From: vishram@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Vishram P.Dalvi)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american
Subject: Re: Oriental bias against Indians !! ... to Chris Chan
Date: 13 Apr 92 19:46:10 GMT
Reply-To: vishram@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Vishram P.Dalvi)
Distribution: usa
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX
Originator: vishram@happy.cc.utexas.edu

This is in reply to a mail by Chris Chan :-

        
	Read your reply. You haven't answered the one major issue
that I had put forth. YOU may want to learn Chinese and learn about
your heritage and culture, but will you children do the same ? Or
will they blend in with the Caucasians and adopt the American way
of life as their own ? This is something that only time will decide.
UNLESS you take your family back to China.
        But to be very frank with you, I doubt how much you will think
about the Chinese culture and heritage once you start living there. Only
when a person is away from the day-to-day hassles of a situation, does
he start thinking about the finer aspects of it. Sitting here in your
cozy, airconditioned bedroom in front ot your own television set and you
own phone line and your personal computer and car in the garage outside,
you can think about the GREAT CHINESE CIVILIZATION and dream about going
back there and resurrecting it to it's former glory, but when you REALLY
do go there and start living amongst the people and face the political
situation, it becomes very difficult to stick to your idealistic perspective.
        If you think that you have the dedication and perseverance to
stick through your resolve, IT'S GREAT ! IT'S VERY COMMENDABLE ! You can
always give it a try and see how well you do !
        Ths issue of your children following your customs cropped up here
because you mentioned drawing collective strength from your community, which
I think is a very good idea. You can always get in where a Caucasian or
Indian cannot, and a wise man will use it to his advantage. But this trend
may not possibly be continued by the next generation and you will have to
be very cautious and watchful in the upbringing of your family if you live
here. 
	As far as the issue of leaving this country back to the Indians is
concerned, I do not entirely agree with you ! As Charles Robert Darwin put
it forth, evolution is "SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST" which means either more
intelligent or BETTER ARMED (which I guess is more relevant). The Indians
probably didn't live here for ever either ! A few theories say that the
natives crossed over from Russia (Bering Strait) into the American continent
when the climates were warmer. Some say that they came from Polynesia and
Egypt (Ever read about the Kon Tiki missions ?). Taking our case (Indians
in India), we are actually Aryans. Aryans were just a barbaric, INVADING
race that supposedly came from the Urals and Caucasius mountains in Russia
and drove the original inhabitants of India - the Dravidians - back into
the far southern extremes of India and Sri Lanka !
        TOO MUCH HISTORY HERE, HUH ? But where do we go now ? We cannot
go back to Russia and Europe ! We call India OUR motherland now and do
not associate any other country with our origin. It is the same for all
these immigrant who came from Europe and Africa and Asia in the early days.
Orientals and Indians (Asians ! Yes, I know that we are Asians too, but I
used the term Oriental to delineate the race with the slit eyes and short
stature and fair complexion as compared to the Indian race from the sub-
continent which is dark skinned and slightly taller) are some of the last
immigrants to come here and they have just as much right to be here as the
old immigrants. The only issue that I find objectionable is the ruthless
massacre of natives by the pale-skins and the subsequent domination to the
point where the original owners are living in establishments and their
culture is all but wiped out. That's pretty much the same as what the Aryans
did back in India, except that fortunately the Dravidian culture is still
alive and throbbing atleast in the southern parts of India (talking of
multi-racism and cultural pluralism, there is PLENTY in India !).
        Through out evolutionary history, you will find evidences where
a dominant race eliminated a submissive onefor personal gains. This is
evident every where. What do you have to say about that ?? I think that
every coin has two sides to it and your thinking just depends on which
side is facing you ! Like wise, any good discussion is one which leads
to no tangible conclusions because once you look at the entire evidence
and opinions, you cannot make any decisions. But it's fun never-the-less,
isn't it Chris ?? :-) :-)

Sincerely,

vishram