October - 2002 - issue > Editor's Desk

OVER A YEAR HAS PASSED SINCE THE tragedy of September 11, affording us the unique opportunity to introspect. We can begin to ask ourselves what we have learned from this horrific event. The question is a large and difficult one, so I would like to pose a narrower question: what have we, as Indian immigrants, learned from the 9/11 tragedy? The racism following September 11 to which many of us fell victim has taught us that outrage often blinds people to cultural differences. We have patiently endured the worst of insults and abuses. Some of us were told to go back to our own country; some were eyed with suspicion simply for wearing a turban; others were even physically abused because of the color of their skin. Many Americans, in the heat of the moment, overlooked the all too apparent fact that Indians—hailing from the largest democratic country in the world—had absolutely no affiliation with Middle Eastern terrorist groups of any kind. In fact, what transpired after the 9/11 tragedy seems to be a textbook case of mass psychology at work: people were scrambling to find someone to blame for the tragedy, and Indians proved to be as effective a scapegoat as any.

We should all be proud that we were able to maintain our dignity and poise in the face of such irrational behavior. But now that we have gained some critical distance from the event, it is time to shed our role as "victims" and, instead, try to play an active role in helping our adopted country through these tough times.

One area where Indians have remained astonishingly silent is immigration law reform. We owe it to our country to do our best to ensure that the tragedy of September 11 isn't repeated. As immigrants ourselves, we know the subtleties and loopholes inherent in America's immigration laws inside and out, but we have made no attempt to share our knowledge and insight to help America safeguard its borders. If the proper enforcement of immigration laws were in place prior to the 9/11 tragedy, Mohamed Atta, the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks, would have been deported back to Egypt for flagrantly overstaying his student visa—and, perhaps, a terrible tragedy could have been averted. But all hypothetical speculations aside, we have the duty to make sure that such a flagrant violation of immigration policy doesn't go unnoticed any longer. Unfortunately, however, there seems to be a knee-jerk reaction on the part of most Indian immigrants to resist any restrictions on immigration policy. Such a reaction is not entirely unjustified. After all, nearly all of us know someone who has been denied a visa as a result of annoying legal clauses or stipulations. But we must realize that 99.9 percent of Indians in the U.S. are here legally, so they have nothing to fear—and everything to gain—by championing reforms in immigration policy. In times like these, we must put aside our petty grievances for the greater good of the country.

So long as we reside in America but fail to help our country in its time of need, we are Americans in name but not in spirit. It is time that Indians took the lead in championing U.S. immigration reform. We should demand from our senators and congressmen that immigration laws and procedures be revamped so that tragedy doesn't strike again. The gulf that currently exists between civil law and immigration law must be eliminated. It is simply inexcusable that a full year after the 9/11 tragedy, a person can walk into civil court and announce that he knowingly violated immigration law, without any fear of being reported to the proper enforcing authority. The judge can do nothing but look dumbly on as a potential terrorist walks out of court scot-free. It is high time we, as Indian immigrants, unequivocally pledge our allegiance to the U.S. by offering our unique skills for the safety of our country.