‘The red flags should have been as conspicuous as a traditional Indian bride’s wedding lehenga’
An Indian American columnist has taken exception to “exclusionary language†used in a legislation unanimously approved by Illinois General Assembly in setting up an Indian American Advisory Council.
“The creation of a group designed to advise Gov. J.B. Pritzker on policy matters affecting the Indian community in Illinois shouldn’t be cause for concern,” notes Rummana Hussain in her column in the Chicago Sun-Times.
“But when the discombobulated text establishing such a council opens with discriminatory and false descriptors, the red flags should have been as conspicuous as a traditional Indian bride’s wedding lehenga,†writes Hussain, who is also a member of the Sun-Times Editorial Board.
â€Indian†means a person descended from any of the countries of the subcontinent that are not primarily Muslim in character, including India, Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, reads the portion of the bill the governor signed into law over the summer, she notes.
“An Indian is a native or inhabitant of India or someone of Indian descent, irrespective of his or her religious background,†Hussain points out. “And Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka are separate independent nations and their citizens don’t want to be wrongfully identified as Indians.â€
“Conflating India with select parts of South Asia is misleading and offensive enough,†writes Hussain. “But then deliberately writing off the subcontinent’s countries that are “Muslim in character†— Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and the Maldives — evokes the bigoted tone of a relatively new citizenship law in India that excludes Muslim immigrants.â€
“There appears to be intent to ‘construct a new social identity’ that could further marginalize Indian Muslims and leave them wondering if the council would be a safe space,†Allison Skinner-Dorkenoo, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Georgia, is cited as saying.
Mischaracterizing “who counts and doesn’t count†as an Indian also could have “downstream consequences†in shaping future policies, added Skinner-Dorkenoo, whose research focuses on how biases are established and reinforced through subtle messaging.
Indian American state Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, “takes full responsibility for overlooking the offensive phrasing when he took sponsorship of the legislation in the Senate after it was drafted by the staff of state Rep. Seth Lewis, R-Bartlett,†according to Hussain.
“There’s no ifs, ands or buts. This was a mistake. Period,†Villivalam was quoted as saying. He has since embarked on a mission to eliminate the discriminatory language in a follow-up “trailer†bill that would replace the council with a more encompassing South Asian American Advisory Council.
The updated bill was approved by the Senate last month with three objectors, including former Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey, R-Xenia. Lewis, according to Hussain, says he’ll vote for the bill when the House is expected to take up the matter in January.
“He went on to admit the blunder, but doesn’t fully comprehend why many find the particular sentence in the present legislation exclusionary and harmful,†writes Hussain.
“Lewis wouldn’t divulge the brainchild behind the ‘not primarily Muslim in character’ subsection and offered that it was only inserted for the sake of being ‘efficient’ since the state already has a Muslim American Advisory Council,†she says.
“In present-day India, right-wing Hindu nationalists are continually unleashing their wrath on religious minorities, oppressed castes and other marginalized groups,†writes Hussain.
Read: No excuse for exclusionary language in Indian American Advisory Council legislation (December 17, 2022)
“Muslims, in particular, are on the receiving end of most of the physical and verbal attacks, and there is a full-fledged campaign to disparage and erase Muslim culture and customs,†she says.
“As we’ve seen with the curious verbiage in the Indian American Advisory Council legislation and the drama surrounding the failed 2021 City Council resolution on India’s human rights abuses, the prejudicial agenda overseas is taking a powerful hold in Illinois politics,†Hussain suggests.
“Our elected leaders need to yank their heads out of the sand,†she says.“Otherwise it will be clear they are choosing to align themselves with those who are ‘not primarily just in character.’â€