J.D. Vance and the Indian-American dream
You may be surprised to learn that the wife of “hillbilly" J.D. Vance is the daughter of Indian immigrants. Usha Vance (née Chilukuri, a name with origins in the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh) grew up in San Diego.
The woman who could become second lady exemplifies the rise of an immigrant group that has prospered without quotas or affirmative action. Indian-Americans have achieved a breathtaking amount in this country in a couple of generations. What’s impressive is both the range of their success and that they have succeeded entirely on their own steam.
No ethnic or racial favors have come their way from schools, colleges or government. At least until the recent Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action, it was a disadvantage to be an Indian student applying to an Ivy League school. I’m an ethnic Indian immigrant to the U.S., in the process of becoming an American, but I don’t write this to be self-congratulatory.
Instead, I do so to point out that contrary to claims of “systemic racism" and pervasive “white privilege," America has been a place where this ethnic minority has blossomed. Indians constitute just under 1.5% of the country’s population, and yet we’ve had two Indian-Americans (Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy) compete for the Republican presidential nomination this year. Vice President Kamala Harris, lest we forget, was born to an Indian mother.
Indian-American CEOs run Google and Microsoft as well as Novartis, Starbucks, FedEx, Adobe and IBM. Some random stats: Indian-Americans have the highest median household income in the U.S. by ethnic group, almost twice that of white households and three times that of black households.
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