NetIP responds to Joel Stein
For Immediate ReleaseNetwork of Indian Professionals of North America (NetIP-NA) Invites Joel Stein and TIME Magazine Editors as Guests on the Radio
The Time to act in responsible and informed dialog is NOW.
July 8th, 2010, New York, NY: On July 2, 2010, TIME Magazine featured an editorial commentary written by Joel Stein entitled, “My Own Private India”. Mr. Stein’s views about the Indian American community and immigrants from India were perceived negatively and as derogatory. The Network of Indian Professionals of North America (NetIP-NA) finds Mr. Stein’s commentary unacceptable and is deeply disappointed that TIME.com, an internationally-reputed news outlet, would choose to publish this article.
In response to the article, NetIP-NA has received requests to have Mr. Stein explain his remarks to their audience of progressive South Asian professionals. In light of his appended statement explaining his views, NetIP accepts Mr. Stein’s solution and welcomes him to “debate people on the other side of the immigration issue”. The Network of Indian Professionals of North America (NetIP-NA) cordially invites TIME magazine editors and columnist Joel Stein to its radio show, Prime Time with NetIP, which has a reach of over 200,000 South Asian listeners. Prime Time with NetIP broadcasts on HD radio with NetIP-NA’s media partner, HumDesi Radio. Podcasts of previous shows can be heard on http://www.netip.org/primetime
Celebrating 20 years of history this year, NetIP-NA was founded on a platform of social responsibility and respect for all individuals regardless of one’s gender, race, ethnicity, background and religious or political beliefs. Mr. Stein’s article goes to the heart of what NetIP-NA believes are its responsibility, its vision and mission being to embrace the diversity within our heritage, culture and community while empowering members of the South Asian community to challenge any form of discrimination or prejudice.
Far from invoking thought by using humor, Mr. Stein’s article used several stereotypical and inaccurate descriptions that have been perceived widely as racial slurs. When Mr. Stein chose to encourage the creation of a better insult than “a group of people whose gods have multiple arms and elephant nose,” the article failed to be witty and reflective as Mr. Stein may have intended. The overwhelming response to Mr. Stein’s article shows it to be demeaning, hurtful and sacrilegious. The public statement issued by TIME was insufficient at best and Mr. Stein’s apology on Twitter “Didn’t meant (sic) to insult Indians with my column this week. Also stupidly assumed their emails would follow that Gandhi non-violence thing” has not been well received as it further exacerbates the use of stereotypical remarks. NetIP-NA hopes to engage both TIME magazine editors and Mr. Stein in a dialog with young professionals, both first and second generation South Asians, in an effort to alleviate the anger and hurt that the article has caused. “Mr. Stein’s egregious article is disrespectful to Indian Americans and other South Asians and disregards the tragedy of hate crimes that underscored life in Edison in the 1980s. We hope Mr. Stein and TIME magazine’s editors accept our invitation to engage in dialog with us. NetIP-NA is committed to supporting the community we call home and our members deserve an explanation.” -Sundip Arora, President, NetIP North America.
The stage is ripe for a responsible and informed dialog. “It is vital that NetIP educates the community about the invaluable contributions and presence of South Asian Americans. As the third largest immigrant group in America, South Asians cannot be siloed into a specific stereotype or bias and we hope to present concrete facts corroborating this to Mr. Stein. It is a key part of our mission to support South Asians, contribute to the educational awareness of the larger community, and above all, increase appreciation for the value that South Asian Americans bring to society” Rita Bagai, Internal Affairs chair, NetIP North America
NetIP-NA members have described the article as being inaccurate and a misrepresentation of South Asian Americans, especially as it pertains to the economic status and educational successes of the community. The radio show will provide Mr. Stein an opportunity to set the record straight and to further educate the greater community about South Asian Americans and their versatile contributions to society. Several petitions have gained traction since the publishing of Mr. Stein’s article. NetIP supports the SAALT petition which can be accessed here http://bit.ly/bDW7JW.
About The Network of Indian Professionals
The Network of Indian Professionals of North America (NetIP-NA) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the overall achievement and advancement of South Asian professionals. A premier networking organization for South Asians promoting professional development, cultural awareness, community service and political awareness, NetIP-NA has the largest reach of young South Asian Professionals in North America.
Today, the organization has a reach of over 350,000 people between its radio show, subscribers, members, partners and affiliates in 24 cities across the United States and Canada. NetIP-NA is the unequivocal voice for an emerging group of South Asians, who excel in every aspect of western society, from business, to politics, to the arts. The rise of NetIP-NA and its affiliated chapters reflects a general “Coming of Age” by South Asian professionals. For more information visit www.netip.org.
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For more information, contact Pooja Dhawan, Brand Strategy, NetIP North America at pooja@netip.org.
3 Comments to “NetIP responds to Joel Stein”
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He’s not on the “other side of the immigration debate.” He’s pro-immigration.
Dear Members of our Indian-American community,
As a long time NJ Indian-American resident who has friends of all shapes, sizes, colors and backgrounds, I am proud to uphold our Indian culture and bring members of all races to experience our amazing culture. I have converted many of my non-Indian friends to our amazing food, dance, songs, and Bollywood films! So I am as shocked as each of you of Joel Stein’s article and have joined the public outcry. Privately, though, I am more concerned on a deeper level. I hope you will understand:
I have been increasingly disturbed to defend our kind as ‘not racists’, based on some of the sick ignorance that happens within our own community as well. I know for a fact that most Indian-origin people do not participate in this ignorance and are amazingly loving people to all color and races. But by allowing the ignorant members of our community to be public, it falsely represents all of us as accepting it.
For instance, on pinkvilla.com (a blog site targeted at desi girls to experience Bollywood and Indian fashion), young Indian-American teens lambaste duskier Indian stars, forgetting that Indian beauty comes in all colors… (i.e Freida Pinto is too brown to represent India ; ‘dark maid’ comments to dark-skinned models..; fair vs dark wars..). These sorts of racial color comments and glorification/bashing of Indian stars based on their color are accepted as a-ok on that site. The moderators who are adults and should know better, accept and publish comments, and let it continue among these kids. The net result is that many of them who may suffer from self-image issues based on their skin color!
And more shockingly, I got several emails from my white and black friends saying there was a racist making Indian restaurant reviews calling Indian waiters ‘chimps’, dark, idiots, and all sorts of nonsense (http://www.njindia.us ). After vowing to get to the bottom of this, I decided to write to the NAACP to stop this. Imagine my shocking embarrassment when I realized the reviewer was an Indian-American!
In this case, how can I properly battle the Joel Steins of the world, when in fact, many members of my community are facing similar cultural self-hated, resulting in a similar ignorance to Joel’s? Furthermore, many members of our Indian community too in fact dislike Edison (and honestly, Oak Tree could use some trees, flowers and major cleaning up… to show our pride.. ). So here is my ‘intended’ imagined letter to Joel to show you the deep dilemma I believe we in the Indian-American community now face. I believe the solution is to clean up our backyard together. I know we can grow and change- making this painful episode, a positive step forward for our community.
Sincerely, Rini.
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Congratulations Joel!
After master-minding the reaction response, you disappear like Garbo. Call us desis dim for not getting the satire that you’re making fun of racists and not us, but… hey!
Brilliant method, I must say: smack yourself a bit for the safety net of political-correctness.. then smack us harder. Guess what you did?
YOU OFFICIALLY HERALDED THE NEW HIP COOL FACE OF IGNORANCE BEING LED BY MINORITIES NOW:
WASPs across the globe must be rejoicing, as minorities like you rip us Indian-Americans up. Reading the blogdom, Indian-Americans are ripped by folks of all shapes, sizes and colors.. heck including even their traitor origin country, India! -> Some African-Americans say hey.. Indians are racists against us.. so let’s make two wrongs a right and rip em! Some NJ Chinese-Americans residents conveniently forget their Chinatowns..and on your facebook, agree with ya! Some liberals are saying Indians are just outsourcers so it’s ok to diss em.. (conveniently forgetting the difference between Indians in India and those who have legally immigrated as Americans is the difference between an American and a Brit).
And just to jump in this party, our own desi community joins joins racist humor restaurant reviews of Edison itself, via the infamous comedic NJ Indian restaurant reviewer from http://www.njindia.us/! Examples of this dude’s humor matches yours quite well: Ahhh, the good old fashioned humor of the melanin fear factor separating the whiter Indians from the darker ones, calling his waitress the ‘dark, fat girl’ & rude: http://www.oaktreeroad.us/urban-spice-review.html . This guy keeps this up in review after review, often remarking on the dark skin color and calling waiters chimps and all sorts of racial names that the Brits once chose for Indians. Write to the site to stop the ignorance, and they fire back that you’re a disgruntled restaurant owner reviewed badly (brilliant!). So we’re thin-skinned to not laugh (brilliant!). He must be taking a page out your humor book, Joel. brilliant!
Looks like you found your your twin soul this Indian-American humor reviewer…. we’re all more alike than we think, aren’t we?
The funny thing is, unlike the huge outcry from SAALT and the Indian-American against you, there is no outcry for this dude…
I think we should spread the word out that we are going to pick one day to call TIME magazine and cancel subscriptions to magazine, due to the stupid article that it published. Every Indian coummunity member should do that. And we can pick August 16th 2010, right after independence day.
I will spread the word with my local community.
“CANCEL TIME SUBSCRIPTION – AUG 16th 2010″