Biden administration’s latest outreach demonstrates Indian-American backing for Democrats

“The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to advancing racial equity through improved data collection, research, access, and disaggregation efforts. Better data leads to better and more informed policies,” a White House statement said.

Gujarati, Bengali, Punjabi and Urdu are the four languages on which the US is taking critical action to expand access to limited English-proficient groups to deliver greater equity for the diverse Indian-American community.

Gujarati and Bengali are among the top five Indian languages spoken in the US, apart from Hindi, Telugu and Tamil.

“The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to advancing racial equity through improved data collection, research, access, and disaggregation efforts. Better data leads to better and more informed policies,” a White House statement said.

Greater equity for AA, NHPI communities

Demonstrating why the influential Indian expat community in the US has traditionally favoured the Democrats over Republicans, the Biden-Harris Administration has just released its first-ever National Strategy to Advance Equity, Justice, and Opportunity for Asian-American (AA), Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (NHPI) communities.

Federal agencies are taking critical action to expand access for limited English-proficient communities and deliver greater equity for the diverse AA and NHPI communities, the statement said.

The new strategy, which comprises action plans prepared by 32 federal agencies—including all 15 executive departments in the President’s Cabinet—builds on the administration’s broader equity agenda and details much needed investments in AA and NHPI communities and priorities, including data disaggregation, language access, and combating anti-Asian hate.

In May 2021, President Joe Biden signed the executive order, delivering on his commitment to establish and reinvigorate the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI).

In the order, the President directed the development of an ambitious, government-wide interagency plan to advance equity, justice, and opportunity for AA and NHPI communities.

Highest-earning ethnic group

With more than four-and-a-half million people, Indian-Americans make up 1.4 percent of the US population and are the largest group of South Asian Americans, as well as the second largest group of Asian Americans after Chinese-Americans.

They are also the highest-earning ethnic group in the United States.

“Across the federal government, agencies have stepped up their efforts to respond to the increasing number of bias incidents and discrimination against AA and NHPIs, promote belonging, equity, and inclusion, and improve access to federal resources,” the White House statement said.

According to it, during the coronavirus pandemic, false information, and harmful statements about Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities had led to increasing acts of intolerance across the nation—from verbal harassment to violence.

In schools around the country, AAPI students reported bullying and harassment by classmates because of their race or national origin, including their ethnicity, ancestry, and language.

The US Agency for International Development hosted more than 20 Urgent Hate Crimes Response/Support meetings to provide a proactive response to the surge in anti-Asian hate crimes across the nation.

These meetings created pathways to ensure that community members felt safe physically returning to work, addressed interpersonal challenges within the workplace, and sustained a respectful, equitable, and just workplace environment.

Regular discrimination

A 2020 study conducted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said Indian -Americans regularly encounter discrimination.

One in two Indian-Americans reports being discriminated against in the past one year, with discrimination based on the colour of the skin identified as the most common form of bias. Somewhat surprisingly, Indian-Americans born in the United States are much more likely to report being victims of discrimination than their foreign-born counterparts, it pointed out.

Look at it anyway, such an outreach is a far cry from sentiments expressed by a special commission established by the US Congress whose 1911 report declared that Hindus were “universally regarded as the least desirable race of immigrants thus far admitted to the United States.”

More than a century later—from Silicon Valley CEOs to White House power brokers and influential members of Congress to leaders in fields like journalism, health, science, and engineering—the emergence of the Indian diaspora is a remarkable coming-of-age story.