A group of Indian Americans held a protest against the President’s ‘hate’ speech outside the White House, bringing President Trump a petition to “take steps first to punish the culprits under federal hate crimes law, second to allay the fears of the Indian American community, and finally to take remediation steps to eliminate the hate.”
Protestors present included Somya Shehsadri, a doctor who immigrated to the U.S. when she was seven. “I never imagined in all my life I will be outside the White House one Sunday afternoon defending myself being American,” Sheshadri said, according to the DailyTimes. “I am an Indian American, I am brown-skinned, have a Sanskrit name, and knew at some point of my life I would be perceived to be the ‘other’.”
Lawyer Vindhya Adapa blames Trump’s ‘hate’ narrative for the rise in recent hate crimes against particular ethnic groups. “It hasn’t happened to me yet, but I cannot sit back and let it happen.”
The petition also called for a message “to the people of this country from the administration that ‘no citizen should take the law into their hands and it will not be tolerated by the government.'”
The protest takes place after several recent reports of “mistaken identity” attacks where Indians have been targets for appearing ‘Muslim’ or ‘Middle-Eastern.’ Hate crime-tracking groups have noted that assailants have often mistaken Sikhs for Muslims.
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