Nikki Haley, Bobby Jindal and on-and-off relationships with Indian American identity
“Jindal and Haley have done a great job highlighting their South Asian roots when it is convenient to appeal to an immigrant narrative and simultaneously gaslight the very existence of racism," one critic said.
After Nikki Haley's Republican National Convention speech this week, critics have pointed out that embracing one's roots can, itself, come across like a political act.
Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was born Nimrata Randhawa to Indian immigrants from Punjab and goes by the childhood nickname “Nikki." She’s private about her Sikh background and emphasizes her conversion to Christianity. She even listed her race as “white” on a 2001 voter registration card.
But on Monday, the first night of the RNC, she invoked her Indian identity and claimed that “America is not racist,” although later in the same speech, she contradicted herself by pointing out that her family had faced discrimination during her childhood.
South Asian American experts who are familiar with Haley, Bobby Jindal, the former Louisiana governor and 2016 Republican presidential hopeful, and other conservative Indian American politicians note that some of them seem to have an on-and-off relationship with their Indian identity, mostly appearing to distance themselves from it but also using it to their advantage when it serves them.
Haley and Jindal, the only two Indian Americans to be elected governor, did not respond to NBC Asian America's request for comment.
Jindal — born Piyush, not Bobby — has dismissed his Indian identity at times, rejecting the label “Indian American” and referring to his skin tone as just a “tan,” while also looking to wealthy Indian families like the Kailases, big Louisiana landowners, for political and financial support.
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“Jindal and Haley have done a great job highlighting their South Asian roots when it is convenient to appeal to an immigrant narrative and simultaneously gaslight the very existence of racism," one critic said.
After Nikki Haley's Republican National Convention speech this week, critics have pointed out that embracing one's roots can, itself, come across like a political act.
Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was born Nimrata Randhawa to Indian immigrants from Punjab and goes by the childhood nickname “Nikki." She’s private about her Sikh background and emphasizes her conversion to Christianity. She even listed her race as “white” on a 2001 voter registration card.
But on Monday, the first night of the RNC, she invoked her Indian identity and claimed that “America is not racist,” although later in the same speech, she contradicted herself by pointing out that her family had faced discrimination during her childhood.
South Asian American experts who are familiar with Haley, Bobby Jindal, the former Louisiana governor and 2016 Republican presidential hopeful, and other conservative Indian American politicians note that some of them seem to have an on-and-off relationship with their Indian identity, mostly appearing to distance themselves from it but also using it to their advantage when it serves them.
Haley and Jindal, the only two Indian Americans to be elected governor, did not respond to NBC Asian America's request for comment.
Jindal — born Piyush, not Bobby — has dismissed his Indian identity at times, rejecting the label “Indian American” and referring to his skin tone as just a “tan,” while also looking to wealthy Indian families like the Kailases, big Louisiana landowners, for political and financial support.
Continued
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1238266
