Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal’s Attack Reeks Of South Asian Hate
If you are a person of color in the US, you are unfortunately a target for someone to yell, abuse, or worse, point guns at. This is the flabbergasting reality of residing in one of the developed countries in the world. The latest racist attack on Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal is proof that whether you’re a commoner or a political representative, your race will always be the dominating factor in America.
US representative Jayapal received a threat to life from a 48-year-old man, who has already been released after arrest. The reason for his release is they couldn’t say with certainty that he told the Congresswoman to go back to India or that he threatened to kill her! Evidence of crime is of course, important, but the case of increased hate crimes against South Asians is the larger issue at hand.
What’s also a bit unappetizing is the media coverage of the incident. A Congresswoman was threatened to kill right outside her home in Washington, but its reportage found a bare minimum place in national media. Maybe because we hear about attacks on South Asians in some form or other, every other day!
A man with a gun stood in front of Representative Pramila Jayapal’s house, threatened to kill her and told her to go back to India.
Where is the outrage?
It’s almost as if nobody cares about women of color, even those in the highest echelons of power.
— saira rao (@sairasameerarao) July 15, 2022
A couple of months ago, 3 Sikh men were attacked in New York City in April within a span of 10 days. The accused in this case was just a 19-year-old! The most recent ‘reported’ attack is another Sikh man killed in an ‘execution-style’ on June 27th in the South Ozone Park neighborhood, not too far from Richmond Hill, where the previous murders took place. Last year, another Sikh man was attacked in Brooklyn for looking different!
There are more startling figures shared by Neil Makhija, executive director of Indian American Impact, a leading organization representing the community. Commenting on the attack on Jayapal, he revealed that there were over 11,000 hate incidents against Asian Americans last year and nearly 600 more every month. We don’t even have to do the math to calculate the per day ratio, but what it needs is stringent attention.
Jayapal being a politician makes no difference, but her being racially different matters much more. Her stature of political representation got the quickest measures and protection for her family, and she has good wishes and concerns pouring in. But what about the rest who continue to live in fear, are away from their families, and their only crime is – not being white.
While there are wide and valid discussions about gun violence and related laws in the US, there definitely has to be more discussions and a hate crime task force, to stop the growing attacks on South Asians. We are a lot more than just racial differentiators and targets of hate crimes. With a person of color, Kamala Harris holding the position of US Vice President, news of the attack on a South Asian-descent politician is truly disappointing.
