Desire, patriotism, and Sikh subjectivity

Abstract

Post-9/11 era is marked by the resurgence of white American nationalisms across the country. Members of Arab, Muslim, Sikh, and South Asian communities experienced hate crimes, anti-immigrant sentiments, and government surveillance due to suspicions of being ‘terrorist-monsters’. Since 2001, Sikh advocacy groups participated in the nationalist discourse to express their desire for legitimacy as national subjects while distancing themselves from the ‘terrorist-other’. This article explores the politics embedded within the thrusts of these desires. I examine the disciplining nature of these groups and the possible ways they homogenize and foreclose Sikh subjectivities through a rather violent love for the nation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Part of a long history of national exclusion experienced by South Asian immigrants began with the politics of articulating identity, with laws dating back to the pre-World War II (the 1917 Pacific Immigration Act and the California Alien Land Law of 1913) that classified Indian immigrants as ‘alien’ based on racial grounds and barred them from entering the country, owning land, and marrying interracially. These systems of racial classification were employed by both national bodies (i.e the US Census Bureau that ‘resisted self-identification because it feared introducing a subjective element into an objective process’ [Gupta 2006: 49, emphasis mine]) and various non-governmental entities (i.e. the Association of Indians in America that historically employed racial logic to seek national rights as ‘non-white’ subjects [Gupta, 33]; more recently, the NYC Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project and the Empire State Pride Agenda that received federal funds for same-sex partners of victims of homicide and September 11 failed to reach out to queer individuals of color who experienced violence due to 9/11 backlash against South Asian, Arab American, and Muslims [Puar 2007: 247]; use of private contractors to facilitate CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program, are just a few examples). Here, I build upon Naber's argument that cultural racism is utilized by both governmental and non-government entities to intensify racial violence, especially during moments of national crisis.

2 See Bernal and Grewal 2014; These edited series of essays problematized the relationship between NGOs and state and feminist groups.

3 Joe Feagin in his works, White Racial Frame: Centuries of Racial Framings and Counters-Framing and Systemic Racism: A Theory of Oppression, introduced the notion of ‘White Racial Frame’ among his theories of systemic racism. Feagin argues for an understanding that racism is both foundational and systemic in United States. In Feagin's view, racial and ethnic oppression has been intrinsic to the American social system and not an undesirable outcome to an otherwise ‘healthy society’ (2006, 5).

4 In a Senate hearing, ‘Hate Crimes And Domestic Extremism,’ held in 2012, Daryl Johnson, a former Lead Analyst of the Domestic Terrorism unit at the Department of Homeland Security reported that that after 9/11 the number of analyst at the DHS assigned to track Right-wing white extremist groups was significantly reduced from eight persons to one. This is of grave concern to public safety, as he claimed there are more violent attacks due to right-wing terrorism than Islamic terrorism in the country, a fact that was strategically ignored by the government. Johnson was later let go from his position a few years after 9/11. See Senate hearing here: http://www.c-span.org/video/?308281-1/hate-crimes-domestic-extremism.

5 The Southern Poverty Law Center reported the reactions of some of the White Nationalist groups to the appointment of Breitbart's Stephen Bannon. See link here: https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/11/14/white-nationalists-rejoice-trumps-appointment-breitbarts-stephen-bannon.

6 Reference to the Association of Patriotic Arab American in Military was made in an article by Kranch-Brioso that was published after the grenade attack in Kuwait.

7 Although the official website is no longer available, a brief history on the APAAM organization and the founding members is located on ArabAmerican.com website. http://www.arabamerica.com/organizations.php?id=252

8 The Oak Creek massacre happened in 2012 in Wisconsin, when a white supremacists entered a Sikh Gurdawara (house of worship) and killed six community members. This act was later determined as an act of domestic terrorism.

9 Sara Ahmed in, The Cultural Politics of Emotion (p 99) arouses us to think that the act of disgusts is suggested towards the slippage of sticky signifiers, between the terrorist, the Middle-Eastern, the Muslim, and the Sikh bodies. This slippage is almost felt as unbearable by the community who ‘lament(s) being mistaken for the radicals or militants.’

10 Interrogation of Muslim communities and subjecting them to orientalist tropes, public stereotypes, violence, and surveillance dates back to President Nixon's ‘Operation Boulder,’ followed by more recent Iranian Hostage Crisis under the Carter Administration (Kranch-Brioso 2003). In the mainstream media and Hollywood, Arab and Muslim have long been demonized and displayed as barbaric, misogynistic, and backward communities.

11 A more recent videos attempts to explains ‘who Sikhs are’ and how they are different from ‘those we see on television.’ This multimedia is part of Sikh Coalition's Sikh Awareness Campaign. See videos here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8acxP_c-9KA.

12 In his article, Dr. Singh explains why it is important to repeal the ban against the exclusion of Sikhs from the US military. See Singh (2014).

13 At the US Congressional Hearing, members of the Sikh Coalition presented a framework for Sikhs on how they would comply with the army regulations. These efforts were part of a larger campaign allow turban-wearing Sikh men and women to serve in the US military without seeking individual accommodation. The link to the Congressional hearing can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-Znk9L38qA&list=PL5GHipfKKBaB8FeATIGZspoSnNtEJg9NO.

14 See Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the VA Healthcare System: A Systematic Review by the Department of Veterans Affairs, 2007. Accessed February 9, 2017. http://www.hsrd.research.va.gov/publications/esp/RacialDisparities-2007.pdf

15 Jakara organized this event to create a platform for Sikh youth to discuss issues related to the military. While the event happened over a day, some of the presenters have been active in the community for a long period of time. Here is the link to the event announcement: http://www.jakara.org/military_workshop_march2015.