Racial classification of Indian Americans
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| Year | Case | Judgement | Rationale |
| 1909 | In re Balsara | probably not White | congressional intent |
| 1910 | U.S. v. Dolla | White | visual inspection of skin |
| 1910 | U.S. v. Balsara | White | scientific evidence, congressional intent |
| 1913 | In re Akhay Kumar Mozumdar | White | legal precedent |
| 1917 | In re Sadar Bhagwab Singh | not White | common knowledge, congressional intent |
| 1919 | In re Mohan Singh | White | scientific evidence, legal precedent |
| 1920 | In re Thind | White | legal precedence |
| 1923 | U.S. v. Thind | not White | common knowledge, congressional intent |
| 1923 | U.S. v. Akhaykumar Mozumdar | not White | legal precedent |
| 1925 | U.S. v. Ali | not White*** | common knowledge |
| 1928 | U.S. v. Gokhale | not White | legal precedent |
| 1939 | Wadia v. U.S | not White | common knowledge |
| 1942 | Kharaiti Ram Samras v. U.S | not White | legal precedent |
| ** Court opinions and decisions on the racial classification of Indians, the last of which was in 1942, were made before formal Indian independence in 1947. While often not clear, it was generally assumed at the time that by Indians the courts meant all those originally from the Indian subcontinent, the union of British India and Princely States. | |||
| *** 1925 decision ruled specifically against Punjabis while other rulings were generally regarding all Indians, which is understood to have meant all those originally from the region of South Asia. | |||
The racial classification of Indian Americans has varied over the years and across institutions and is presently Asian. Originally, neither the courts nor the census bureau classified Indian Americans as a race because there were only negligible numbers of Indians in the U.S. In 1923, the courts deemed Indians to not be white and be Asian instead which has continued to the present for the purposes of law. In 1980, the census bureau classified Indians as Asian, which has continued to the present for the purposes of demographics.
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[edit] U.S. courts
Courts have classified Indians as white and non-white without any real pattern until the crucial 1923 Supreme Court case United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, which created the official stance to classify Indians as non-white. At the time, this decision retroactively stripped Indians of citizenship and land rights. The ruling placated the Asiatic Exclusion League demands, spurned by growing outrage at the Turban Tide / Hindoo Invasion (sic) alongside the pre-existing outrage at the Yellow Peril. As they became classified as non-whites, Indian Americans were banned by anti-miscegenation laws from marrying white Americans in the states of Arizona, Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia.[3]
Suggestive of the poor coordination within the legal system of the early 20th century is the fact that Thind applied for and received U.S. citizenship through the state of New York a few years after his original U.S. citizenship was revoked by the U.S. Supreme Court. Numerous other instances exist of naïve clerks, or clerks acting in protest, who granted citizenship in defiance of the Supreme Court. Enthusiastic anti-Indian sentiments seemed fairly absent in New England.
[edit] U.S. Census
Earlier Census forms from 1980 and before listed particular Asian ancestries as separate groups along with White and Black or Negro.[4] Previously, Asian Americans were classified as "other". [5] But the 1980 census marked the first general analyses of Asians as a group, combining several individual ancestry groups into "Asian or Pacific Islander." By the 1990 census, Asian or Pacific Islander (API) was included as an explicit category, although respondents had to select one particular ancestry.[6][7]
The U.S. Census Bureau has changed over the years its own classification of Indians. In 1930 and 1940, Indian Americans were a separate category, Hindu, and in 1950 and 1960, they were classified as Other Race, and in 1970, they were classified as White. Since 1980, Indians, and all other South Asians, have been classified as part of the Asian race[8]. Professor Madhulika Khandelwal, while serving on the National Board of Asian-American Studies, accredits activism as the catalyst for the 1980s U.S. Census re-classification of Indians.[9] A write-in response of "Indian" in the "Some other race" line of the US Census does not get the respondent classified as a race, since it is unspecified whether the respondent is an Asian Indian or an American Indian.[10] Accordingly, the US Census uses the term "Asian Indian" to make the group in question clear.[10]
[edit] Self-identification
On U.S. Census forms, 90% of Indian Americans self-identify as Asian Indian. The US Census includes people who wrote in Dravidian, Bharati, Indo-Aryan, Indo-Dravidian, Hindu,[11] Pacific Asian[11] (see Indo Kiwi and Indo Fijian, or East Indian in the "Some other race" section[12][13] as "Asian Indians". The remaining self-identify as white, brown, and a small proportion as black.[14] The U.S. Census classifies responses of "Aryan" as white even though responses of "Indo-Aryan" are counted as Asian.[13]
In 1993 the Arab American Institute proposed that the 2000 US Census make a new Middle Easterner racial category and the AAI wanted Pakistani Americans to be included in it.[15] According to the 2000 US Census, 25% of 2nd generation South Asian Americans marked the white category. (pp. 76)[14] Under the South Asian American umbrella, Pakistani Americans marked white in the 2000 US Census to a greater degree than Indian Americans. (pp. 72)[14]
[edit] References
- ^ Lopez, Ian Haney (1996). White By Law: The Legal Construction of Race. New York University Press.
- ^ Francis C. Assisi. Are Desis White?.
- ^ Loving Day: Celebrate the Legalization of Interracial Couples
- ^ 1980 Census: Instructions to Respondents, republished by Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota at www.ipums.org Accessed 19 Nov 2006.
- ^ Lee, Gordon. Hyphen Magazine. "The Forgotten Revolution." 2003. January 28, 2007.[1]
- ^ 1990 Census: Instructions to Respondents, republished by Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota at www.ipums.org Accessed 19 Nov 2006.
- ^ Reeves, Terrance Claudett, Bennett. United States Census Bureau. Asian and Pacific Islander Population: March 2002. 2003. September 30, 2006. [2].
- ^ Campbell Gibson and Kay Jung, Historical Census Statistics On Population Totals By Race, 1790 to 1990, and By Hispanic Origin, 1970 to 1990, For Large Cities And Other Urban Places In The United States Working Paper no. 76 (2005); see footnote 6 in paper
- ^ Chandy, Sunu P. What is a Valid South Asian Struggle? Report on Annual SASA Conference. 1996. October 26, 2006. way.net
- ^ a b Surveillance Epidemology and End Results. Race and Nationality Descriptions from the 2000 US Census and Bureau of Vital Statistics. 2007. May 21, 2007. [3]
- ^ a b University of Virginia. Geospatial and Statistical Data Center. "1990 PUMS Ancestry Codes." 2003. August 30, 2007.[4]
- ^ Innovative Computing:Custom Census and Corporate Data Analysis. "Race." August 27, 2007. [5]
- ^ a b University of Michigan. Census 1990: Ancestry Codes. August 27, 2007. [6]
- ^ a b c Morning, Ann. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. "The Racial Self-Identification of South Asians in the United States." 2001. July 21, 2007. [7]
- ^ Menon, Sridevi. Duke University. "Where is West Asia in Asian America?Asia and the Politics of Space in Asian America." 2004. April 26, 2007. [8]
