Murder, molestation and the model minority

The Times of India (TOI) recently reported on two chilling incidents in the US involving persons of Indian origin. A 66 year-old man had his African-American daughter-in-law killed because his son’s relationship with the black woman was perceived to have brought shame upon the family. In another case, a wealthy Indian couple were sentenced for having tortured and enslaved their domestic help. Horrible stuff. Examples of the depths to which allegedly civilised human beings can plumb. Instances of unalloyed evil. But, and I risk a lot of ire in saying this, that is all they are. Just two examples of the ugliness human beings are capable of.

A follow-up commentary in the TOI seems to suggest that these terrible happenings were more than they were. It claims that the ‘model minority’ reputation of the Indian community in the US has taken a beating because of these incidents. Model minority? Just what might that be? We desis are just as intelligent, hard-working, innovative, loyal, hospitable, generous, cultured and educated as anyone can be. But, being ordinary humans like everyone else, we are also as mean, uncouth, racist, prejudiced, greedy and parsimonious as anyone. That is the way it is with any group of people considered as a collective. The law of averages dictates it be thus.

If it seems that desis in the West do better than all other minorities, it is hardly something to gloat about. The desis in the West, hard as they have to fight for things, enjoy many privileges over other minority communities. By and large, it can be said of us all that we did not flee a war with just the clothes on our backs, get caught in the wake of some grandiose imperialist misadventure, starve half to death or come packed like cattle in slave ships. We even have the advantages of being, on average, pretty well-educated and fluent speakers of English. Most of the advantages we enjoy are not of our own making (at least not directly). If we fare better than others, is that so surprising?

Another problematic thing with the ‘model minority’ myth is that it is a dangerous one. So long as people don’t rock the boat, they can earn the label of a model minority and fatten themselves on crumbs off the high table. The less compliant, the more resistant, the ones with a stronger sense of social justice? Those are the trouble-makers. Well, Babasaheb Ambedkar was a trouble-maker, as were Bhagat Singh, Nelson Mandela, Dr. Martin Luther King and many giants of history. Considering their track records, I would be quite ashamed to be a member of any ‘model minority’. Give me the trouble-makers any day.