UNITED STATES, August 28, 2015 (Daily O by Vamsee Juluri): Whatever extreme imagination the 2011 census might inspire in ideologues in India, reports about Indians in America only seem to affirm the idea of an endlessly cheerful Indian American Dream. Hindu Americans in particular have acquired a reputation as a wealthy community. News reports in India and abroad admiringly note statistics about the community’s income and education, as well as individual success stories. Hinduism, some journalists say, is the wealthiest religion in America.
Regardless of the merits of such claims, and the emotional and political debates that invariably follow, it must be said that for a community that has hardly been there for half a century, there is a well-deserved sense of pride about having navigated the best of both cultures. The community succeeds in the modern, secular world of science, engineering, academia and business, and also remains steeped in religiosity.
As someone who has been writing about some of these issues for several years now, I can say that the energy is palpable, the purpose becoming increasingly more lucid and beyond reproach, but as far as results go, there is not much to show, as of now at least. For a storied immigrant community, Hindu America is still incredibly voiceless in America. To recall one simple example, the California textbooks haven’t changed one bit after nearly a decade of struggle. One might even ask, given how egregiously Hinduphobic the lessons were, why did several class years of students and parents quietly go through school without challenging them before 2005? What does it say about us as a community that produces CEOs and millionaires but not enough of a truth-claim to replace lies with facts?
Much more of this long essay at source.