Soon after President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, Muslim scholar Najeeba Syeed took to Instagram to offer words of wisdom as it became clear that two South Asian women — including Usha Vance whose husband, J.D. Vance, was picked to join Trump on the Republican ticket — were now at the forefront of the national political discourse.
For Syeed, a Kashmir-born American professor and lawyer, having the spotlight on Harris and Vance provides opportunity for a “fascinating exploration” among South Asians, who embody multiple nations, languages, and identities.“Besides how others describe us, how do we describe ourselves?” Syeed told URL Media.
Leading up to the presidential election, South Asian Americans are closely watching how their identities are being constructed and interpreted as Harris — the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother and Vance — who was born to Indian immigrant parents from Andhra Pradesh — share the national spotlight.
In a span of days, their racial identities have spurred national headlines. J.D. Vance has been criticized for failing to condemn white supremacist attacks launched at his wife over her Indian descent. Former president Donald Trump falsely claimed Harris didn’t always identify as Black, posing the question, “Is she Indian or is she Black?” Headlines making news declare “J.D. Vance and the Indian-American Dream” and “Kamala Harris and the rise of the desi alpha female.”
At The Blindian Project, an Instagram hub for Black and South Asian couples and families, Ayesha Syeddah and Jonah Batambuze are monitoring what it means for Indian American representation to be elevated to a global arena.
They’re observing mistrust as Usha Vance — who clerked under Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh — steps into a position associated with the likes of Priti Patel, Rishi Sunak, Nikki Haley, and Bobby Jindal. “Every time you see a South Asian, they’re kind of in a certain position,” Batambuze said. People are asking, “Why does it have to be another person to the right?” he said.
When it comes to Harris, Batambuze wrote in a July 22 post with Syeddah, how as a father of mixed-race children who are Black and Indian, “it’s been triggering to see our communities claim only the part of Harris’ identity that’s most palatable to them. What does the erasure of her mixed identity say about our feelings towards each other?”
As a South Asian woman, Syeddah writes that seeing a version of herself and future daughter “in a place where none of us have been before should be a cause of celebration.” But, she adds, “then how do I overlook the deafening denial of a permanent ceasefire?”
Days later in a televised statement, Harris said she will “not be silent” about suffering in Gaza and said she pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to help reach a ceasefire deal.
Syeddah sees their work centered around solidarity and allyship, and encouraging their communities and themselves to “not just look at individuals, but at the greater systems.” “How do we challenge each other?” she asks.
“What we’re seeing now is almost this courage within our communities, for people to respectfully engage in discourse — even if they disagree — which I think is so very important for dialogue for even to dream of alternative realities and ways forward,” Syeddah told URL Media.
Suhag Shukla, a Democrat who serves as the executive director of the non-partisan Hindu American Foundation, said she has noticed a receptiveness among her community toward Usha Vance — regardless of political background — for normalizing her religious identity.
Shukla recalled a Fox interview where J.D. Vance credited his wife for encouraging him to explore his own religious identity. “She spoke very positively about her own Hindu faith, and how she felt that Hinduism made her parents good people,” Shukla said.
“Seeing people in high profiles speaking openly about their religious identity, especially when we’re a religious minority, it just creates space for people to know it’s OK to talk about these issues,” she said.
Shukla said she has also noticed South Asians, “almost questioning her South Asian-ness … because of the premise that as a South Asian you have to be a Democrat.”
“Making assumptions based on race or ethnicity, leads to missing trends, and really understanding fully what are the types of issues that resonate with voters,” Shukla said.
For Syeed, it’s clear that there’s a need for more “intra-ethnic engagement.” Often, it’s shared identities not differences that can lead to tumultuous conflict and division, she said.
“People always think it’s difference that instigates very argumentative style of communication, but it’s actually people that we share something with — a language or common history — [that] can create even more pressure,” Syeed said.
“The stakes of the conversation become so high because the representation of that identity is partly what’s on the table,” she said.
Syeed remains hopeful.
“There’s such incredible richness, diversity and nuance, and I hope that, functionally, we’re able to utilize this opportunity to have a national conversation on understanding an incredibly diverse community.”
