I’ve lost count of the number of people (all races and ethnicities, desis included) who have thought I was Muslim just because I was brown and bearded.

I was born Hindu, am not religious in the least, and recently grew a fairly lush beard, mostly out of persistent inaction on the shaving front. I got a bit irritated, and turned back and yelled “I am Muslim! Don’t ever dare call me an infidel again!” That got him right nervous, and he apologized profusely before walking away as fast as he could.

Wait so are you Hindu or Muslim? They were calling you Hindu and you replied “don’t ever dare call me an infidel again”. Don’t you think it’s a bit hypocritical of you to complain about the racist remarks they yelled out? Again, I couldn’t quite get what religion you are from your post.

haha. that’s funny.

Desis have been long ‘thinking about’ telling his mom, but none have worked up the courage to face the 6 foot 200lb black elephant yet. Some of them comfort themselves by thinking that it was their new rayban glasses that made the kid say such things (as if the kid cares). Next they will say it was their shiny new iphone that made the kid say such things.

Good. That’s one way to justify it. Afterall, is there another place for you to call home? Where will you go if you don’t like it? Good to see that you are coping and trying to belong in the only place where you feel you belong.

It is nice to see so many guys actually agreeing that there is racism in america. I clearly remember a while back some guy wrote in lots of detail how he was told by several people on 9/12 in several midwest bars ‘ make no mistake, you are welcome here, you are one of us, we like your brown color’ etc etc. in response to some posts which referred to some racism in NYC.

Heck, I live in a condo complex which is 80% desi, and the goras being only 1 or 2 in number. Rest is kallu (yeah I am using the non PC terms if you need a noose to hang me). Even in this complex, during membership meetings, there is a tendency for 1. the lone gora to speak as if he owns the place 2. the kallus to shout at the desis 3. the desis be all gandhis and sit quietly and accept everything, and later among themselves say ‘let’s be quiet, afterall when elephants walk dogs will bark’ etc etc 4. the shouting kallus and ruler gora always gets there way as desis are afraid to speak and thos who do speak cannot even express themselves clearly 5. the desis to later say ‘let’s agree to the gora, afterall we live in their country’.

So trust me, gora racism and desi cowardice is not going to go away anytime soon. Desis will also find some way to justify it all.

For my Sikh *and* Muslim brothers: check out this shirt.

Many Sikhs have a distinct appearance but if that shirt applies to Muslims, wouldn’t it also apply to any brown skinned, Middle Eastern looking person in general? They also have a Bhindransale shirt on the site lol.

Most of the people who shout at you in ignorance will tend to be REALLY ignorant. Last summer my brother (turbanned and bearded) was being harassed by these 3 drunk guys. No matter that there were 10 of us with him, they felt the need to bother him. They kept calling him ‘dothead’. Because that made any sense. I was like “uhhh is this 1987?” He wasn’t wearing a bindi, and isn’t a Hindu woman, but whatever. When they finally saw that making fun of his turban bothered him, that’s what they kept at.

I had another wierd “dothead” incident. I was maybe 5 years old and the landlord’s son was walking me home from school. Some guy pulls up in a car next to me and says “Is that dot a bullethole?” I wasn’t wearing a bindi, wasn’t speaking to anyone in any desi language, and I was FIVE. Even at 5 years old I thought the guy was a total idiot.

For my Sikh and Muslim brothers: check out this shirt.