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COPYRIGHT 2005 The Institute Inc.
Prologue
On March 30, 2002, Asian Indians in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) metropolitan area assembled at the Richardson Civic Center at 6:30 P. M. for the 40th Anniversary Banquet of the India Association of North Texas (IANT). The theme, which was mentioned several times during the evening, was "Merging for a Stronger America." In addition to Indians, the mayors of several suburban towns (Plano, Frisco, Carrollton, Richardson) as well as the Mayor Pro-tem of Dallas were in attendance. Among other invited guests were a few fire and police chiefs from area communities, and Congressman Martin Frost.
In a room off to the side of the main banquet hall, the entrance of which was flanked by two statues of Hindu goddesses, there were informative displays about Indian society and culture: about Bollywood, Indian history, Indian cuisine, and the demography of Indians in the U.S. and Texas. Behind the stage in the banquet hall was a screen framed by an Indian flag on one side and a U.S. flag on the other. Along one wall by the entrance were a couple of other displays, one depicting the Indian freedom fighters.
The evening opened with a lamp lighting ceremony; all the visiting dignitaries were invited to participate. The lighting of candles, a common occurrence at Indian events, is an act of purification but also, as the moderator for the evening explained, an expression of "unity and oneness." The national anthems of the United States and of India were then sung. Two speakers were introduced, one a local FBI agent who talked about safety and security in a post-9/11 world. He observed that the FBI could not function without being more inclusive and communicating with a cross-section of Americans, especially in an age of global terrorism. He ended his speech by saying that the FBI was looking for several hundred new recruits and that they needed a more diverse population, and he indicated that they would welcome Indian applicants. He even gave out the job website.
Congressman Martin Frost then spoke about his appearance at Thanksgiving Square (an ecumenical religious center in downtown Dallas) in the fall of 2001 when the DFW Indian community presented him with a check for over $130,000 for the 9/11 fund. Indians, he said, are "energetic and good Americans." He praised not only the patriotism of the community, but also their values of family and hard work. He noted that the Indian immigrant population in the U.S. has the highest median household income of all immigrant groups and the highest level of education. This drew applause, as did Frost's offer of two summer internship positions in his Washington, D.C. office to Asian Indian students. Like the FBI agent who had spoken before him, Frost was presented with a citation plaque and a cricket bat. Frost's speech was followed by a performance by the Darpan Dance Academy, who danced to a famous Indian freedom fighters song as well as to "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood. Their costumes incorporated the red, white and blue of the American flag, and the orange, white and green of the Indian flag.
The keynote speaker, Ambassador-at-large Dr. Bhisma K. Agnihotri, then made his address. His job, he told the audience, is to represent NRIs (Non-Resident Indians) and PIOs (People of Indian Origin) to the Indian government. He began his speech by saying how moved he was by the dance performance because it recalled, through the freedom fighter song, the struggles that India had had in her history. He invoked the name of Gandhi. He talked about the fact that India was now working on dual citizenship and he saw no problem with its passage in the Indian congress. (1) This would mean, he observed, that Indians could be "'good Americans and yet retain their ties to the homeland although they could not vote in India." He encouraged them to think about investing in India. Indeed, he referred to another new law whereby they could invest and take profits out of India in dollars. More than once he encouraged those present to "run for congress" but also to retain "Indian values." He also spoke about conversations he had had with the second generation who wanted the Indian community in the U.S. to be united rather than divided. "They are not interested in all the smaller associations," he said. Thus, while he acknowledged that the more than 60 sub-organizations that the IANT represents were fine as places to socialize, the community needed to be unified when it mattered. He praised the DFW community for having established the India Association of North Texas so long ago, suggesting that they were far ahead of other Asian Indian communities in the U.S. where more differences were played out. He closed by calling on Indians to be part of the United States, to give to their communities, to participate, but also to be part of India as well.
The Mayor Pro-tem of the city of Dallas came to the stage to present the Ambassador-at large the key to the city. He observed that while the United States was the first democracy in the world, India was the largest democracy in the world. He talked about how immigrants, including Indians, are part of the fabric of the city of Dallas, and he talked about the emphasis that this community in particular places on education. After introductions of several past presidents of the India Association, including the founder, dinner was served.
Events such as this tell us a great deal about the incorporation of an immigrant population, as well as about the activities and institutions through which immigrants create community and express identity. The India Association of North Texas (IANT) was established in the 1960s and incorporated in 1976. It serves as an umbrella organization for the Asian Indian population in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area (DFW). It is one of many organizations (religious and secular) that have sprung up within an immigrant group that dates back to the early 1960s (when it was very small), but which has expanded rapidly since the 1980s and particularly in the 1990s.
Introduction
In this article, I discuss the spatial, social, and political incorporation of Indian immigrants in DFW. Scholars such as historian Lawrence Fuchs (1990) have observed that, in the process of incorporation, immigrant groups found a range of organizations, including churches and other associations. They also set up media outlets for communication. They establish businesses that offer employment to co-ethnics, and finally they mobilize members of their group to engage in the political process. In short, they build a community. Here I focus on several aspects of this process of community building. Two questions relevant to broader concerns in the study of immigration guide my discussion. First, how does the process of incorporation proceed for immigrant populations who are increasingly settling in the suburbs rather than in the central cores of American cities? Second, what identities emerge in association with this process? Certainly, the symbolism and the discourse of the 40th anniversary dinner described at the outset of this paper suggest that a bicultural and bi-national identity is a goal for Asian Indians in DFW. The data for this paper derive from the U.S. census, in-depth interviews with 102 Indians (men and women), interviews with community leaders, as well as participant observation at community events, organizational meetings, and community celebrations. (2)
The Growth of the Indian Immigrant Population in DFW
In 1980, when Asian Indians were listed for the first time as a separate group in the U.S. census, 387,223 were counted. By 1990, the number of Asian Indians in the U.S. had doubled to 815,447 and by 2000 the number of individuals in the U.S. self-identifying as being of Asian Indian ancestry had risen to 1.7 million. Asian Indians are now recognized to be one of the fastest growing minority populations in the U.S., among the best educated, and with a median family income that is above that of non-Hispanic whites.
The growth of the Asian indian population in the DFW metropolitan area has followed these national trends. A small number arrived in the early 1960s to work at the nuclear plant at Comanche Peak and in other scientific or technical fields at local universities or with local companies such as Texas Instruments and Collins Radio. They were generally step-migrants who had spent some time elsewhere in the United States, often as students. These were the pioneers who founded the IANT in 1962.
The population of foreign-born Asian Indians in DFW began to expand in the 1970s. In Dallas County, Asian Indians settled in Richardson, a near-in northern suburb of Dallas with, at least at the time, a very strong public school system. Table 1 presents the number of Asian Indians in the DFW SMSA/ CMSA between 1980 and 2000, for the four central counties of the DFW metropolitan area in 1990 and 2000, and for the two major cities in the same time period. The total population more than doubled between 1980 and 1990 and more than tripled between 1990 and 2000. Simultaneous with this rapid increase, the population began to...
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