Wednesday, May 16, 2012

The Indianness of Dharun Ravi

It bothers me greatly that the media in some shape, form or another continues to emphasize the ethnicity of Dharun Ravi in a manner in which it is certain to be detrimental to Dharun.  After all, who would have sympathy for an Indian kid growing up in an extremely successful Indian household that chose not to convert their Green Cards (legal immigrant status in USA) to American Citizenship although they were entirely eligible to do so and yet are enormously financially successful?  How many colored immigrants into this country really show such a profile?  Is this Jealousy or is it Envy?  I wonder!

Take a look at these posts that imply that because the recent rallies in support of Dharun Ravi consist of mostly Indians or Indian-Americans, perhaps support does not exist for Dharun outside the community that he is from.  More dangerously, it implies that the only sympathy that he gets is from his own ethnic community and support does not exist outside anywhere else.  Here are the posts that mostly quote AP (Associated Press).  Most conveniently forget that Tyler Clementi's own parents are appealing for compassionate sentencing for Dharun Ravi!





Looking at the above posts, what stands out is the statement that his supporters are mostly Indian-American like he is!  If that is not subtle, implied bigotry, then what is?  Does that small detail matter?  Does that information not shape the reader's opinion?  What purpose does that detail serve other than to further rile up passions?

Furthermore, I find it interesting that the most support for Dharun Ravi comes from the LGBT community itself, a fact that does not surprise me.  The overwhelming opinion is that LGBT community knows that a colored man, Dharun Ravi was a convenient scapegoat and that Indians in New Jersey are generally targeted by many Jealous individuals and the system in New Jersey anyways.  The Indian Community in New Jersey is enormously successful and that has generated a ton of Jealousy and spite and goes back to the days of the so called "Dot Busters" where New Jersey Citizens targeted Indian Hindu Women who wore the Hindu Bindi on their foreheads with violence.  It is interesting that there is really no record of the New Jersey Criminal Justice System going after the so called "Dot Busters".  Hate Crimes it appears do not apply to Indian Victims in New Jersey - an absolute hypocrisy I think!

Here are several posts in support of Dharun Ravi, most of which are from the LGBT Community, the most prominent of which comes from the former New Jersey Governor - Jim McGreevey who was forced to leave office because he was Gay (go figure that one out).  The Star-Ledger, New Jersey's most prominent newspaper does have an editorial supporting no Jail Time for Dharun.  An Alternate Juror on the case has even publicly come out and expressed his opinion that had he been sitting in on the case, he would not have voted to convict Dharun and by the way, this Juror is NOT Indian!

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/02/opinion/keller-tyler-and-trayvon.html?_r=2
















I think this post below really captures the sentiment that Indian-Americans feel about the way this entire trial was handled - that if Dharun Ravi had not been Indian-American, he might not have been convicted.









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