These past few weeks I’ve been grappling with exactly what Sepia Mutiny has meant to me in the past six years I’ve written for the site and have been playing musical montages in my head of my favorite moments. Six years – longer than any job or relationship I’ve ever had. This site provided a much needed space to dialogue and develop the South Asian American identity and, in many ways, set the benchmark with how the community voiced ourselves. I always approached blogging on this site with three things in mind – 1) write about the Desi-American experience, the narrative I was yearning for, 2) a 1:1 ratio of pop to politics posts, and 3) find the marginalized Desis and give them space. And of course – the self pep talk before every remotely Muslim post - “Fuck all the trolling Islamophobic haters – as long as they’re commenting, there’s an important reason to keep blogging.” There was always that.

To commemorate – let’s list, shall we? So here we go. My top ten most influential moments here in the Sepia Mutiny bunkers…

1. Sepia Destiny: Oh, the trials and tribulations of being a single Desi girl with dating woes and having it all laid out in blogs. Remember the Dating While Desi rules? And wondering if Dating While Desi Bradley Effect of if Obama would increase the dating pool? These posts were our most commented on the site and clearly a very important issue to many of us. Though we always had high hopes of setting up a Sepia Destiny dating tab, it never came to fruition. Luckily, many of you didn’t wait for the tab to find SM love, myself included. Thank you, Sepia Mutiny for making dating life all that much more thrilling.

2. Gaza: Is Palestine a Desi issue? To me, the connection was immediate – but how to write about it? I hit the streets for the protests, interviewing every Desi person I saw and did it again at the rally in front of the Israel Embassy after the flotilla’s were attacked. In an American world where USINPAC and AIPAC are working in coordination to promote an Indian-Israeli alliance at the Capitol – I found it even more important to push this counter-narrative out there on SM’s pages. Especially after this Bollywood dancing missile promo video. Vijay Prashad’s Uncle Swami book coming out in June has a detailed analysis, but sadly my book review won’t be on these pages.

3. Ami Bera: He folded in to returning $250 of donations from CAIR-Sacramento Executive Director, thanks to pressure from his opponent Dan Lungren during the 2010 elections. My blog post sparked an interesting dialogue between readers, donors and the candidate himself - and even led to his having to return donations from people wanting their money back. Ami Bera is at it again, running in this fall’s election. But this time his race is highly supported by the Democratic Party big shots. Let’s just hope he doesn’t fold to Lungren again.

4. Edison, NJ: Joel Stein’s article caused a ruckus in our bunker – was it racist or was calling it racist too much? I tied it to The Last Airbender and called it racist – but others disagreed.

5. Bridget McCain: During the 2008 election John McCain’s Bangladeshi adoptee daughter hit the campaign trail, and I wrote a letter to her. The comments were fierce to say the least and generated a dialogue that I will never forget.

6. IndiCorps: This had to be one of the larger recent issues that totally split the Desi progressive community in two. You either sided w/ Vijay Prashad who “called out” Sonal Shah on aligning herself with the VHP or you sided with Indicorps family. I didn’t write about this, but Amardeep’s post, Ennis’ post, and Amardeep’s second post did cause a lot of ruckus both within the bunker and within the community. With ten year anniversary of the Gujarat riots around the corner, I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ve heard of it.

7. Queerness: One of the things I’ve completely enjoyed about writing on Sepia Mutiny the amount of coverage that was given to the queer community. There were the marches on Pioneer Blvd., Gay Pride in NYC, coming out stories, interviews with Prerna Lal and Sikh Knowledge, and the Nani supporting Proposition 8.

8. Bone Marrow Donation: The Mutiny has been featuring stories of bone marrow donors needed for the past few years – and has contributed to the significant increase to the South Asian donor pool. Most recently, Amit Gupta’s story and his viral social media campaign generated a 10/10 donor bone marrow donor match.

9: Hate-crimes: There have been so many hate crimes in the community over the years at Sepia Mutiny. Some were in post 9/11 hate and others were driven by islamophobic fear. There was the monument in Arizona that wanted to remove Balbir Singh Sodi off of the 9/11 monument, Kamal Uddin, Satender Singh, the Elk Grove murders, and the controversial fake hate-crime of Aisha Khan.

10: Voting: Of course, voting. What drew me to these pages of Sepia Mutiny was what drew me to start South Asian American Voting Youth – to empower the community to have a political voice. After ALL of my posts on voting, posts on Obama, and posts on south asian candidates – I hope that you all walk away a bit more empowered.

Thank you. Thank you to Abhi for inviting me to be a guest blogger way back in 2006 and for not kicking me out of the bunker. Thank you to all the dear bloggers who gchatted with me through ideas, who edited my posts at all hours of the night and who inspired me to keep writing. Thank you to the fabulous readers and commenters and lurkers who made this experience a constant learning and growing experience. Thank you to all of you who took the time to email me personally, talk to me at a meetup or voiced encouragement in person – each of you helped me onto this journey that I’m on today, and I’m a much better person for it.

As for where you can find me now… you’ll always be able to find me tweeting away @TazzyStar or on my personal blog at Say What?. You can find my tumblr site where I curate images of the South Asian American diaspora Mutinous MindState, and more infrequently at the Taqwacore Webzine. Finally, you can read one of my stories in Love, Inshallah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women. As for the future, time will always tell. I’ll keep you posted.

Oh, and one more song. For old times sake.

Ami Acshi.

It should be no surprise by now where the largest populations of South Asians are.  According to the report, metropolitan areas with the largest South Asian populations are New York City, Chicago, Washington DC, Los Angeles, and San Francisco-Oakland and in over the past ten years, the Washington DC metropolitan area overtook the Los Angeles metropolitan area as the area with the third largest South Asian population.

But to me what was surprising to see is where exactly the growing South Asian populations live (as seen in the map above). The South Asian population grew the most in Charlotte, NC, increasing 187% over the past ten years. This was followed by Phoenix; Richmond VA; Raleigh, NC, San Antonio, Seattle, and Stockton, CA; Jacksonville, FL; Harrisburg, PA; and Las Vegas. Among the ten fastest growing South Asian metropolitan areas, only the Seattle and Phoenix metropolitan areas had more than 30,000 South Asians in 2010, while the smallest of the top 10 fastest growing metropolitan areas was the Harrisburg, PA metropolitan area with close to 6,500 South Asians. These are all regions without a significant history of South Asian American migration and I wonder what has happened in these regions that led to such a rapid growth in these cities.

And of course, as the electoral geek of Sepia Mutiny (sorry Abhi), I was most impressed by the new data reflecting the updated voting power of the South Asian community.

• South Asians are becoming an increasingly powerful segment of the American electorate – with U.S. citizens of voting age increasing between 100% and 414% since 2000.
• The population of non-U.S. citizens of voting age has also increased since 2000. While not currently eligible to vote, this population includes green card holders who may become U.S. citizens in the future and will add to the growing electorate.

In addition to the data listed above, there are the additional counties that now have South Asian bilingual needs as reported on the APALC report I blogged about here.

• Los Angeles County, California – Asian-Indian
• Cook County, Illinois (Chicago) – Asian-Indian
• Queens County, New York – Asian-Indian
• Hamtramck City, Michigan – Bangladeshi

To me, this civic engagement data is particularly important because despite this incredible growth in voting population in the South Asian community, there still does not exist one civic engagement/electoral organization building on the power of these voters. We have South Asian candidates running for office, people donating a ton of money to them via PACs, Indian-American lobbying organizations and policy advocacy organizations. But since South Asian American Voting Youth dissolved in 2008, there hasn’t been another national organization to capitalize on this non-partisan political niche. With the 2012 elections right around the corner and such an incredible growth in South Asian voting and non-voting populations, it’s time that the community gets galvanized to build upon these numbers. And it’s time for the South Asian community to fund and support these community efforts.

Please check out the report from SAALT & AAF by clicking on this link and spread the report out to key stakeholders that will be interested in these demographic numbers. Though a great effort, I’m interested to see how else the South Asian community data disaggregated by regions will look like and what else that data will tell us, particularly around multilingual, class, and income levels. If you are working on crunching the Census data for the Desi community, please do send it my way!

Haley's senior class photo (c. 1989)

Marie Claire Magazine titles its interview with South Carolina’s governor “Will Nikki Haley Be Our First Female President?” and looks at her tips for personal success and her inspirations. That’s how we get to know she’s totally into Joan Jett. I wonder if she watched The Runaways when it came out in theaters a couple years ago or if she has a vintage collection of Jett LPs.

Here’s some of what she had to say:

FIND WHAT MOTIVATES YOU–ON A DAILY BASIS AND IN LARGER WAYS. Music motivates me. When we have bill signings, we’ve got music playing. I have a great love for Joan Jett. When I am going through the toughest times, I’ll blast her music. She was one of the first female rockers when female rockers weren’t accepted. When no one would sign her, she created her own label. And when she accomplished everything … she walked away! I mean, how cool is that?   FIND DIVERSE ROLE MODELS. Mine are my mother, Margaret Thatcher, Hillary Clinton, Martina Navratilova, Gabby Giffords. And Joan Jett. I tell you, Joan Jett is my idol. I would just love to meet her! (Marie Claire)

You may remember Ranjit “Ricky” Gill, the young candidate who in May announced his run for Congress as the Republican candidate for California’s 9th district against incumbent Democrat Jerry McNerney. The third-year law student will be eligible to serve in Congress when he turns 25 a month before the primaries next June, and he’s keeping busy in the meantime. His campaign told the San Francisco Chronicle that it has already raised $725,000, more than almost every non-incumbent Republican candidate in the nation.

Gill was getting noticed as a rising star over the summer partly because of his fundraising success as his pile rapidly approached the half-million mark. Donations came mostly from the Sikh community, and also from small business owners and other residents according to the Washington Post. He’s also on the radar of the National Republican Congressional Committee, which means daily emails with Chairman Pete Sessions (R-TX) and potentially more help down the line.

Does he seem like more of a contender now that he’s raised a lot of money? Or maybe a long-term one? Taz notes that the money can be given to other candidates or hung onto for the next election cycle, the latter being a strategic use of the funds.

His fundraising prowess doesn’t change the fact that he still has no full-time job experience, and that the redrawn 9th district will have more Democrats than Republicans. But his lack of experience could be an advantage in the mind of voters tired of career politicians, and what can be gleaned of his positions so far is not hard-core conservative.

“He declined to endorse the House GOP’s 2012 budget proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), which would turn Medicare into a voucher program by 2021, supports a balanced budget amendment and would have “reluctantly” voted for the debt-ceiling deal. On the health-care law, he talks about improving coordination and record-keeping, not repeal.”–Washington Post

Gill also seems more than personable and well-connected in the district where he’ll be running, a region where his parents’ obstetrics practice is reported to have delivered 70,000 babies over the years. His family also farms in a district where farmers are a significant constituency. His incumbent opponent on the other hand, will need to relocate his residence to live within the recently redrawn 9th district.

Of course, not everyone is a fan of Gill. In addition to whoever seems to have done a YouTube style hit-and-run associating his name with fetish videos, he’s now got another Republican opponent in addition to not-so-smooth talker Brad Goehring. John McDonald describes himself as a “43-year-old Native American, high technology executive, and a son of California” on his website where he attacks Gill for his youth/inexperience.

The Sacramento Bee mentions that Gill’s nickname Ricky comes from his brothers, who as young wrestling fans persuaded their parents not to go with Randy as an Americanized nick name because it reminded them too much of villain Randy “Macho Man” Savage. They liked Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat.

If elected Gill would be the fourth desi, after Dilip Singh Saund (D-California), Bobby Jindal (R-Louisiana), and Hansen Clarke (D-Michigan) to serve in Congress.

The Asian population in the five boroughs spiked 32 percent in the last decade, and New Yorkers of South Asian descent had a lot to do with it. Numbers from the Census Bureau show that Indian American numbers alone skyrocketed 77 percent in Manhattan to reach 25,857, and in the city over all there are now 192,209 people who identify as Asian Indian. [wnyc]

So there’s a large population. That we all know. Why are there no South Asians in seats of political power?

There are segments of the South Asian community–particularly those in Manhattan–who are affluent and vote….Other segments of the South Asian population, particularly in the outer boroughs, tend to be less politically active and more economically diverse. But with this spring’s redistricting opportunity, there’s a growing movement in Queens to redraw district lines in hopes that the South Asian population can increase its political power. [wnyc]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – the civic engagement tools that are in place are disproportionately constructed to marginalize voices of people of color. The access that South Asians have to the electoral process is oppressed by the system in place. It’s not just about voting, but about having access to an electoral system. One of the tactics to dis-empower South Asian communities is in the process of how district lines are drawn.

Part of that momentum is “Taking our seat,” a new group applying for non-profit status. The organization is focused on redrawing the lines of the 31st Assembly district in South Eastern Queens to create a ‘brown district.’ Their analysis of Census Bureau data showed that two of the highest density South Asian American census tracts lie within that district and four other high density tracts–which are split between four other Assembly districts–are located just blocks away….Richmond Hill’s South Asian community is divided into two city council districts and five assembly districts. [wnyc]As important as redistricting is to creating a powerful community – I’m starting to believe the politics of electing a South Asian candidate has little to do with the construction of a Desi block as much as it does in building a community that wants to engage in politics. In research that I’m working on, 20%-50% of the money raised for South Asian candidates came from the South Asian community and almost 90% of that came from outside of the candidate’s voting district. This means South Asians will donate money to a South Asian even if they can’t vote for them. I guess my point is, at the end of the day, where are the local candidates and programs that train South Asian candidates the skills they need to run?

I sent the above article via a tweet to NYC South Asian politco Ali Najmi, co-founder of Desis Vote. If anyone would know the lay of the land of South Asian local politics, it would be him. Here’s his response.

Its a great question, and worthy of asking especially when you have other places like Kansas or Ohio where you have South Asian elected officials in the state legislature from districts without substantial South Asian populations; so why not from NYC which has one of the biggest concentrations of South Asians, especially in a place like Queens?

I think NYC’s politics are more “tribal” than other places, ironic for a melting pot, and ethnic voting blocks are a reality. Unfortunately, the South Asian voting block is not as organized as it could be. There is a lack of grass roots based community organizing with a focus on civic engagement, although groups like SEVA NY are breaking new ground in that area. Voter registration and voter turn out are low and need to increase, better candidates need to run, and the community needs to create coalitions with other voting blocks. Gerrymandering is huge issue, with areas like Richmond Hill in Queens chopped into 7 Assembly districts. [@ali_najmi]

It’s multi-pronged, for sure. Redistricting, registering voters, raising money for candidates, and developing candidates to run. These are all issues that go hand in hand, and come from the ground up. Now the real question is…. so what are we going to do about it?

“I am running for Assembly because the voters in Hoboken and the entire district deserve a real alternative to the politics as usual in Hudson County. Important decisions are made behind closed doors by power brokers outside of Hoboken instead of where they should be: at the ballot box. I believe voters should be provided a real choice instead of hand-picked political patrons. And, I am proud to say Mayor Dawn Zimmer agrees completely. That’s why she fully supports my candidacy,” said Bhalla in an email from his office. [nj]

For too long, our leaders in Trenton have been chosen by party bosses in backroom deals with no input from the voters they claim to represent. Decisions affecting your future are made behind closed doors and no one has the guts to challenge them. As a Councilman in Hoboken and Chairman of the local Democratic Party in Hoboken, I have seen firsthand the corrupting influence machine politics has on the democratic process. I am running because it is time to give residents a real choice, an alternative to candidates that are pre-selected to represent you by the Hudson County party machine. [bhallaforassembly]

I heard about Ravi’s race rather recently, from members in the community. I’m more familiar with West Coast politics, and had to do some rooting around. I had no idea there was a Sikh sitting on city council in Hoboken, a city with a substantial South Asian population. Who is Ravi Bhalla?

Ravi is a small businessman, managing a four-lawyer law firm with offices in downtown Hoboken and Newark. His firm specializes in employment law, civil rights, commercial litigation, and local government law. He was included in the 2009 edition NJ Superlawyers and NJ Monthly magazine as one of those designated as a ‘Rising Star’ in the New Jersey legal community….Ravi has long been an advocate for the legitimate rights of tenants and landlords, serving for close to two years as Hoboken’s Rent Board Attorney and Special Litigation Counsel for Rent Board matters, and continuing to serve as Union City’s Tenant Advocate. [ourhoboken]

I’d be interested to hear from our readers on the ground in New Jersey to hear what they have to say about Ravi Bhalla. Was his run a surprise? Does he have a shot? Are you volunteering to get him elected? Please let us know.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who was born in Baton Rouge to immigrant parents from India, has released his birth certificate.

Jindal is being considered by some observers as a potential candidate in the 2012 presidential race.

His office says they released the document to quell any speculation that his eligibility to run for office would be affected by a “birthright citizenship” bill introduced by fellow Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana. It would limit automatic U.S. citizenship to children whose parents were legal residents. [link]

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p>Correction, Jindal is no longer even an afterthought in the 2012 race. Thus, this publicity stunt. Here is the backstory on Jindal’s birth:

As he wrote last year in his book, “Leadership and Crisis,” his mother had been offered a scholarship in 1970 to complete a graduate degree in nuclear physics at LSU.

When she informed the university that she couldn’t accept the scholarship because she was pregnant, “LSU wrote back and promised her a month off for childbirth if she changed her mind. LSU was so accommodating, and the opportunity to come to America so thrilling, that my parents accepted. [link]

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p>Now, if I was a certain type of conservative I could argue that Jindal is kind of an “Anchor Baby.” He best not step in to Arizona:

Buoyed by recent public opinion polls suggesting they’re on the right track with illegal immigration, Arizona Republicans will likely introduce legislation this fall that would deny birth certificates to children born in Arizona — and thus American citizens according to the U.S. Constitution — to parents who are not legal U.S. citizens. The law largely is the brainchild of state senator Russell Pearce, a Republican whose suburban district, Mesa, is considered the conservative bastion of the Phoenix political scene. [link]

But why the post? First, check out this photo of Huntsman (alternate link if pop-up doesn’t work) with two of his daughters and his wife. How does it make you feel? Here’s an article about Huntsman’s religious pluralism:

A couple of years ago, I celebrated with Hindu Utahns Huntsman’s annual Diwali. Among this group, who traveled widely, Huntsman’s religious beliefs were of little interest, conversation was only about his political leanings. In fact, most of the group were impressed that Huntsman was a political agnostic. Smiling, one Indian-American businessman explained….

Two points. First, Mormonism has a universalist streak, and its doctrine of exaltation probably makes some Hindu concepts less shocking to them then they are to other Christians. Second, our host Abhi is wont to say that South Asians are now part of the American discussion in a way that they weren’t when this weblog started in the summer of 2004. In his inaugural address President Obama mentioned Hindus (see Anna’s post). And now you have a prominent member of what is the de facto white Christian party who openly celebrates Diwali in a nod to one of his adoptive daughter’s heritage.

For me one of the most pleasant things about the image which I linked to above is that the daughter who was adopted from China also has a bindi. Too often a discussion of cultural, religious, and racial pluralism is couched in white/non-white terms. There was, and to some there is, a practical reason for this. But we are now moving beyond the age of white supremacy, and people of other origins and traditions need to meet each other unmediated. Even in the United States you can go and find start ups in Silicon Valley where most of the people in the room are from East and South Asia. This is 2011!

CBC’s radio program The Current recently examined the politics of courting the so-called ethnic vote in the context of Canada’s current federal elections. The conservative ad embedded above, which opens with historical photos of the Komagata Maru and MP Nina Grewal saying “things haven’t always been fair for us, but the conservatives have always recognized our history…” is one of several ads–liberal and conservative–targeting ethnic voters. Political parties court ethnic communities presumably because they want their support. But things can go sour in this courtship if people feel disrespected. Take for example, last week’s “ethnic costumes” request coming from the campaign of Toronto conservative candidate Ted Opitz, seeking to create a multicultural photo-op at a rally in support of him and the Prime Minister.

“Do you have any cultural groups that would like to participate by having someone at the event in an ethnic costume? We are seeking one or two people from your community,” the email signed by Zeljko ‘Zed’ Zidaric said.

“The opportunity is to have up to 20 people in national folklore costumes which represent their ethnic backgrounds,” the email said.

People who didn’t like the idea of being ethnic props responded with a counter-rally.

A Facebook page formed after the email was leaked calls the email “patronizing and offensive” and invited people to participate in a counter-rally outside the Etobicoke event.

“Whether you’re Chinese, Arab, Portuguese, Italian, South Asian, Irish, Vulcan, Klingon, Zombie, or Ewok. Let’s show the Conservatives that ‘ethnic voters’ are not props for photo-ops,” the Facebook page says. (CBC News)

One advocacy group composed a bit of musical satire in response. Their take on Michael Jackson’s “Beat it” aims its lyrics at the kind of politician who would reduce important issues relevant to a community down to song and dance and food: “We have to show them that we’re more than a vote/We have our views and voice, our rights are not a joke/They call us when they need us/To join their campaign bus…” Brownpeople.tumblr.com first brought it to my attention.

They are taking aim at politicians who get their photos taken eating various ethnic fare… baklava, guava, okra, spring rolls or samosas, cassava or rice.

Avvy Go came up with the idea for the song Go Ethnic Go — and the video that goes with it — as a way of expressing her concerns about being labeled and targeted as an “ethnic” voter. The song and video were released last week by an advocacy group called The Colour of Poverty. (The Current)