I interviewed my mom using the same questions I answered about myself to see any similarities or differences in our opinions or experiences.
What type of religious influences did you have during your childhood and how did that shape your beliefs as a child and as an adult?
“I was raised Hindu, but when I was two, [my parents] put me in a Catholic preschool. One day, I brought home a plastic crucifix that they handed out and brought one to my Nani, (her grandmother) and she was like “NOOOOOOOOOO”. Nani (her mother) always taught me not to do things simply because someone tells you to. [As a result,] I grew up questioning everything including religion, and she got annoyed with me asking well “why do we do this?” and “why don’t they do this in school?” Realizing that they have such different thought processes, religion became something I thought I just had to do. Once I started questioning everything, and I didn’t like the answers, I realized that religion is not for me. [Despite this,] I tried, I tried very hard. I attended pujas and even did the whole no beef in the house when we move into our own place, but for what? My experiences overall made me indifferent because no one could explain why we had to do these specific things, and the things we were doing made no sense, but what tipped it over was when Nani got cancer. I threw everything out."
What religious holidays did you celebrate?
“We celebrated all the regular holidays like Christmas and Easter, but not for Jesus Christ. We celebrated because we got presents and candy.”
What was your daily life like in relation to other kids your age?
“[There was] nothing different. I dressed like any other kid, went home, ate ice cream, talked on the phone. There was nothing in particular that was different about me. I had a normal childhood.”
What discrimination did you face in during your life? Do you feel that this discrimination was more tailored to your skin color or religion?
“Well I attended Terranova High School for the first 3 days and there were 3 minorities there in the whole school and when I was crying, begging Nana not to take me, the principal asked me “Is the reason that you want to go to Oceana is because your skin color is so much darker than everyone else’s?” [In addition to this] I would sit on the portable stairs crying by myself waiting for class because everyone just shunned me. I couldn’t take rejection like that. So to answer your question it could’ve been a mixture of both but the main factor that made me stand out was my skin color.”
Is the type or extent of discrimination dependant on your environment?
"Yes. We live in such a bubble in the Bay Area, but when I went to Iowa to help move your dad into his apartment down there, it was obvious that not only were colored people rare to see out there, but a mixed color was uncalled for. It’s almost like we went back in time simply by crossing state lines."
How have these experiences altered how you perceive yourself?
"Although I have received little discrimination due to where we live, my experiences have made me more proud to be Indian."
From your experience, do you see a change in the racial formation in the United States? If not, why? If you do see a change what are the circumstances you attribute that to?
"I think we are all going to be beige one day and I think that part of the divisive rhetoric that you hear is people feeling threatened because they know it’s coming and it’s more in your face, not to mention we have a president that normalizes being racist. A few years before I was born, it was illegal for me and your dad to get married. We were heading in the direction of positive change, but with them rolling back LGBT rights, women’s rights, our reproductive rights, we are sliding back and I think it will get worse because this administration is putting very conservative judges that are going to be there for life, making judgment calls on laws meaning that we will most likely slide back more. Even if [Trump] doesn’t get re-elected, he’s already done so much damage."
