INDIAN AMERICAN

An 'Indian American' is an American, by birth or naturalization, who is of Asian Indian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau popularized the term 'Asian Indian' to avoid confusion with "American Indian".
In North America the term ''Indian'' has an ambiguous meaning. Historically, ''Indian'' was commonly used to indicate ''Native American''. If a more specific term was needed to differentiate; ''American Indian'' and ''East Indian'' were commonly used. ''American Indian'' has fallen out of favor and ''Native American'' is more commonly used to refer to the Indigenous peoples of North America. ''East Indian'' is still in common use. Currently ''South Asian'' is often used instead of ''East Indian''. While some consider it derogatory, South Asians, pre-dominantly South Asian Americans, use the term ''Desi'' to refer to the diasporic subculture of overseas South Asians.
A number of Indian Americans, also known as Indo-Americans, came to the U.S. via Indian communities in other countries such as Fiji, Kenya, Tanzania, the United Kingdom, Trinidad & Tobago, South Africa, Canada, Guyana and Mauritius. Indian Americans are mostly Hindu, Sikh, Muslim and Christian and are among the most highly educated American demographics.^[1] Unlike other Asian Americans, they live spread out in the United States.

Population

Numbers

According to the American Community Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau, the Asian Indian population in the United States grew from almost 1,678,000 in 2000 to 2,319,000 in 2005: a growth rate of 38%, the highest for any Asian American community, and among the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States after Hispanic Americans. Indian Americans are the third largest Asian American ethnic group, after Chinese Americans and Filipino Americans. ^[2] ^[3] ^[4]

Settlement

The U.S. states with the largest Indian American populations, in order, are California, New York, New Jersey, Texas, and Illinois.^[5] There are also large Indian American populations in Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan, Georgia and Virginia as well.
The metropolitan areas with the largest Indian American populations are New York City, San Francisco/San Jose/Oakland, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington/Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, Houston, and Atlanta.^[6]. The town of Edison, New Jersey (total population 100,499) is 17.5% Indian American -- the highest percentage of any municipality in the United States. ^[7]
In contrast with East Asian Americans, who tend to be concentrated in California and other areas near the Pacific coast, Indian Americans are more evenly distributed throughout the United States.^[8]

Socioeconomic

Education

Indian Americans have the highest educational qualifications of all national origin groups in the United States. According to the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, there are close to 41,000 Indian American doctors. According to the 2000 census, about 64% of Indian Americans have attained a Bachelor's degree or more.[1](compared to 28% nationally). Almost 40% of all Indians have a master’s, doctorate or other professional degree, which is five times the national average. (Source: The Indian American Centre for Political Awareness.) These high levels of education have enabled Indian Americans to become a productive segment of the American population, with 72.3% participating in the U.S. work force, of which 57.7% are employed in managerial and professional specialties.^[9]

Economics

According to the 2000 U.S. Census Indian Americans have the highest median income of any national origin group in the United States and Merrill Lynch recently revealed that there are nearly 200,000 Indian American millionaires.This phenomenon has been linked to the "brain drain" of the Indian intelligentsia from India (source: Journal of Political Economy - University of Chicago Press).Recently, however, there has been a drop in immigration of Indians from India (as well as other similar groups from South Asia) to the United States. This is generally attributed to the improving economy of the country, and of the South Asian region in general. A large group of Indian Americans are presently second or third generation.
Indian Americans own 50% of all economy lodges and 35% of all hotels in the United States, which have a combined market value of almost $40 billion. (Source: Little India Magazine). A University of California, Berkeley, study reported that one-third of the engineers in Silicon Valley are of Indian descent, while 7% of valley high-tech firms are led by Indian CEOs. (Source: Silicon India Readership Survey) In 2002, there were over 223,000 Asian Indian-owned firms in the U.S., employing more than 610,000 workers, and generating more than $88 billion in revenue.^[10]

Culture

Food

Indian Americans have brought Indian cuisine to the United States, and it has become established as a popular cuisine in the country, with hundreds of Indian restaurants and eateries nationwide. There are many Indian markets and stores in United States. Some of biggest Indian markets are in Silicon Valley, Chicago, New York City, the Philadelphia metropolitan area, and Edison, New Jersey. Areas with a significant Indian market presence also include Devon Avenue neighborhood/market in Chicago and Pioneer Blvd. in the Los Angeles region. Other predominantly Indian neighborhoods are Journal Square in Jersey City, New Jersey, Jackson Heights in Queens, New York, Hilcroft Avenue in Houston, Texas and the SE Maynard Road/Chatham Square area in Cary, North Carolina.

Entertainment

There are Hindi radio stations in areas with high Indian populations, including Radio Humsafar, Radio Salaam Namaste, FunAsia Radio. There are also Tamil radio stations in the United States.^[11]
Several cable and satellite providers offer Indian channels: Asianet, Sun TV, Star TV, TV Asia, Zee TV, Sony TV, NDTV and Gemini. Others have offered Indian content for subscription, such as the Cricket World Cup.
Many metropolitan areas with high Indian-American populations now have movie theatres specialized for showing Indian movies (primarily Hindi/Bollywood and in the South Indian languages of Tamil and Telugu. Silicon Valley, for example has two such multiplexes: one in Fremont and one in San Jose).
The Dallas - Ft.Worth Metroplex has a "Desi" Multiplex called Amar Akbar Anthony in the Richardson township. The area also has a movie theatre that plays Indian movies, FunAsia. In 2006, the first 24 x 7 Desi F.M. station in North America was launched, Radio Salaam Namaste 104.9 FM, in the Dallas area. A similar multiplex, featuring Indian film exclusively on two screens (and other international films on four additional screens) opened in 2002 in Cary, N.C..
In July 2005, MTV premiered a spin-off network called MTV Desi which targets Indian Americans.^[12]

Religions

Communities of Hindus, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Sikhs, Jains, Muslims, and Christians from India have established their religions in the country. As of 2000, the American Hindu population was around a million, if all are taken as Indian origin, this would make around 66% of Indian Americans (1.6 million in 2000)as Hindu.^[13]^[14] There are many Hindu temples across the United States. ISKCON, Swaminarayan Sampraday, BAPS Sanstha, Chinmaya Mission, and Swadhyay Pariwar are well-established in the U.S.
There are many Indian Christian churches across the US; Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, Knanaya catholic, Indian Orthodox Church, Mar Thoma Church (reformed orthodox), Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church, Knanaya eastern orthodox, Church of South India, The Pentecostal Mission,India Pentecostal Church of God, and there are also a number of Indian Christians in mainstream American churches [2]. Among Indian Muslims the prominent organizations include the Indian Muslim Council - USA.^[15] A large percentage of American Muslims are of Indian origin. The large Parsi community is represented by the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America.^[16]
Swami Vivekananda brought Hinduism to the West at the 1893 Parliament of the World's Religions.^[17]. The Vedanta Society has been important in subsequent Parliaments. Today, Hinduism is among the fastest-growing religions in the United States and many Hindu temples, most of them built by Indian Americans have emerged in different cities and towns of America.^[18]^[19] Hindu philosophy and spirituality has greatly influenced American life. More than 18 million Americans are now practicing some form of Yoga.^[20] In particular, Kriya Yoga was introduced to America by Paramahansa Yogananda. In addition, A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada initiated a popular ISKCON also known as Hare Krishna movement while preaching Bhakti yoga. Rajan Zed, Hindu chaplain, delivered the first Hindu prayer in United States Senate in 2007.

Ethnicity

Like the terms "Asian American" or "South Asian American", the term "Indian American" is also an umbrella label applying to a variety of views, values, lifestyles, and appearances. Although Asian-Indian Americans retain a high ethnic identity, they are known to assimilate into American culture while at the same time keeping the culture of their ancestors. ^[21] They may assimilate more easily than many other immigrant groups because they have fewer language barriers (English is widely spoken in India among professional classes), more educational credentials (Indian immigrants are disproportionately well-educated), and come from a similarly diverse, tolerant, and democratic society.
The United States is also home to associations of Indians united by ethno-linguistic affiliation. The big organizations include Cultural Association of Bengal and their annually sponsored event the North American Bengali Conference, Telugu Association of North America (TANA), American Telugu Association, the Orissa Society of the Americas, Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America, Gujarati Samaj, Brihan Maharashtra Mandal(BMM), which is holding its 13th biennial convention at Seattle, Washington this year; Kaveri Kannada Sangha and Kannada Koota, Prabashi, Federation of Kerala Associations of North America(FOKANA) and different local Malayalee samajams. These associations generally put on cultural programs, plays, and concerts during the major Hindu festivals (Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Pongal, Baisakh) and other religious (i.e. Christian) and cultural events(Christmas, Onam, Vishu, New Years).

History and immigration

:''For main article see Indian American history''

Timeline

★ 1790 The first known Indian immigrant entered the United States as a maritime worker.

★ 1917 The Barred Zone Act passes in Congress through two-thirds majority, overriding President Woodrow Wilson's earlier veto. Asians, including Indians, are barred from immigrating to the U.S.

★ 1923 The US Supreme Court rules that people from India (at the time, British India, e.g. South Asians) are aliens ineligible for citizenship in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind. Bhagat Singh Thind becomes a citizen a few years later in New York--he had earlier applied and been rejected in Oregon.^[22]

★ 1928 Dhan Gopal Mukerji wins the Newbery Medal, and thus becomes the first successful India-born man of letters in the United States.

★ 1943 Republican Clara Booth Luce and Democrat Emanuel Celler introduce a bill to open naturalization to Indian immigrants to the US. Prominent Americans Pearl Buck, Louis Fischer, Albert Einstein and Robert Millikan give their endorsement to the bill. President Franklin Roosevelt also endorses the bill, calling for an end to the "statutory discrimination against the Indians".

★ 1946 President Harry Truman signs into law the Luce-Celler Act of 1946, returning the right to Indian Americans to immigrate and naturalize.

★ 1956 Dalip Singh Saund elected to the US House of Representatives from California. He was re-elected to a 2nd and 3rd term, winning over 60% of the votes. He is also the first Asian immigrant to be elected to Congress.

★ 1965 President Lyndon Johnson signs the INS Act of 1965 into law, eliminating per-country immigration quotas and introducing immigration on the basis of professional experience and education.

★ 2005 US Congress passes House Resolution 227 honoring Indian Americans.

★ 2007 Rajan Zed, Hindu chaplain, recited the first Hindu opening prayer in United States Senate in Washington DC.

Classification

Main articles: Racial classification of Indian Americans

People with origins in the original peoples of India are classified as Asians by the US Census, but were previously classified as part of the white race and more earlier the Hindu race.^[23]

Current social issues

Discrimination

Explicit discrimination is not unknown in the Indian American community. In the 1980s, a group known as the Dot Busters tried to intimidate Indian Americans in New Jersey, but the range and impact of the group's activities were limited. Since September 11, there have been scattered incidents of Indian Americans having been mistaken targets for hate crimes. In one example, a Sikh, Balbir Singh Sodhi, was murdered at a Phoenix gas station by a white supremacist. This happened after September 11, and the murderer claims that his his turban made him think he was an Middle Eastern American terrorist. In another example, a pizza delivery person was robbed and beaten in Massachusetts for "being Muslim" though he pleaded that he was in fact Hindu.^[24]
On April 5, 2006, the Hindu Mandir of Minnesota was vandalised on the basis of religious discrimination. The vandalisers damaged much of the temple property, including many statues that were specially transported from India. This caused $200,000 worth of damage.^[25]^[26]^[27]^[28]

Immigration

Indians are among the largest ethnic groups migrating to the USA legally. Immigration of Indian Americans has taken place in many waves since the first Indian American came to the United States in the 1700s. A major wave of immigration to California from the soon-to-be Indian state of Punjab and the surrounding region took place in the first decade of the 20th century. Another significant wave followed in the 1950s, mainly students and professionals, including engineers. With the elimination of immigration quotas in 1965, even more Indians came to the US, followed by another wave in the late 1970s and early 1980s. With the technology boom of the 1990s, the largest influx of Indians arrived between 1995 and 2000.

Media

:''See also List of Indian Americans.''

Politics

Several groups have tried to create a unified or dominant voice for the Indian American community in political affairs, including US India PAC.^[29] Additionally, there are also industry-wide Indian American groupings including the Asian American Hotel Owners Association and the Association of American Physicians of Indian Origin. Despite being heavily religious and having the highest average household income among all ancestry groups in the United States, Indian Americans tend to be more liberal and tend to vote overwhelmingly for Democrats. Polls before the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election showed Indian Americans favoring Democratic candidate John Kerry favored over Republican George W. Bush by a 53% to 14% margin (nearly a 4 to 1 ratio), with 30% undecided at the time.^[30] The Republican party has tried to target this community,^[31] and several prominent conservative activists are of Indian origin.
Indian American voters have shown support for both the Democratic and Republican parties and have had political candidates of both parties. A list of notable Indian American politicians and commentators can be found here.

Footnotes

1. http://www.asian-nation.org/demographics.shtml
2. US demographic census
3. US demographic census
4. US demographic census
5. http://www.indianembassy.org/ind_us/census_2000/ia_population_map_2001.pdf
6. http://www.indnet.org/census/metropop.htm
7. Asian Indian Communities, Epodunk. Accessed June 28, 2006.
8. http://www.iacfpa.org/press/iacpa_census.pdf
9. http://www.indianembassy.org/indusrel/clinton_india/india_americans.html
10. http://www.census.gov/csd/sbo/asianindiansummaryoffindings.htm
11. http://www.thendral.com/AboutThendral.shtml
12. http://www.mtvdesi.com/
13. http://www.adherents.com/adh_dem.html
14. http://www.teachingaboutreligion.org/Backdrop&Context/hinduism.htm
15. http://www.imc-usa.org/cgi-bin/cfm/index.cfm
16. [http://www.fezana.org/
17. http://www.tpub.com/content/religion/14229/css/14229_116.htm
18. http://www.councilofhindutemples.org/index.html
19. http://www.hindutemples.us/
20. http://www.sulekha.com/blogs/blogdisplay.aspx?cid=38445
21. Mogelonsky, "Asian-Indian Americans," pp. 32-38
22. http://www.pbs.org/rootsinthesand/i_bhagat1.html
23. Assissi, Frank. Desparades. Are Desis White? 2006. .
24. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/11/25/national/main530749.shtml
25. http://www.hindumandirmn.org/vandal/innews.html
26. http://wcco.com/local/local_story_103095026.html
27. http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=123097
28. http://www.indianexpress.com/iep/sunday/story/2081.html
29. http://www.usinpac.com
30. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/FI16Aa01.html
31. http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=express&s=kurlantzick052604

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