Indian American

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Indian American
Total population
2,479,424 0.9% of US population [1]
Regions with significant populations
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,Connecticut, California, Illinois, Texas, Virginia,and North Carolina
Languages
American English, Indian languages
Religions
Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, others
Related ethnic groups
Asian Indians, Asian Americans, Overseas Indian, South Asian Americans

Contents 1 Demographic and cultural profile 2 Settlement 3 Education 4 Economics 5 Languages 6 Cultural establishments 6.1 Religions 6.2 Ethnolinguistic 7 Entertainment 8 History and immigration 8.1 Timeline 8.1.1 Classification 9 Current social issues 9.1 Discrimination 9.2 Immigration 9.3 Marriage 9.4 Media 10 Politics 11 See also 12 Footnotes 13 External links 13.1 Associations 13.2 Articles 13.3 News

An Indian American (also called Asian Indian by the U.S. Census Bureau to avoid confusion with the "American Indians" so named by historical accident) is an American of Asian Indian descent. The phrase may refer to someone born in the United States of Indian descent or to someone who has immigrated to the United States from the Republic of India. A number of Indian Americans came to the U.S. via Indian communities in other countries such as Fiji, Kenya, Tanzania, United Kingdom, Trinidad & Tobago, South Africa, Guyana and Mauritius.

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 the Chinese American and Filipino American communities. ^{[2] [3] [1]}

Most Indian Americans are Hindus by religion, but there are also Christians, Sikhs, Muslims, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, Baha'is and Jews (mostly from Kerala) among them.

Asian Indians are most heavily concentrated in California, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, Illinois, North Carolina, and Virginia. The top urban destinations for Indian Americans include New York City and its suburbs, the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, Central North Carolina, Dallas, Los Angeles, Charlotte, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C..[1]

Indian Americans are now the richest ethnic group in the United States. Median household income for Indian Americans was $68,771 in 2004. The median household income, nationwide, in 2004 was $46,326 [2].

Asian Indians have outperformed all other minority and majority groups in most measures of socioeconomic achievement[3]. The U.S. Congress passed a resolution on April 26, 2005, (House Resolution 227) to honor the Indian American community and Indian Institutes of Technology graduates [4]. Many individuals, particularly those in the fields of medicine and technology, consider Indian Americans the epitome of the model minority.

For a list of famous personalities, including those who have made made significant contributions to the American culture and society, please refer to Famous Indian Americans.

[edit] Demographic and cultural profile

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. ^[4] 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 (immigrants are disproportionately well-educated among Indians), and come from a similarly diverse, tolerant, and democratic society.

Indian Americans are well-represented in the fields of medicine, engineering, finance and information technology.

[edit] Settlement

U.S. states with the largest Indian American populations are California, New York, New Jersey, Texas, North Carolina, and Illinois.[5] There are also large Indian American populations in Pennsylvania, Florida, and Michigan as well. The metropolitan areas with the ten largest Indian American populations are New York City, San Francisco/San Jose/Oakland,The Triangle, Chicago, Los Angeles, Metrolina,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.

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. [7]

[edit] 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.[8](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 100% participating in the U.S. work force, of which 57.7% are employed in managerial and professional specialties[9].

[edit] 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. One in every nine Indians in the United States is a millionaire, comprising 10% of U.S. millionaires. (Source: 2003 Merrill Lynch SA Market Study). This affluence has been matched by a high degree of educational attainment.

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) According to Technology Review 35, the technical journal of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, "while the Indian-American population is less than one per cent in the United States, the contribution of the community is to the extent of almost 17 percent" [10].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.[11]

[edit] Languages

Indian Americans often keep hold of their native Indian tongues, whether it be Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Maithili,Oriya, Punjabi, Rajasthani,Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Tulu, Urdu or any of the other plethora of Indian languages.

[edit] Cultural establishments

Indian Americans have brought Indian cuisine to the United States, and Indian cuisine has been established as one of the most popular cuisines in the country,^{[citation needed]} with hundreds of Indian restaurants in each major city and several similar eateries in smaller cities and towns.^{[citation needed]} 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. Indian neighborhoods have also developed, such as the Devon Avenue neighborhood/market in Chicago.

[edit] Religions

While India is home to virtually every major world religion, most Indian Americans are Hindu. There are many Hindu temples across the United States. The Swaminarayan Sampraday, BAPS Sanstha, ISKCON, Chinmaya Mission, and Swadhyay Pariwar are well established in the U.S. Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Sikhs, Jains, Muslims, and Christians from India have also established their religions in the country.

Swami Vivekananda brought Hinduism to the West at the 1893 Parliament of the World's Religions[12]. The Vedanta Society has been important in subsequent Parliaments. Today, Hinduism is among the fastest-growing religions in the United States^{[citation needed]} and many Hindu temples, most of them built by Indian Americans have emerged in different cities and towns of America. [13] [14] Hindu philosophy and spirituality has greatly influenced American life.^{[citation needed]} More than 18 million Americans are now practising some form of Yoga. [15] 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.

Among Indian Muslims the prominent organizations include the Indian Muslim Council - USA. A large percentage of American Muslims are of Indian origin. Indian Muslims are largely absorbed into mainstream American Muslim culture. Indian Christians are also a large group in America and are represented mainly among Indians from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Goa. The large Parsi community is represented by the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America.

[edit] Ethnolinguistic

While most of the early Indian immigrants were Punjabi and Gujarati, there has been a recent influx of Telugus, Tamils, Malayalees, Kannadigas, Bengalis, Maharashtrians, and many other cultural and ethnic groups in addition to them.

The United States is also home to associations of Indians united by ethno-linguistic affiliation. The big organizations include Telugu Association of North America, American Telugu Association, Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America, Gujarati Samaj, [http://www.kaverionline.org/ Kaveri Kannada Sangha and Kannada Koota, Brihan Maharashtra Mandal (BMM), NABC, 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, Pongal, Baisakh) and other religious(i.e. Christian) and cultural events(Christmas, Onam, Vishu, new years)).

[edit] Entertainment

There are Hindi radio stations in areas with high Indian populations, including Radio Humsafar. There are also Tamil radio stations in the USA [16].

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 when India played Australia for the Cricket World Cup in 2003.

Many metropolitan areas which have a high density of Indian Americans, now have movie theatres specialized for showing Indian movies (primarily Hindi/Bollywood and in the South Indian languages of Kannada, Malayalam, 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 July 2005, MTV premiered a spin-off network called MTV Desi which targets Indian Americans in the U.S. [17]

[edit] History and immigration

[edit] 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.[18]
• 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.

[edit] Classification

Main article: Racial classification of Indian Americans

Indian Americans are currently classified as Asian Americans by the United States Census Bureau. In the past, however, they have been variously classified as Hindu (Hindu being an archaic term for an inhabitant of the Indian sub-continent), preventing them from owning land in some areas, vote, or marry citizens or classified as Caucasian American until it was established that White American and Caucasian were interchangeable terms by convention for a single people which did not include Indians.^[5] According to a social scientist Rosanne Skirble, the term Caucasian is becoming less frequently used in favor of White American or European American. ^[6]

[edit] Current social issues

[edit] Discrimination

Incidents of deliberate overt discrimination against Indian Americans are few and far in-between.^{[citation needed]} Any discrimination that exists is primarily in the form of being not so welcoming in social interactions, compared to the treatment received, say, by northern European immigrants who are more readily embraced. One source of resentment among some Americans is the outsourcing of labor by American multinationals to India, particularly to Indian call centers[19]. In America, the Indian call center has developed into a veritable social meme, and Indian Americans are occasionally targeted as objects of harassment or ridicule for the decisions of American corporate managers regarding their country of origin.

Though rare, 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 [20].

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 $9 million dollars worth of damage.[21][22][23][24]

[edit] 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.

[edit] Marriage

Indian Americans' views on marriage vary among generations. Indian Americans born and raised in the U.S. tend to be more open-minded with marriage. Overall, the overwhelming majority of Indian Americans mary within race, and interracial marriage is uncommon. It has been observed that Indian people are the least likely of races to marry out of race, due to cultural factors.

[edit] Media

Indian Americans and/or their portrayal in the media.

• Deepak Chopra, author and speaker, is a regular on many talk shows, including Larry King Live.
• Mira Nair is another Hollywood director who has tackled issues like inter-racial dating between an Indian American girl and an African American boy in Mississippi Masala, the life of slum dwelling children in Salaam Bombay and the ancient art of lovemaking in Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love. Her films have often tried to draw a colorful and vibrant picture of the Indian American community. The movie Monsoon Wedding has been a favorite DVD rental not just in the Indian American community but the US movie lovers in general for quite some time.
• M. Night Shyamalan is a famous Hollywood director well-known for making successful psychological thrillers, which often have a twist ending in them, such as The Sixth Sense and Signs.
• Naren Shanker writer and an executive producer of CSI
• Sunil Nayar an executive producer of CSI: Miami
• Several Indian Americans have become recognizable faces in the Television Journalism too. The most notable among them are CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Aneesh Raman; and Fox News' 'Ooooma' Uma Pemmaraju
• Namrata Singh Gujral
• Naveen Andrews portrays Sayid Jarrah in the cult series LOST
• Mohinder Suresh, a genetic scientist in the hit series Heroes, portrayed by Sendhil Ramamurthy
• Amita Ramanujan, a mathematician in the crime series Numbers portrayed by Navi Rawat
• Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Ph.D, is a character that appears on The Simpsons. He debuted on April 29, 1990, in the episode "Krusty Gets Busted", which was the 12th episode of the first season.
• Asok the intern debuted on September 15, 2000 in the cartoon strip Dilbert by Scott Adams. Asok is a graduate from one of the Indian Institutes of Technology.
• Ben Javeri was a robotics expert (played by Fisher Stevens) in the 1986 movie Short Circuit.
• Kumar Patel (played by Kal Penn) is a recent college graduate trying to avoid going to medical school in the 2004 movie Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.
• Arkhad "Thorny" Ramathorn (played by Jay Chandrasekhar) plays a state trooper in Super Troopers.
• Kevin Gnapoor (played by Rajiv Surenda) is a boisterous mathlete in the movie Mean Girls.

See also: Indian Americans And Media

[edit] Politics

Several groups have tried to create a unified or dominant voice for the Indian American community in political affairs, including US India PAC. 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. Indian American voters have tended to vote overwhelmingly Democratic [25], according to the few exit polls that have targeted this community, but the Republican party has tried to target this community [26] 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 - List of Indian Americans#Politics.

[edit] See also

• Non-resident Indian and Person of Indian Origin
• List of some famous Indian Americans
• Indian Americans And Media
• Desi
• Californian Hindu textbook controversy
• Hinduism in the United States
• Jainism in the United States
• Sikhism in the United States
• American Born Confused Desi
• United States foreign born per capita income

[edit] Footnotes

1. ^ ^{a b} US demographic census. Retrieved on November 19, 2006.
2. ^ US demographic census. Retrieved on December 16, 2006.
3. ^ US demographic census. Retrieved on November 19, 2006.
4. ^ Mogelonsky, "Asian-Indian Americans," pp. 32-38
5. ^ Assissi, Frank. Desparades. Are Desis White? 2006. <http://www.despardes.com/articles/feb06/20060212-are-desis-white.asp>.
6. ^ Skirble, Rosanne. New Voice of America. 2001. September 4, 2006. <http://voanews.com/specialenglish/archive/2002-01/a-2002-01-30-20-1.cfm>.

[edit] External links

[edit] Associations

• Popular Indian American Community
• Indian American Leadership Initiative
• Indian American Center for Political Awareness
• Association of Kannada Kootas of America
• South Asian Awareness Network Conference
• Tamil organization in the U.S.
• Kannada Speaking organization in the U.S
• Telugu associations in the U.S.
• Community for the Indians Returning to India from the U.S.
• Indian student associations in the U.S.
• South Asian Bar Association of Southern California
• Indian American Directory
• Asian Indian Women's Association of Michigan

[edit] Articles

• Stereotypes in Schooling: Negative Pressures in the American Educational System on Hindu Identity Formation by Yvette Rosser

[edit] News

• The Indian-American population boom - September 01, 2006, Rediff.com
• CNN.com: "India's influence soars: The 'un-China' could be world's next economic superpower", June 18, 2006 (summary of TIME Magazine cover story)
• The Indian Express, Dec. 17, 2004: "Indians are No 1 among Asians in US, census shows"
• ModelMinority.com, March 10, 2004: "Indian-Americans Fear Outsourcing Impact: Worries about technical-job losses, discrimination" (reprint of March 3, 2004 Financial Times article by Amy Yee)
• Echoes of Freedom: South Asian Pioneers in California, 1899-1965 (University of California at Berkeley's South/Southeast Asia Library's online exhibit, last updated Oct. 3, 2001)
• Newsweek, March 6, 2006: "My Two Lives" by Jhumpa Lahiri ('The Pulitzer-winning writer felt intense pressure to be at once 'loyal to the old world and fluent in the new.')

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