South Asian Americans and Post-9/11 Experiences of Racialization: Divergently Impacted, Divergently Mobilized

• In Event: 3250 - Social and Political Movements in Asia and Asian America

Abstract

The occurrence of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, at the turn of the 21st century in New York City and Washington, D.C., ushered in an era of racialization for South Asian, Sikh, Muslim and Arab communities in the United States that looked radically different than previous eras. They experienced racialization as non-whites to a degree they had not yet experienced. The post-9/11 period has been an especially critical time for the politicization of the Desi community – not simply because of the attacks but also because they have been a “newly emerging political force” for several decades (Gottschlich 2008). Although all South Asians experienced being racialized as suspect or as “radical terrorists” to a certain degree, not all South Asians experienced racial profiling, hate violence and discrimination in the same way. This paper uses the divergent post-9/11 experiences and responses of organizations working in and with South Asian American constituents to illuminate the competing identities and separate agendas of Desi communities in the U.S. From 2015 to 2016, I investigated the political agendas and alliances of SAA organizations using one-on-one interviews, participant observation and content analysis of websites and social media pages. My research looks at four organizations that work to advance the political interests of the SAA community. While the four organizations in this study—Washington Leadership Program (WLP), South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM) and SEVA New York—are united in serving people of the same ethnic community, they employ different structural foundations, political philosophies and organizing strategies to enact social change and build community power. Their divergent agendas and political visions are made apparent through the discriminatory experiences and responses that the organizations and their leaders engaged in a post-9/11 era.

Author

• Sheena Sood, Temple University