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Ample reason for Republican Bobby Jindal to be ashamed of himself.

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The New American Bigot:
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal

PETER MANSEAU

 

 

 




When Louisiana's Republican Governor Bobby Jindal -- himself of Hindu heritage! -- spoke last month of a Muslim “invasion” of the United States, he stood on sadly familiar ground in American history.

The “Yellow Peril” fears of the late 19th century are well known, but few remember the “Dusky Peril” that soon followed -- the anxiety caused by South Asian immigration to the Pacific Northwest.

The press called them Hindus -- because they had the same skin colour as Bobby Jindal does today -- but in fact most were Sikh immigrants from the region of Punjab.

Early in 1906, they arrived in Bellingham, Washington, seeking jobs in the logging industry, and quickly proved to be desirable employees.

“We cannot get white men who will remain steadily at their work,” one lumber mill owner told the ‘Bellingham Herald.’ “A large number [of whites] are transient and work only for ‘whisky money’ leaving the company in the lurch just at the time that their services are most desired.”

Because observant Sikhs, whose religion prohibited becoming intoxicated, had little interest in “whisky money,” they filled so many jobs it soon angered the locals.

“Hordes of ‘Hindus’ have fastened their eyes on Bellingham and the northwestern part of the United States in general,” warned the city’s daily newspaper ‘Puget Sound American‘ [intentionally insulting the Sikhs by calling them Hindus in mischief!], “and the vanguard of the invasion which in the minds of many discerning people, threatens to overshadow the ‘yellow peril,’ has reached this city.”

Tensions reached a breaking point a year after the publication of this front-page article (see on right). As reported across the country, in September 1907, a mob of disgruntled white workers rounded up hundreds of Sikhs, beat them in the street, and then forced them out of town.

Many went north to British Columbia; others went south to California, where a Punjabi-Mexican community briefly flourished.   

While we ponder today whether the recent murder of three Muslim students in North Carolina was a hate crime or a merely an argument over parking gone horrifically wrong, it’s worth remembering that acts of violence committed against religious groups in American history have rarely had a single cause. While some may see Bellingham’s anti-Sikh riot as a hate crime, others might claim it was simply a labor dispute. 


[Courtesy: Slate. Edited for sikhchic.com]
February 14, 2015


 

Conversation about this article

1: Yuktanand Singh, MD (Michigan, USA), February 14, 2015, 11:15 AM.

I had hoped that individuals of Indian origin would assert the concept of universality, as it is commonly accepted (though not well practiced) in India. But I noticed that sadly, in his desperate attempts to avoid being seen as "them" by the ignorant majority, he makes political overtures to reconstruct the nation under "our" God. How can someone be so far removed from what even his parents may have raised him with, the concept of One Universal God?

2: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), February 14, 2015, 12:20 PM.

Jindal is the perfect example of a coconut. He grew up in the South, maybe the only Indian at his school, he converted to Christianity in high school. The Abrahamic religions are such that they strip individuals of their cultural heritage. In this case a person from an idol-worshiping Hindu background, living in the South without other community members to reverberate his identity found salvation in the Southern, warped brand of Christianity, most likely with guidance from a friend he grew up with who felt his religion needed a change. All this adds up for the perfect recipe to create a coconut. You need to consider these things to understand why Jindal tries so hard to pass himself off as being white. For goodness sake, his fake southern accent is as atrocious as the extreme right-wing stances he has embraced.

3: Kaala Singh (Punjab), February 14, 2015, 1:25 PM.

This guy seems to be another genetically-corrupt Hindu, masquerading as a Christian in order to break into the corridors of power in America.

4: Gagan Kaur (Ohio, USA), February 14, 2015, 5:08 PM.

What a silly, selfish, ignorant man! A perfect dinosaur for today's Republican party. For such meanness and narrow-mindedness, he's bound to get his just desserts before too long.

5: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), February 14, 2015, 7:56 PM.

@3: Jindal is a %100 certifiable Christian nut. Apparently he and his friends tried to 'exorcise' a woman while they were in high school. No masquerading here.

6: Fatehpal Singh Tarney (Boca Raton, Florida, USA), February 14, 2015, 9:11 PM.

If Jindal had progressive beliefs and policies, he would be accused by conservatives of being a 'closet Hindu,' just as Obama is accused of being a 'closet Muslim,' even though Obama was never a Muslim, whereas Jindal was, in fact, a Hindu. Jindal converted to Catholicism in a self-serving move to ingratiate himself into favor with the many Catholics in Louisiana where he had his initial political ambitions. Were he in a different Southern state, he would have become a Baptist or a Methodist, as did Nikki Haley in South Carolina who was born and raised a Sikh. Jindal's leading Christian revival meetings to win points with the Christian right to advance his presidential candidacy, is not what he should be doing. As governor, he should be focusing on education, poverty and violent crime in his state. Instead, he travels to Europe and has the nerve to criticize crime and violence in cities there, rather than in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. There are 'no-go' neighborhoods in his own state that he wouldn't dream of going into by himself! According to a 'U.S. News & World Report' [May 7, 2012] story, Louisiana was ranked America's most violent state for the 20th year in a row, based on homicide, violent crime and incarceration rates, as well the availability of firearms. Jindal was then the State Governor, and had been for well over 4 years by then. He still is -- but things haven't got any better under his watch, despite all of his feigned piety.

7: G C Singh (USA), February 15, 2015, 12:18 PM.

Time magazine, February 5, 2015: "Who's the white guy?" Or so went the jokes of many Twitter users who saw a photo tweeted widely this week of (dark-skinned Indian Hindu-descent) Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's purported 'official portrait,' in which, well, he's been whitewashed to the shade of Benedict Cumberbatch.

8: Onkar Singh (Chandigarh, Punjab), February 15, 2015, 12:21 PM.

Such people who hide behind a facade of piety and claim allegiance to one religion, while insulting another faith, are nothing less than the scum of the earth. This scoundrel is as bad as the worst of them.

9: Manbir Banwait  (Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada ), February 15, 2015, 10:57 PM.

Jindal seems to have forgotten that his forefathers were also called an 'invasion'. Every immigrant group has its struggles, pointing out issues isn't a concern when certain values of a group do not blend into the adopted country, however picking on them and calling them an "invasion" causes nothing but hate which results in only more clashes. Obviously the man is trying to pander to the right-wing vote. Perhaps he should spend more time in dealing with Louisiana's own many problems of racial tension, economic uncertainty, and racial barriers before jumping onto the right-wing hate train. I doubt it, though, that he is capable to do so.

10: Fatehpal Singh Tarney (Boca Raton, Florida, USA), February 17, 2015, 7:16 AM.

A Republican adviser reminded me that when Jindal was interviewed on a news program recently, he had said that the GOP had to stop being the stupid party. Shortly thereafter, Jindal began saying stupid things, trying to outdo, as if, the likes of Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann.

11: Dr Birinder Singh Ahluwalia (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), February 17, 2015, 11:08 AM.

The annals of human history are replete with examples of when certain sections of humanity or individuals have attempted to label or render derogatory nomenclature to other sections of humanity ... insults such as nigger, shylock, wasp, pollack, wop, wog, chink, jap, hun, paki ... the list is endless. And we all know in how low esteem history holds such perpetrators of bigotry and racism, as opposed to the ones with the highest ideals and values such as those who have hailed and honoured equality of, and respect for all peoples. Mr Jindal, through his bigotry as well as in imitating Michael Jackson by his sad and unfortunate self-mutilation, is bound to discover before long that he too has no nose left to brag about. [My heart goes out to Michael Jackson for his pathology which led to his aberrant behaviour, but I simply cannot have any sympathy for Mr Jindal's affliction.]

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Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal"









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