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5. African Americans and the New Immigrants
- Temple University Press
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--------------African Americans and the New Immigrants Amritjit Singh People of South Asian origin in the United States number about two million now and may be regarded as an "imagined community" within the broad framework of Benedict Anderson t s definitions. 1 Although American conceptions of "race" playa significant role in how all immigrants ofcolor are perceived (more on this later) t their assimilation into American life parallels in many ways what earlier European immigrant groups have undergone. The replication in North America of homeland attitudes and hierarchies or even of subcontinental conflicts is not unique to our ethnic groupt nor is the feeling of despair at the fragmented sense of community we frequently experience. Yet in some ways we are privileged today to have many significant new models of assimilation and hybridization beyond the "melting pot" metaphor that dominated the scene until the 1960s. These radically new approaches to immigration and ethnic diversity-suggested by the frequent use ofsuch phrases as mosaict descent and consentt kaleidoscopet salad bowlt double consciousnesst and multiculturalism-have opened new spaces for self-definition for most new Americans.2 Now that these approaches have become part of the public discourse in North Americat it is no longer possible to insist on treating immigrants and the cultures they bring with them as inevitable sacrificial lambs on the altar of a real or illusory American Dream. Ironicallyt these recent attempts to acknowledge or celebrate long-standing multicultural American realities have als0 inspired many prophets of doomsuch as Patrick Buchanant Alan Bloomt and our very own Dinesh DtSouza-to invoke the dangers of balkanization. The real perils of balkanization lie most probably not in these new conceptions ofimmigration or multiculturalism but A short version of this essay appeared as an Op-Ed piece in the Chicago Tribune, 4 November 1992. 94 Amritjit Singh in the giant-size failure of all Americans-white, black, or brown-to make a difference in the way racism, poverty, unemployment and underemployment, drugs, and crime continue to plague the lives of our largest community of color: African Americans. There are more South Asians in this country now than the combined populations of Rhode Island, Wyoming, and Alaska. African Americans, however, outnumber the total population of Canada and form a large and diverse "nation within a nation." South Asians have much to learn from African American history about being acculturated in North America, because of the myriad ways "race" complicates our real life experiences, including interethnic behavior. Recent demographic shifts such as the emergence of Asians as a visible large minority in some California locations (including, for example, the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley, campus)-and white responses to such developments-are already persuading South Asian students and professionals to become more fully aware of their own history on this continent. I first came to the United States in 1968, and a major debate in the 197Os (evidenced in the early issues of India Abroad) was whether or not South Asians should seek or accept a minority status and give up the emotional and psychological advantages of being considered "Caucasians ," as they were then classified by the Census Bureau. Today, some twenty-five years later, most ofus would find the idea ofempowering ourselves as Caucasoid not only laughable but even sinister. The ironies are further compounded when we learn the history of this concept in the struggle of South Asians to get acceptance as migrants or naturalized citizens in the early years of this century. The Naturalization Act of 1790 employed explicitly racial criteria, limiting citizenship to "free white persons." When this act was successfully challenged after the Civil War on behalf of blacks (notwithstanding the complicated history of African American citizenship between the notorious Compromise of 1877 and the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965), Asian Americans of all backgrounds became the most significant group excluded from citizenship. In 1922, in a case that denied naturalization to a person ofJapanese birth, the Supreme Court circumvented the question of color by defining "white" as "Caucasian." In 1923 when a South Asian immigrant, Bhagat Singh Thind, tried to gain citizenship by arguing that he was a "Caucasian," the Supreme Court brushed aside anthropological and historical issues and invoked the popular meaning of the term "white." In turning down Thind's request, the Court applied the criterion of assimilability to separate undesirable from desirable immigrants: Asian Indians were distinguished from the European immigrants , who were deemed "readily assimilated" (italics in original) with the immigrants "already here." In...