Thursday, March 09, 2017

Our take on the Kansas Shooting

Shooting in Kansas
During the election season last year, immigration came up as a hot issue. 
Controlling immigration and flow of illegal aliens is certainly an important responsibility of the federal government. However, since the last elections many closet racist individuals and hate groups have sprung into action. They believe that minorities, whether Jewish, East Asian, South Asian, Middle Eastern or Mexican looking, do not belong to this country. They have been emboldened to question people just based on their skin color or looks.
You must have heard that recently in Kansas one such racist man asked two Indian Engineers (both educated in the US, and legal immigrants) in a bar whether they were illegal aliens. When the manager asked this racist man to leave the bar, he left but came back a little later and opened fire, killing one of the two engineers and injuring the other, while shouting at them "Get out of my country".
Indian American community leaders are vigorously following up on this case with the governor of Kansas and relevant federal agencies. 80-20 PAC has also sent a letter to the governor of Kansas and several other officials to support and demonstrate solidarity with the Indian American community. That letter follows here - for your information.
The Asian American community must remain vigilant in these times and work with other minorities and with the government agencies. Our community is very large and very vulnerable to hate crimes. 
Unfortunately, 80-20 PAC does not have the resources (like Jewish organizations have) to tackle this menace with full force. So here is an urgent appeal to contribute to 80-20 PAC as much as you can, 
     
so that we can retain a law firm and additional staff to be in a position to take appropriate action, as and when necessary. It is crucial that Asian Americans build 80-20 PAC as a strong well financed organization to protect our community in times of need.
Ved P Chaudhary
Ved P. Chaudhary, PhD
Board of Directors, 80-20PAC
http://www.80-20initiative.net
President, Educators Society for Heritage of India (ESHA) ईशा www.ESHAusa.org