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Deepa Iyer, a civil and immigrants’ rights advocate for over a decade, says while “harmful political rhetoric” by politicians that hurts minorities and discriminate people of color has been going on since the September 11 terror attack on the United States, it will likely increase in the election year in 2016.
“’I think it is going to continue to get worse and it’s up to us individually as well collectively to hold political leaders accountable for their language and to make it clear to them that use of (certain) words create fear and among minorities, and encourages other people to feel justified in taking action against our communities. Political leaders have to have an extra layer of responsibility when they chose their words,” Iyer said.
The founder and former executive director of South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) – the activist organization for South Asians — was responding to a question about her new book ‘We Too Sing America: South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future” that was published by The New Press in November 2015.
In her first book Iyer chronicles the experiences of U.S. Arabs, Muslims, Sikhs and South Asians after 9/11 and weighs in on how the ISIS massacre in Paris will reverberate in this country, much of which, by her own admission, is drawn from her experience of interaction with the community when she was with SAALT.
The book, which chronicles the individual stories of hate crime and violence suffered by South Asians, including Muslims and Sikhs, as well as Arab Americans, since 9/11 says in the wake of the heinous attacks in Paris and in San Bernardino, one has “witnessed the drumbeat of dangerous political rhetoric” and a spate of attacks targeting Muslim, Arab and South Asian community members on streets and on campuses, and at stores and places of worship.
It looks at the impact of backlash, Islamophobia, hate violence on Sikhs and Muslins and South Asian and Arab immigrant communities since 9/11. “The book also looks at the role of government policies, like surveillance, and racial profiling of these communities and looks at the political rhetoric across the aisle because political leaders at many levels often use language in debates and public speeches that are harmful,” she said without mentioning anyone in particular.
“So, we talk about the total impact of all those on the communities – the individual backlash, the government policies, and the political and media rhetoric. The book explores the impact of all of these forces on our community, and it looks at it from the lens of young people from communities around the country,” Iyer said in an interview.
She said that the impact of all these has been that an unprecedented number of people are facing discrimination in terms of workplace, in terms of travelling on airplanes, in terms of being monitored and whether they are going to Mosques, whether they are part of Muslims associations, or are going to Gurdwaras. “The impact is that peoples’ lives are at stake, their well-beings are at stake, and their mental states are at stake,’ she said.
People have shared that they are experiencing a range of emotions – from frustration to hopelessness to outrage to sadness. Iyer, who is currently the senior fellow at the Center for Social Inclusion, said that is why what “we do now” matters— to come together, to speak up, to show up, and to do so in ways that center the experiences of Muslim communities in the United States.
In the book, Iyer also makes some suggestions as to ending hate violence and profiling and the need for radical changes in national security policies, many of which “are problematic” and many of which like special registration are in contradiction with civil and constitutional rights, to stop hate crimes and violence against people of color. The book, which is in its third print since publication in November has been well-received, especially by the younger generation all across the U.S., Iyer said.
“Indian-Americans, especially the Hindus and Muslims and Sikhs, need to be in solidarity. It is all of our responsibility. We cannot be on the sidelines and say ‘well, this did not happen to me,’” Iyer, who came to this country at the age of 12, and has been an activist, and a lawyer by training, told this correspondent.
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