Nikki Haley, Race, and the U.S. Census. As Singh observes, it’s complicated with regards to Nikki Haley. Of course some people don’t like complication, and like to turn everything into black and white cut-outs to further their own ideology. That doesn’t mean we always have to play by their rules (for what it’s worth, I always put “Asian” for my race if there isn’t a brown specific option, though I probably would not do so if it was for the purposes of biomedical research). I like Singh’s exploration in particular about the nuances of identity among Sikhs in America. Outsiders might not understand, and so impose their own categories to shape their perceptions. By analogy I kind of got tired of people constantly assuming that Mahatma Gandhi was revered in my family because we’re brown. There’s no great hate, but he doesn’t play the same role in the history of Bangladesh that he does in India. I recall once that a white reader accused me of being a “sellout” because I admitted that Gandhi wasn’t emphasized in my family. Because you know, he got everything about brown people. This problem of course applies even more to brown people, who overgeneralize from their own personal experiences and preferences to other brown people.
Amardeep Singh on l’affaire Haley