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Emerging Minority: Asian Indians in America |
| Section: CULTURE / CROSSROADS |
| Author: Cynthia Rankin |
| Publication:
The World & I Online |
| Issue Date: 5/1/1995 |
| Size: 2,311 Words, 14,129 Characters |
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Eight years later, Anita wears designer jeans and T-shirts, has a short haircut, and sports an Americanized Indian accent. She is lost in the crowd of shoppers at the local grocery store. She obtained her driver's license and takes her sons to school like other mothers. She realized that she could earn money and still stay home to care for her little ones if she opened a day care. With the help of her husband, Anita went through all the paperwork to qualify. Now three children come to her house every day to play with her own, and she has a little financial independence.
Though Anita is just one of a million Indians who are part of the fabric of America, the average American understands little about this hidden minority. Indeed, there is still really no accepted name for them. Coming from India, these people certainly have the right to be called Indians; however, Christopher Columbus inadvertently gave that name to Native Americans. Later, when Asian Indians came to America over a hundred years ago to lay railroads in the West, they were referred to as East Indians. Today, Indians who have obtained citizenship can call themselves Indian Americans. In the 1990 census, Indians finally had their own rubric: Asian Indians. Before this census, many Indians were hidden in the statistics as Hispanics or Asians, the census taker making his own decision according to their appearance.
Despite in...
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... so they can better understand India and its overseas community in America.
Does this mean that Indian Americans or Asian Indians will be an emerging American minority? Perhaps. As more and more Indians are born in this country, with parents who were also born here, they will want to find their own identity as Americans who happen to be Indian, instead of Indians who happen to be American.
(1,425 of 14,129 characters)
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Publication Details
(The World & I Online) |
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The World & I Online is a
comprehensive academic resource that encompasses a broad range of
articles by scholars and experts in the areas of Global Studies,
Liberal Arts, Fine & Applied Arts, General Science, and Spanish.
Originally published monthly in print as The World & I, our site
includes the complete contents since 1986 and continues to publish
a new issue online each month. |
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