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Indian Americans are Americansmarker who are of Indianmarker ancestry. The U.S. Census Bureau popularized the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with "American Indian".

In North America the term Indian has an ambiguous meaning. Historically and currently, Indian was and is commonly used to indicate Native American. If a more specific term was or is needed, American Indian and East Indian were and are commonly used. American Indian is still the most common term, although Native American can be used to refer to the Indigenous peoples of North America. East Indian is still in common use. Currently South Asian is often used instead of East Indian. While some consider it derogatory, people of Indian origin use the term Desi to refer to the diasporic subculture of overseas Indians. The word "desi" means "of the country/homeland" in Hindi and is also used as "countryman" in the U.S..

A number of Indian Americans came to the U.S. via Indian communities in other countries such as Fijimarker, Kenyamarker, Tanzania, Uganda, the United Kingdommarker (where over 2.7% of the population is Indian), Trinidad & Tobagomarker, Jamaicamarker, South Africa, Canadamarker, Guyanamarker, Mauritiusmarker and nations of Southeast Asia such as Malaysiamarker and Singaporemarker. Indian Americans are mostly Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Christian and Jain and are among the most highly educated in American demographics.

Population

Numbers

According to the American Community Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau, the Asian Indian population in the United States grew from almost 1,679,000 in 2000 to 2,570,000 in 2007: a growth rate of 53%, the highest for any Asian American community, and among the fastest growing ethnic groups in the United States. Indian Americans are the third largest Asian American ethnic group, after Chinese Americans and Filipino Americans.

Settlement

The U.S. states with the largest Indian American populations, in order, are Californiamarker, New Yorkmarker, New Jerseymarker, Texasmarker, and Illinoismarker. There are also large Indian American populations in Pennsylvaniamarker, Floridamarker, Michiganmarker, Marylandmarker, Virginiamarker, Georgiamarker, and Ohiomarker.The New York metropolitan areamarker, consisting of New York Citymarker and adjacent areas within the state of New Yorkmarker as well as nearby areas within the states of New Jerseymarker, Connecticutmarker, and Pennsylvaniamarker, is home to approximately 600,000 Indian Americans as of 2009, comprising by far the largest Indian American population of any metropolitan area in the United States. As of August 2009, Indian airline carriers Air India and Jet Airways as well as United States airline carrier Continental Airlines were all offering flights from the New York metropolitan area to and from India. At least seventeen Indian American enclaves characterized as a Little India have emerged in the New York metropolitan area.

Other metropolitan areas with large Indian American populations include San Francisco/San Jose/Oaklandmarker, Chicagomarker, Los Angeles, Washington/Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, Houston, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Charlotte, North Carolinamarker and Atlanta. The town of Edison, New Jerseymarker (total population 100,499) is 17.5% Indian American – the highest percentage of any municipality in the United States. But the mostly agrarian Imperial Valleymarker, California near the Mexican border has a long history of Indian Americans (an estimated 21,000 live in Imperial County, Californiamarker alone) since the first arrivals to the California desert in the early 1900s. The first American Sikh temples were in the Sacramento (Marysville and Yuba City) and San Joaquin Valleysmarker (Lodi and Stockton) to serve the early wave of Sikh Indian workers arrived there. 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.

Statistics on Indians in the US



In the year 2006, of the entire total 1,266,264 legal immigrants to USA from all the countries, 58,072 were from India. Immigration from India is currently at its highest level in history. Between 2000 and 2006 421,006 Indian immigrants were admitted to the United States, up from 352,278 during the 1990-1999 period. According to the US census, the overall growth rate for Indians from 1990 to 2000 was 105.87 per cent. The average growth rate for the whole of USA was only 7.6 per cent.

Indians comprise 16.4 percent of the Asian-American community. They are the third largest in the Asian American population. In 2000, of all the foreign born population in USA, Indians were 1.007 million. From 2000 onwards the growth rate and the per cent rate of Indians amongst all the immigrants has increased by over 100 percent.

Between 1990 and 2000, the Indian population in the US grew 130% - 10 times the national average of 13%.Source: US Census Bureau

Today, Indian Americans are the third largest Asian American ethnic group following Chinese Americans and Filipino Americans.

A joint Duke University - UC Berkeley study revealed that Indian immigrants have founded more engineering and technology companies from 1995 to 2005 than immigrants from the U.K., China, Taiwan and Japan combined.

A University of California, Berkeley, study reported that one-third of the engineers in Silicon Valley are of Indian descent, while 7% of valley hi-tech firms are led by Indian CEOs.Source: Silicon India Readership Survey

Indians along with other Asians, have one of the highest educational qualifications of all ethnic groups in the US. Almost 67% of all Indians have a bachelor’s or high degree (compared to 28% nationally and 44% average for all Asian American groups). Almost 40% of all Indians in the United States have a master’s, doctorate or other professional degree, which is five times the national average. Source: The Indian American Centre for Political Awareness. Thomas Friedman, in his recent book, The World is Flat, explains this trend in terms of brain drain, whereby the best and brightest elements in India emigrate to the US in order to seek better financial opportunities.

Socioeconomic

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 35,000 Indian American doctors . According to the 2000 census, about 64% of Indian Americans have attained a Bachelor's degree or more.[702290](compared to 28% nationally, and 44% average for all Asian American groups). 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 72.3% participating in the U.S. work force, of which 57.7% are employed in managerial and professional specialties.

Economics

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, Indian American men had "the highest year-round, full-time median earnings ($51,094)", while Indian American women had a medium income of $35,173. This phenomenon has been linked to the "brain drain" of the Indian intelligentsia from India (source: Journal of Political Economy - University of Chicago Press). Recently, however, there has been a drop in immigration of Indians from India to the United States. This is generally attributed to the improving economy of India. A large group of Indian Americans are presently second or third generation.

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). 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.

Culture

Food

Indian Americans have brought Indian cuisine to the United Statesmarker, and it has become established as a popular cuisine in the country, with hundreds of Indian restaurants and eateries nationwide. There are many Indian markets and stores in the United States. Some of the biggest Indian markets are in Silicon Valleymarker, Chicagomarker, New York Citymarker, the Philadelphiamarker metropolitan area, and Edison, New Jerseymarker. Areas with a significant Indian market presence also include Devon Avenue neighborhood/market in Chicagomarker, Pioneer Blvd. in the Los Angelesmarker region, and University Ave in Berkeley, Californiamarker. Other predominantly Indian neighborhoods are Journal Square in Jersey Citymarker, New Jersey, Jackson Heights in Queensmarker, New York, Hillcroft Avenue in Houstonmarker, Texasmarker and Richardsonmarker near Dallas, Texasmarker.

Entertainment

Hindi radio stations are available in areas with high Indian populations, for example, RBC Radio in the Tri-state Areamarker of New York citymarker, parts of New Jerseymarker, Connecticutmarker and New Yorkmarker state, Radio Humsafar, Desi Junction in Chicago, Radio Salaam Namaste in North Texas, FunAsia Radio, and Sangeet Radio in Houstonmarker. There are also some radio stations broadcasting in Tamil and Telugu within these communities.

Several cable and satellite providers offer Indian channels: Sony TV, Zee TV, Star Plus, Colors, Regional and Others have offered Indian content for subscription, such as the Cricket World Cup.

Many metropolitan areas with high Indian-American populations now have movie theatres specialized for showing Indian movies specializing Bollywood. Silicon Valley, for example has two such multiplexes: one in Fremontmarker and one in San Josemarker).

The Dallas - Ft. Worth Metroplex has a "Desi" Multiplex in the Richardson township. The area also has a movie theatre that plays Indian movies, FunAsia. In 2006, the first 24 x 7 Desi F.M. station in North America was launched, Radio Salaam Namaste 104.9 FM, in the Dallas area. A similar multiplex, featuring Indian film exclusively on two screens (and other international films on four additional screens) opened in 2002 in Cary, N.C.marker. FunAsia owns all Desi multiplexes in the state of Texas including two(six and five screens) in Houston. (www.funasia.net)

In July 2005, MTV premiered a spin-off network called MTV Desi which targets Indian Americans. It has been discontinued by MTV.

Religions



Communities of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, and Jews from India have established their religions in the country. The first religious centre of an Indian religion to be established in the US was a Sikh Temple (gurudwara) in Stockton, Californiamarker in 1912. Today there are many Sikh gurudwaras, Hindu, Buddhist, Jain temples as well as Indian churches and mosques in all 50 states. As of 2000, the American Hindu population was around a million, and Hindus are the majority of Indian Americans There are many Hindu temples across the United States. Many sects such as ISKCON, Swaminarayan Sampraday, BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, Chinmaya Mission, and Swadhyay Pariwar are well-established in the U.S.

Indian Muslims generally congregate with other American Muslims, including those from Pakistan, but there are prominent organizations such as the Indian Muslim Council - USA. A large percentage of American Muslims are of Indian origin. The large Parsi community is represented by the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America. Indian Jews are perhaps the smallest organized religious group among Indian Americans, consisting of approximately 350 members in the United States. They form the Indian Jewish Congregation of USA with headquarters in New Yorkmarker.

Swami Vivekananda brought Hinduism to the West at the 1893 Parliament of the World's Religions. The Vedanta Society has been important in subsequent Parliaments. Today, many Hindu temples, most of them built by Indian Americans have emerged in different cities and towns of America. Hindu philosophy and spirituality has greatly influenced American life. More than 18 million Americans are now practicing some form of Yoga. 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. Rajan Zed, Hindu chaplain, delivered the first Hindu prayer in United States Senate in 2007.

There are many Indian Christian churches across the US; Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, Knanaya, Indian Orthodox Church, Mar Thoma Church (reformed orthodox), Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church, Church of South India, The Pentecostal Mission, and the India Pentecostal Church of God; there are also a number of Indian Christians in mainstream American churches [702291].

Ethnicity

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. 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 (Indian immigrants are disproportionately well-educated), and come from a democratic society. Additionally, Indian culture, like many other Asian cultures, puts tremendous stress upon achievement of the individual as a reflection upon the family and community.

In countries such as the United Statesmarker, Canadamarker, and Britainmarker, there has been a large influx of Indian immigrants, beginning in the late 1960s-70's. As a result of assimilation, mixed European/White, and Indian backgrounds are becoming more prevalent. In the 2001 U.S. Census Bureau’s publication of the 56,497,000 married couples, it shows that Indian males married almost twice as much with White females (7.1%) than Indian females marrying with White males(3.7%).

The United States is also home to associations of Indians united by ethno-linguistic affiliation. The big organizations include Cultural Association of Bengal and their annually sponsored event the North American Bengali Conference,AKKA (Association of Kannada Kootas of America) Kaveri Kannada Sangha and Kannada Koota, Telugu Association of North America (TANA), Orissa Society of the Americas, Brihan Maharashtra Mandals of North America(BMM), Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America, Gujarati Samaj, Prabashi Federation of Keralamarker, Associations of North America(FOKANA), Punjabi American Heritage Society and Punjabi-American Cultural Association. These associations generally put on cultural programs, plays, and concerts during the major Hindu festivals (Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Padva, Pongal, Sankranti, Ugadi, Baisakh, Onam, Vishu ) and other religious (e.g., Christian) and cultural events such as Christmas and New Years.

History and immigration

Timeline



Classification

According to the current parameters defining the official U.S. racial categories employed by the United States Census Bureau, Office of Management and Budget and other U.S. government agencies, Americanmarker citizens or resident aliens who marked "Asian-Indian" as their ancestry or wrote in a term that automatically gets classified as an "Asian-Indian" gets classified as part of the Asian race on the 2000 US Census. As with other modern official U.S. government racial categories, the term "Asian" is in itself a broad and heterogeneous classification, encompassing all peoples with origins in the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. For further discussion on the term Asian American, please see that article.

In previous decades, Indian Americans were also variously classified as White American, the "Hindu race", and Other.Assisi, Frank. Desparades. Are Desis White? 2006. /www.despardes.com/articles/feb06/20060212-are-desis-white.asp>. Even today, where individual Indian Americans do not racially self-identify, and instead report Muslim (or a sect of Islam such as Shi'ite or Sunni), Jewish, and Zoroastrian as their "race" in the "Some other race" section without noting their country of origin, they are automatically tallied as white. This may result in the counting of persons such as Indian Muslims, Indian Jews, and Indian Zoroastrians as white, if they solely report their religious heritage without their national origin.

Current social issues

Discrimination

Explicit discrimination is not widespread, but has been known to happen in certain instances. In the 1980s, a faction group known as the Dotbusters tried to intimidate Indian Americans in Jersey City, New Jersey. Studies of racial discrimination, as well as stereotyping and scapegoating of Indian Americans have been conducted in recent years. In particular, racial discrimination of Indian Americans in the workplace has been correlated with Indophobia due to the rise in outsourcing/offshoring paranoia, whereby Indian Americans are blamed for US companies offshoring white-collar labor to Indiamarker. According to the offices of the Congressional Caucus on India, many Indian Americans are severely concerned of a backlash, though nothing serious has taken place yet. Due to various socio-cultural reasons, implicit racial discrimination against Indian Americans largely go unreported by the Indian American community.

Numerous cases of religious stereotyping of American Hindus (mainly of Indian origin) have also been documented. Muslims among Indian Americans face the same religious prejudices that Muslims in the US face in general.

Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, there have been scattered incidents of Indian Americans becoming mistaken targets for hate crimes. In one example, a Sikh, Balbir Singh Sodhi, was murdered at a Phoenixmarker gas station by a white supremacist. This happened after September 11, and the murderer claimed that his turban made him think that the victim was a Middle Eastern American. In another example, a pizza deliverer was mugged and beaten in Massachusettsmarker for "being Muslim" though the victim pleaded with the assailants that he was in fact Hindu.

On April 5, 2006, the Hindu Mandir of Minnesota was vandalized on the basis of religious discrimination . The vandals damaged much of the temple property, including many statues that were specially transported from India. This caused $200,000 worth of damage.

On August 11, 2006, Senator George Allen singled out an American born political staffer of Indian ancestry, in a crowd by calling him "macaca" and sarcastically saying, "welcome to America." Some members of the Indian American community saw Allen's insult, and the massive backlash that led to Allen losing his re-election bid, as "a cultural turning point" demonstrating the power of YouTube in the 21st century.

The number of racially-motivated murders of Indian American students has also increased. Of significance is the December 14, 2007 killing of two Indian Ph.D. students at Louisiana State University. The motive behind the killings is unknown; nothing was stolen however, and the murders occurred near the officers of then Governor-elect Bobby Jindal, an Indian American himself, raising concerns of a racially-motivated killing, later investigated by the Embassy of India in Washingtonmarker. In another incident that took place on January 18, 2008, second-year student Abhijit Mahato was murdered at Duke Universitymarker. The motives were again unknown.

Immigration

Indians are among the largest ethnic groups legally immigrating to the United States. The immigration of Indian Americans has taken place in several waves since the first Indian American came to the United States in the 1700s. A major wave of immigration to California from the region of Punjab took place in the first decade of the 20th century. Another significant wave followed in the 1950s which mainly included students and professionals. The elimination of immigration quotas in 1965 spurred successively larger waves of immigrants in the late 1970s and early 1980s. With the technology boom of the 1990s, the largest influx of Indians arrived between 1995 and 2000. This latter group has also caused surge in the application for various immigration benefits including applications for green card. This has resulted in long waiting periods for people born in India from receiving these benefits.

Media

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. Despite being heavily religious and having the highest average household income among all ancestry groups in the United States (two traits that usually favor conservatism), Indian Americans tend to be more liberal and tend to vote overwhelmingly for Democrats. Polls before the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election showed Indian Americans favoring Democratic candidate John Kerry favored over Republican George W. Bush by a 53% to 14% margin (nearly a 4 to 1 ratio), with 30% undecided at the time. The Republican party has tried to target this community, and several prominent conservative activists are of Indian origin.

In 2007, Republican Congressman Bobby Jindal became the first United States Governor of Indian descent when he was elected Governor of Louisiana.

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.

See also



Footnotes

  1. Asian-Nation: Asian American History, Demographics, & Issues
  2. United States ACS Demographic and Housing Estimates: 2007
  3. http://www.indianembassy.org/ind_us/census_2000/ia_population_map_2001.pdf
  4. Asian Indian Communities, Epodunk. Accessed June 28, 2006.
  5. http://www.iacfpa.org/press/iacpa_census.pdf
  6. Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: Fiscal Years 1820 to 2006
  7. http://www.indolink.com/displayArticleS.php?id=010307105012
  8. CIA - The World Factbook - India
  9. MIT World » : The World is Flat
  10. [1]
  11. Indian-Americans: A Story of Achievement
  12. [2]
  13. Asian Indian Summary of Findings
  14. http://www.thendral.com/AboutThendral.shtml
  15. http://groups.google.com/group/telugu-unicode/browse_thread/thread/8157d1cbc8947b14
  16. Music Videos, Reality TV Shows, Celebrity News, Top Stories | MTV
  17. Composite U.S. Demographics
  18. Hinduism
  19. http://www.imc-usa.org/cgi-bin/cfm/index.cfm
  20. F E Z A N A - Home
  21. Indian Jewish Congregation of USA Newsletter
  22. Origin Of Hinduism In America
  23. The Council of Hindu Temples of North America
  24. Hindu Temples in USA - HinduTemples in America
  25. Mogelonsky, "Asian-Indian Americans," pp. 32-38
  26. The Multiracial Activist - www.multiracial.com - The Reality of Interracial Marriages
  27. PBS - Roots in the Sand - Bhagat Singh Thind
  28. Asian Indian Women in America
  29. Hindu Prayer Shouted Down in US Senate
  30. Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results. Race and Nationality Descriptions from the 2000 US Census and Bureau of Vital Statistics. 2007. May 21, 2007. [3]
  31. Discrimination at Work by Harmeet Dhillon
  32. Indophobia: Facts versus Fiction, Arvind Panagariya, Columbia University archives of The Economic Times
  33. Worries about technical-job losses, discrimination, by Amy Yee,The Financial Times Ltd, 2004
  34. Center for the study of history and memory
  35. Hindu Beaten Because He's Muslim, Mistaken Anti-Islam Thugs Pummel, Hogtie And Stab Deliveryman - CBS News
  36. wcco.com - 600 Attend Forum About Hindu Temple Vandalism
  37. New Header
  38. indianexpress.com
  39. Two Indian Ph.D students murdered in Louisiana
  40. US university shootout victim’s body reaches India
  41. Suspect in Indian student's murder held in US
  42. Another Indian student murdered in US
  43. USINPAC - US India Political Action Committee | Indian American Community | www.usinpac.com
  44. Asia Times - Asia's most trusted news source
  45. http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=express&s=kurlantzick052604
  46. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071021/ap_po/louisiana_governor


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