No More Us vs Them!

Being an Indian immigrant, with a software background living in Houston for 8 years now, I thought I would share some of my reflections on the recent killings of Indian immigrants some of which seem hate motivated, throwing a wrench into the American project of multiculturalism. My Dad, who has never visited the States, hearing about the murder that has been all over the news in India, asked me if Houston was dangerous too. In order to quell his concerns I replied that Kansas was kind of a backward place and something like that would never happen in Houston. I pray I am right on that!

The killings are indicative of the raise of clannish mentality. The solution to this clannishness is creating and sharing stories that help people see the benefits of multiculturalism. Multiculturalism progresses through multiple stages. There is the stage of justice for all, then equality for all in all spheres of life and then there is the ability to see and appreciate the shared humanity of all. Reaching the stage of shared humanity comes by the way of sharing life-stories that transcend differences creating harmony.

Before the idea of liberal democracies became the norm, most civilizations were built around clan ethics. If one had to survive one has to stick with one's clan. If another clan became more powerful then there would be clan wars deciding which clan will be higher up the hierarchy of survival. This survivalist clan mentality arising out of many millennia of human culture making is deeply ingrained into the human psyche creating the us-vs-them mentality. What we witnessed in the ex-Navy veteran's crime, screaming "get out of my country", is this survivalist clan instinct at its worst. How can a country be truly multicultural without resorting to us-vs-them clannish tendencies? 

Multiculturalism is disruptive. But the good news is that well managed disruptions are beneficial for survival of societies. Societies seeking homeostasis will die. The pathway to healthy multiculturalism is disruptive assimilation of immigrants. If there is disruptive yet healthy assimilation, as was the case with say Athens, which gifted human civilization with Socrates, Herodotus (who was an immigrant to Athens) and Sophocles, then immigration can be very helpful to the society at large. Healthy assimilation is a two way street - both the hosts/natives and the new comers need to extend a hand of friendship to each other to prevent clannish us-vs-them mentality.

1. Responsibility of Host/Native communities: What is the responsibility of the community that Navy veteran killer was a part of? What can that community, whether it is a church or a social group, do to introspect and find what they could have done to mitigate or sublimate his clannish hatred. It is important for religious and secular organizations to create spaces where the stories of disruptive yet beneficial assimilation are shared so that it becomes an antidote to the us-vs-them clan mentality.

2. Responsibility of Evangelicals: Within the Evangelical population there are two groups - one which imbibes Christlike self-giving love, and, another group which operates by self preserving instinct. The former kind often backs political rhetoric of self-preservation. Evangelicals who want to be Christlike need to step back from power grabbing political divisiveness and start loving their immigrant neighbors as children of God. Christ loving Evangelicals need to make their churches more welcoming of immigrants helping them in the assimilation process. My friend, Pastor Mark Tumney, who leads Christ Community Church in California, told me that back in the Vietnam war era his church served as home community for immigrants escaping war in Vietnam. As an Evangelical myself, I think that the church need to do the same for refugees from Syria.

3. Responsibility of Liberals: Liberals often tend to have a Christlike compassion about other people. However, Liberals need to acknowledge that immigration is a disruptive force and that is needs to be managed carefully so that a) the immigrants are well equipped contribute to the society and are able to assimilate well. b) the job displacement that happens due to immigration does not adversely affect the native/host populations. c) the movement of immigrants to the United States is not too disruptive to their countries of origin. All this means that there is a delicate balance that needs to be struck in matters of immigration - having open borders will have very disruptive effects on both the USA and the countries of origin of the immigrants. Un-nuanced talk about open borders spooks the native populations that are already facing the disruptive brunt of immigration causing regression back into their survivalist clans. Liberals need to listen to the stories of the native/host communities who feel threatened by immigration instead of just condemning them as xenophobes. 
4. Responsibility of the Media: Often the media seems to be a part of the clannish mentality that reflects and fosters the us-vs-them mentality in society. The media needs to start sharing stories of disruptive assimilation of immigrants benefiting host/native cultures. Outright blaming people who display clannish survival instinct does not help the cause of multiculturalism. Merely stating Steve Jobs was a son of an immigrant who brought jobs and innovation as a justification for immigration is nothing more than a staid talking point. We need to empower communities where real stories of common-life people are heard and shared. Stories give hope and help people see new possibilities. Even people whose minds are closed off become open to stories of shared humanity and hope. In as much as those stories are not shared the clannish mentality will be the norm.

5. Responsibility of Immigrant Communities: Immigrant communities, especially Indian community, is usually good at assimilation in professional circles at their jobs. But when it comes to social assimilation Indian communities tend to isolate themselves – often socializing exclusively with other Indian communities. This is more or less true of other immigrant communities as well. Up to a point there are advantages to staying in the immigrant social circles. But the disadvantage is that we miss an opportunity to share their life stories contributing to the broader social fabric of the host nation. If the country is socially divided into different clans, that will eventually destroy the fabric of social harmony. If we expect the host country to be open to multiculturalism, we have to be willing to socially assimilate into the multicultural country. Just look up meetup.com find something interesting, whether it be a book club or a bike riding group, and participate in those communities!

The American experiment at multiculturalism has the best intentions but it has not been without some significant black spots. The fact that immigrants still want to continue to flock to States speaks to the attractiveness of the American project. We are facing some hurdles now. Instead of regressing into the clannish blame game, of the us-vs-them kind, we need to go deeper into what it means to be fully human and share stories celebrating integration of ourselves in each other's cultures. Then we will not have to give an excuse for Kansas or any other state being backward. These stories of integrated humanity will be the stepping stones for disruptive yet healthy assimilation creating a thriving, just and harmonious society where there is no more us-vs-them!