Racism And The Nepali Men In The U.S.
Paramendra Bhagat
September 12, 2002.

The land of opportunity beckons, and people gather. Of all the Nepalis in America, from the illegals to the student and work visa holders, most just so happen to be Nepali Speaking High Caste Males. Few women, very few madhesis, few janajatis. A statement perhaps on how the socio-political stars are aligned back there.

Coming to America is a career move, like coming to Kathmandu for college from one of the outlying towns, and obviously opportunity is far from evenly divided. The social networks that facilitate migration favor some more than others, overwhelmingly so.

Once here, a few strike gold, most merely get along. That orange juice in the refrigerator consoles.

Even the achievers are trailing. What worked for them in Nepal works against them here. They are not part of the ole' boys' network. The satisfaction of having been to a Nobel Prize winner's office can be supreme but that does not put one on the race for the prize itself.

And so most resort to deriving pleasure from mentally counting all those they left behind when they got on that plane. The relentless talks of desh bikas in Nepali circles, online and offline, is primarily a psychological act of self-satisfaction. The larger effort is not on making impact on the ground.

Most Nepali men are oblivious to the racism that hinders them. The joy of having landed at all is major, but also the self-interest as defined in terms of getting along with the status quo power arrangements. If you challenge, you might lose the little you have. As an African friend of mine at college put it: "Beggars can't be choosers."

Instead, laughably, trying to give wind to their privileged sails of memory from their days in Nepal, many work hard to buy into the stereotypes that hinder the blacks in America; pretenders who do not see their lifetime opportunity stars are aligned with those same blacks, and that most African countries are richer than Nepal.

The biggest reason perhaps why Nepali men largely refrain from confronting racism might be that the act might demand some painful introspection, for most who left Nepal never left behind their prejudices. And that, in many ways, their attitudes toward the women, the madhesis, and the janajatis are today what they were back then. It must be hard to act unjust and rail against injustice.