Taking Too Much Abuse
There is a story – probably apocryphal – about the great American basketball player, Bill Russell.
Game after game, opposing players were physically abusing Russell, who stood 6’10” and weighed over 220 pounds. Russell didn’t want to play rough, probably because he didn’t need to in order to succeed. He was one of the best players of his generation, and a perpetual all-star.
Still, Russell was constantly being beaten up. One day, his coach, the famous Red Auerbach, took Russell aside and told him to throw a nasty elbow at an opposing player during a nationally televised game. Just once. He didn’t want to do it, but Auerbach guaranteed Russell that everyone would see him do it, and that they would never mess with him again.
A Proposal for American Hindus
I don’t know whether that really happened, and whether Russell threw the elbow. I DO know this: American Hindus need to throw an elbow, and a really great way to do it would be to recall Aisha Wahab.
Aisha Wahab is the freshman progressive Democratic state senator in California who sponsored the anti-Hindu caste legislation known as SB403. Why would a freshman senator make caste legislation her top priority, rather than say, crime, or schools, or economic development? It’s because she can get away with it. Furthermore, doing so wins her support within the progressive coalition, both in California and nationally.
This keeps happening to Hindus. Caste legislation is a central part of the toolkit that has been developed to vilify and marginalize the Hindu community in North America. Now, it’s happening in the Canadian parliament.
When Will it Stop?
It will stop when politicians realize that they can no longer f*** with the Hindu community. And the only way that is going to happen is if we successfully punish a politician in a devastating way.
Let’s be clear about what happened in California. Hindus got saved by the white governor of our state – Gavin Newsom – who chose to veto SB403.
We can talk about small victories, such as the removal from the bill of incendiary language and false tropes. However, 403 still passed, and Hindu activists were unable to change any politicians’ minds about supporting it.
Why? Because the Hindu community is politically inert.
Throwing an Elbow and Saving Ourselves
With the grace and blessings of our ancestors, gurus, and devathas — and with our relative wealth — Hindus stand 6’10”, like Bill Russell. Yet, on the basketball court of North American politics we are being flagrantly fouled over and over and over again. And, guess what? The referees aren’t going to save us. In fact, the referees – the news media in this case – are firmly on the side of our enemies.
Hindus will have to save ourselves, and from my perspective the best way to do that — currently — would be to punish Aisha Wahab with a recall, while simultaneously installing a replacement who would be beholden to the Hindu community. Let the word ring forth to any politician who intends to endanger us, our children, our families, our businesses, our very existence, that we will end their career.
If we do it just once, we will forever change how North American politicians view us. We will be respected, even if disliked. Even better, Hindus will finally respect ourselves.
Absolutely a great idea. I wrote an article about this for Channel 18 and sent it to the Gov. Not sure it did much good. https://www.news18.com/opinion/opinion-do-americans-need-caste-discrimination-laws-8341783.html