As Harris, Ramaswamy and Usha Vance gained traction, Indian Americans faced harassment
Indian Americans helped define the 2024 election in many ways. But their communities took the heat as South Asian American hate pervaded the election, a report finds.
While Kamala Harris made history, Vivek Ramaswamy became a household name, and Usha Vance debuted to a tepid national audience, many everyday South Asian Americans were experiencing something altogether different.
As these political leaders saw their profiles rise, everyday South Asian Americans experienced increased racism, with anti-South Asian posts online doubling over the campaign season, a new report found.
“It’s almost unheard of for a group that comes in at around 1% of the population to be so politically pronounced at the highest level,” said Pawan Dhingra, a professor of American studies at Amherst College. “When a group gets anointed as being politically important or having political celebrity status, it’s put under a magnifying glass.”
A report by Stop AAPI Hate released last month shows anti-South Asian hate has surged since January 2023. Overt racism is up across the board in Asian American communities, but South Asians are feeling the brunt of it this time, the report shows.
Threats of violence against Asian Americans are up 17% from the baseline, and a vast majority of those threats were directed at South Asian Americans, the data revealed.
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