Hate crimes: Indian-Americans hold rally in front of WH

TIL Desk/World/Washington-Indian-Americans, particularly Hindus and Sikh, have become victims of Islamophobia and xenophobia in the US, the community members said as they held an awareness rally against hate crimes in front of the White House seeking President Donald Trump’s intervention in the matter.

“Hindus have been recently affected and victimised (in the US) as a result of Islamophobia. It does affect our community as well,” Vindhya Adapa, 27, a Virginia-based corporate lawyer, told outside the White House yesterday. Adapa along with a few dozen Indian-Americans representing various Indian-American groups from in and around the Greater Washington Area held a peaceful demonstration in view of the recent surge in hate crimes against the community.

“A recent example of that is recent shooting and murder of an IT personnel in Kansas, who was mistaken for being an Arab and a Muslim. I do think that the current political climate is eventually going to target all communities including Hindu-Americans,” said S Sheshadri, a young Indian-American doctor and Adapa’s friend.

“We are here today to raise awareness against hate crimes particularly against people of Indian origin. This is not necessarily a protest against the Trump Administration. We are here to seek bipartisan support against the hate crimes that has been happening recently against Indian-Americans,” Adapa said, urging the President to acknowledge and condemn what is happening.