IALI Condemns Bigoted Attack Against Raj Goyle

I just received the following e-mail from the IALI that I wanted to pass along to everyone:


From: Indian American Leadership Initiative
Subject: IALI Condemns Bigoted Attack Against Raj Goyle
Sent: Aug 12, 2010 1:16 PM

Dear IALI Friends:

Yesterday, Raj Goyle's opponent in his race for U.S. Congress, Mike Pompeo, used Twitter to direct his followers to a blog posting which he said would be "a good read" about the campaign. Pompeo's suggested reading (http://bit.ly/cF05mp) includes, in part, the following:

"Just like his evil muslim communist USURPER comrad [sic], barrack hussein obama, This goyle character is just another 'turban topper' we don't need in congress or any political office that deals with the U.S. Constitution, Christianity and the United States of America!!!"

IALI President, Kathy Kulkarni, commented that "It is stunning that a candidate for federal office would support such a hateful and bigoted tirade. There are always people on the fringe who will use ethnic smears to attack Indian Americans, but we are outraged that a candidate for Congress would encourage his supporters to use such tactics. It is un-American and certainly contrary to the values of the people of Kansas. It is unfortunate that, even in 2010, we see campaigns tactics employed to generate fear, prejudice and hatred."

Four years ago yesterday, Senator George Allen of Virginia made reference to an Indian American as "Macaca" and the voters decided that he was not fit for elected office. Let's make sure Raj Goyle's opponent for Congress sees the same fate. To support Raj Goyle and for more information, please go to www.GoyleforCongress.com.

To keep up with activity related to all Indian American Democratic political events, please go to www.iali.com and Sign Up for our e-mail list.

Indian-Americans on the 2010 American Political Scene

By now, even the most apolitical person has seen the Indian-American Governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal. And many people have also heard the name of Nikki Haley, the Republican candidate for Governor of South Carolina, who jumped from last to first in the Republican field after an endorsement from a certain former Governor of Alaska. In a recent opinion piece in The Daily Beast, Tunku Varadarajan writes that Jindal and Haley are "exploding racial attitudes-and why the Dems don't get it."

I guess when Varadarajan wasn't paying attention, the Boston Globe and Christian Science Monitor were both paying attention. The Boston Globe ran this article titled Record number of Indian-Americans seeking office, while the Christian Science Monitor ran The rise of the Indian-American candidate, as Nikki Haley and others run. Contradicting Varadarajan's claim of how the Democrats "don't get it", the articles point out that there are actually SIX Democratic candidates for the United States House of Representatives and an organizations like the Indian American Leadership Initiative and US India Political Action Committee are actively promoting Indian-Americans on the political scene.

The Indian-Americans running for Congress are:
Dr. Manan Trivedi (PA - 6th District)
Reshma Saujani (NY - 14th)
Raj Goyle (KS -4th)
Dr. Ami Bera (CA - 3rd)
Ravi Sangisetty (LA - 3rd)
Surya Yalamanchili (OH - 2nd)

Also, one of the rising stars in the Democratic Party, Kamala Harris, is considered the favorite to win as California's Attorney General. Harris is the daughter of a Black father and Indian mother and has often been spoken of as a future presidential candidate in Democratic circles.

So even though the two most prominent Indian-American politicians are Republicans, they are clearly outnumbered by the Democrats this year. And regardless of your political affiliation, it is important to see Americans of all shapes and stripes making their own impact on our great American democratic experiment that has existed for 234 years and counting!