People are becoming more intolerant towards people of colour.바카라�

Chillara, too, is a community leader, presiding over the India Association of Kansas City. She heard the news the morning after, when a colleague who had visited the bar to help out following the shooting informed her. She later met with Madasani바카라�s wife to offer support. Her association also organised a peace march and vigil on February 26. Speakers included friends of the victims as well as political leaders and administrative officials. Priests from multiple religions offered prayers.

But Ratnaparkhi asks, 바카라�We can have peace marches and candle-light vigils, but how do you really protect Indians?바카라� The shaken Indian student community is planning to start a 바카라�buddy system바카라� in which students will accompany each other, especially at nights, he adds. 바카라�We shouldn바카라�t walk around alone at night. Also, if you feel somebody is making undue comments, don바카라�t react. Withdraw, instead of getting into a fight.바카라�

The Indian embassy in Washington DC did not comment, although it tweeted a photograph of ambassador Navtej Sarna with Kansas Senator Jerry Moran along with the message, 바카라�Appreciate that Senator @JerryMoran of Kansas met Ambassador @NavtejSarna to express condolences on death of Srinivas Kuchibhotla바카라�.

Four months after avowing his affection for Hindus and Indians, Trump remained silent. There was more silence from the White House, at least in the beginning. As voices blaming the murder on Trump바카라�s espousal of white supremacism and anti-­immigration policies grew louder, a White House spokesperson eventually refuted the charge. This lack of reaction was in marked contrast to the Trump adm­inistration바카라�s response to vandalism at a Jewish cemetery in St Louis, Pen­nsylvania, a week earlier. Trump called the attack and threats to Jewish community centers around the country as 바카라�horrible바카라�. Vice President Mike Pence visited the cemetery and said: 바카라�We condemn this vile act of vandalism and those who perpetrate it in the strongest possible terms. We saw firsthand what happens when hatred runs rampant in a society.바카라� He then rolled up his sleeves and proceeded to help out with the clean-up efforts.

Trump and Pence have thrived on xenophobia. They have come to power ratcheting up racism. But if Pence바카라�s words from St Louis aroused a sardonic grin, there was more black humour in store for Indians. Purinton, the Kansas gunman, reportedly said he had shot 바카라�Iranians바카라� after the attack on Kuchibhotla and Madasani. But this was not simply a case of mistaken identity. Purinton and his ilk don바카라�t really know바카라�or care about바카라�the difference between Indians and Iranians. Even as Hindu-nationalist Indians in America fall head over heels trying to socially engineer kinship with white supremacists by invoking their shared distaste for 바카라�Muslim terrorists바카라�, the likes of Purinton don바카라�t see them as any different from Muslims or any other 바카라�outsiders바카라� polluting their white country.

To be sure, more than half of America did not vote for Trump in November. It바카라�s the same America that has been rising in revolt against his presidency바카라�spilling into the streets to protest his election, his inauguration as well as his anti-immigration policies. It바카라�s the America that Grillot the Brave, for instance, belongs to. A stranger to Kuchibhotla and Madasani, he had initially defended them from Purinton바카라�s jibes. When Purinton retu­rned to shoot, he tried to intervene again and was badly wounded.

He is hardly alone. The First Baptist Chu­­rch of Olathe, across the road from the bar where the shooting happened, organised a candle-light vigil two days after the shooting. 바카라�The local community has been very supportive,바카라� Chillara says. 바카라�Almost all non-profit organisations came together and said they wanted to support the Indian community.바카라�

Ratnaparkhi says he has received similar support from his American friends. 바카라�All my local friends were shocked by the incident. I received a lot of calls from them. They wanted to make sure I was feeling safe. They tried to comfort me, and ensured me they are with me.바카라�

For such Americans too, though, there is probably not much difference between Indians and Iranians, or between Hindus and Muslims. Just the weekend before the Kansas shooting, a passenger in a Chi­­cago-Houston flight caustically asked a Pakistani Muslim couple placing their luggage in the overhead bin, 바카라�That바카라�s not a bomb in your bag, is it?바카라� As he kept trying to provoke them, other passengers stood up for the Pakistanis and alerted the airline crew. The man making the jibes was asked to deplane 바카라�for mak­­ing others feel uncomfortable바카라�, according to media reports. 바카라�Get out of here,바카라� another woman in the plane said. 바카라�Racists aren바카라�t welcome in America. This is not Trump바카라�s America. Gooodbyeee raaacists!바카라�

Harassment of Muslim바카라�or Muslim-looking바카라�men and women has been common on American flights for years. Until now, airlines have almost always asked their Muslim passengers to leave the plane 바카라�for making others feel uncomfortable바카라�. Neither flight crews nor co-passengers have come to anybody바카라�s rescue. But the Chicago incident shows that, just like their white supremacist compatriots, liberal Americans have also been invigorated by Trump바카라�s victory. There is a growing sense that the idea of multicultural America is under immediate and serious threat바카라�and it is up to common Americans to rescue it.

Unfortunately, Indians themselves don바카라�t always realise that as a community of colour, they aren바카라�t viewed all that differently from other minorities바카라�neither by white supremacists, nor by white saviours. Many Indians speaking to the local media chose not to blame Trump and his rhetoric for the Kansas shooting. But this was not because attacks on immigrants have always been a bane of American society. Instead, they said this was a one-off incident바카라�betraying obliviousness to the unceasing violence against other minorities around them.

They have hailed Grillot as a hero; perhaps they would look up the video the 24-year-old posted on YouTube from his hospital bed. 바카라�I was doing what anyone sho­­uld have done for another human,바카라� he says. 바카라�It바카라�s not about where he was from or his ethnicity. We바카라�re all humans.바카라�

The senseless, 1959 murders of the Clutter family바카라�basis of Truman Capote바카라�s In Cold Blood바카라�had shocked Kansas. A repeat of Kuchibhotla바카라�s murder, actuated by a perverted sense, now has Americans like Grillot to contend with.

 By Saif Shahin in Ohio