South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future
August 24, 2015
Indian-American activist and teacher Iyer writes with passion on the experience of South Asian immigrants in post-9/11 America. She begins with the August 2012 shooting at an Oak Creek, Wis., Sikh temple that left six people dead. As a victim’s son says, “She was an American and this was not our American dream.” Iyer personalizes the challenges faced by those who are, or are mistakenly perceived as being, Muslim. As she shows, government surveillance of groups deemed suspicious has increased their sense of separation from American society. While this book could simply be a catalogue of injustices, Iyer’s study reaches into the complexities of the many cultures that make up South Asia. She points out that many South Asian immigrants run small stores in largely African-American or Hispanic neighborhoods, but often remain apart from the local community. In the aftermath of the Wisconsin massacre, however, area Sikhs felt an increased sense of solidarity with other marginalized ethnic groups. Iyer encourages her readers to become politicized and oppose policymakers who make “racist and xenophobic statements that fuel hostility.” Her theme moves from her own group to all Americans who would work together for a “multiracial and equitable America... in which there are no more ‘others. ’ ”