Why Indians in the USA should not qualify for affirmative action and minority quotas
Employers in America, from financial firms, large corporations, technology companies, consultancies and small businesses to universities, hospitals, government agencies and others, proudly point to Indians on their staff as proof of their commitment towards meeting minority or affirmative action goals, including for senior management and director positions.
As in the case of jobs, business contracts are also set aside for minority owned small firms by federal and state government agencies, train and road transport services, airport and port operators, educational institutions and several private companies, especially in government regulated businesses such as phone, gas and electric utilities, construction, banks and financial services. Studies have shown that Indians get a disproportionate share of minority business contracts.
Similarly, pension funds and endowments are hiring more Indian-owned private equity, venture capital and other investment firms as part of their affirmative action goals. This is crucial for the Indian-owned firms since investment managers typically raise most of their capital from pension funds and university endowments.
The term “minority” in this context is not a statistical measure. It is applied to various groups in the U.S. who have historically faced discrimination, owned few businesses and held few white collar and management jobs.
Since the 1970’s, Democratic and Republican administrations and the courts have supported setting aside jobs and business contracts for minorities: African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asians as well as women.
The original intent for including Asians among minorities was to help uplift the historically disadvantaged people from Hawaii, Guam, Samoa and other U.S. jurisdictions in Asia and the Pacific, descendants of nineteenth century Chinese railroad workers and Japanese Americans in internment camps during World War Two.
Indians in America do not belong to any of these Asian categories. Instead, they are from middle-or-upper class families and were mostly educated at good schools and colleges in India and the U.S. Also, except for descendants of Sikh farmers who migrated to the U.S. in the early 20th century, none of the Indians suffered any historical discrimination and economic hardships in America.
Data from the 2020 U.S. Census clearly confirms that Indians are not a disdvantaged minority: four out five have a college degree; they have the highest per capita income of any community; hold a sizeable number of jobs in technology and Wall Street; and about 10 per cent of doctors in America are of Indian descent.
These facts are ignored by U.S. employers and businesses who classify Indians as minority employees and contractors. The only reason Indians are viewed as Asians, for purposes of inclusion as a minority, is due to geography - India is part of Asia.
Most Indians in America deserve their success given their skills, experience and educational credentials. This is evident, for instance, from the profiles of some of them in this publication: chief executives Sundar Pichai of Google, Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Anjali Sud of Vimeo and Sonia Syngal of Gap; Ajit Jain, vice chairman at Berkshire Hathaway; business founders Ankur Gopal of Interapt and Sachin Kamdar of Parse.ly; investors Milind Mehere of Yieldstreet and Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures; Srikant Datar, dean of the Harvard Business School; Vanita Gupta, Associate U.S. Attorney General; and others.
So, while U.S. employers, funds and businesses may view Indians as part of fulfilling their minority obligations, they must find value in the work done by most Indians.
But Indians ought to find the minority label unsettling. It is in their self-interest to clearly establish that they were chosen for jobs and contracts based on merit. Otherwise, their achievements will always be doubted, even as they are burdened with the minority label.
Indians should ask employers, funds and businesses to exclude them from the lists they compile, and often publicize, to show their commitment to affirmative action. This will help establish that they were chosen based on merit. It will also ensure that the employers, funds and businesses help more Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans and Asians who suffered historical discrimination.
In fact, instead of competing with minorities, successful Indians in the U.S. need to give back to society to help those less fortunate. As Raja Krishnamoorthi, Democrat from Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives, put it: “What’s really important is for Indian Americans to recognize that not all people in the United States have enjoyed the same level of economic success or educational attainment, and it’s really up to us to help everyone else to succeed.”
Indians in the U.S. should follow the example of Ankur Gopal, founder of Interapt: “My vision has always been to create 10,000 technology jobs” in a region of Kentucky, hurt economically by the closure of coal mines. .
Photo courtesy: Creative Commons
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