We meant to post this earlier but there were more urgent issues such as the student protests in India and organising solidarity events in Aotearoa (even though Dharmendra Pradhan resigned the day before).
But this korero is always topical.
About how politicians perpetuate the model minority myth, how it is lapped up by our Indian community and how the words out of the mouths of these politicians engender anti-Indian racism.
1992. Los Angeles. Four white Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers beat an African-American man Rodney King. Someone records this incident from a balcony nearby and the videotape is released publicly. The police officers face a criminal trial and are acquitted of all charges. There is widespread anger resulting in violent unrest over six days. One of the worst riots in American history. You can read all about it, there's reams written. But why are we mentioning this here?
Mainstream media discourse during this period stereotyped and positioned Asian-American communities as the model minority. The highly educated, quiet, hard working, tax paying, successful migrants. A term coined by William Petersen in 1966 and used as a tool to 'elevate' Asian-Americans against other communities of colour especially Black communities.
There was already tension between the Korean-American and Black communities in L.A. after a Korean-American businessman shot and killed a young Black woman in 1991. This tension heightened and spilled over after the court verdict in favour of the LAPD officers and many Korean-American businesses were looted/faced arson. No politician intervened to save this 'model minority' or diffuse the anti-Asian racism in 1992 L.A.
Prime Minister Chris Luxon, during his speech at the Kia ora Modi event on 11 July enthusiastically propagated this model minority myth about the Indian community talking to those Indians who attended the event. Here are some screenshots.
A report about the economic contributions by Indians to the New Zealand economy was released by the Waitakere Indian Association just before Narendra Modi visited Aotearoa. It was partially funded by the High Commission of India and Ministry for Ethnic Communities. Those are the numbers Luxon quotes.
That is how the community is primarily located within the schema of New Zealand. As migrants that contribute billions of dollars, as high energy, hard working, law abiding inhabitants etc etc.
And it is not just Luxon at this event but also ex PM Helen Clark just last week who was worried about the effect Winston Peters' racist remarks towards Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan might have on our trade relationship with China.
So whatever hue, this is the exact positioning these politicians want the Indian (and other migrants of colour) want to place in. Because pitting the idea of success against tangata whenua minimises and reduces their valid demands for changing racist, inequitable systems and infrastructures to an issue about the inability for hard work and keeping your head down. Protests, hikois and kapa haka in Parliament are seen as disruptive rather than resistance and a struggle for justice. They are termed as disobeying law and order that the model minority Indians apparently don't do. Maori, as we know, are over-represented as beneficiaries but the systemic barriers and ongoing effects of colonisation are dismissed and replaced with the label of lazy dole bludgers as opposed to the "wealthier, better educated" Indians Luxon spoke about.
While such myths are whole heartedly embraced by the Indians, they still fail to protect them from anti-Indian racism. Just like talking up Asian-Americans as a success story failed to protect them during the six days of rioting in L.A. Because these myths-of being high contributors to the economy, of being hard working and all that create a fake image of maintream/Pakeha-Indian solidarity that does not exist. So while Brian Tamaki (and Winston Peters) are derided for their racist remarks, they do not face any consequences. Just a few days of extra media attention.
Of course it is critical to point out that the same Indians who think they are white-adjacent and better than Maori (or tagata Moana) are not able to make the connection between Luxon praising them to the high-skies and refusing to sack Winston Peters. Then they wonder where the anti-Indian racism comes from as if it is an isolated phenomenon.
The only way to prevent anti-Indian racism is to reject the model minority myth, question the politicians who keep pushing it and stand in solidarity with Maori as settler-colonisers ourselves on this stolen land.
