A well written article. I have a comment or two
I believe it is possible that the woman who said "go back" may have mistaken the author for being Muslim. This happened after 9/11. IIRC a Sikh man after 9/11 was even attacked or killed just after 9/11 because , among other things, he 'looked Muslim".

Second, this kind of nasty rhetoric is not just reserved for people of color or bearded men.

This web page keeps promoting the idea that only people of color or 'minorities' or nonCaucasians can be victims.
That is not true at all. In what circumstance do we define a minority? If a white person is walking through Chinatown in NYC, at that moment that person in that place is a minority.
If a white person walks through an African American area in Chicago, they are a minority. In that place. In a nonMuslim walks into a mosque, at that place and time they are a minority. Once that minority person is viewed as "the Other" we can have potential problems.

Why not have an article that shows that white people can also be treated badly by another group?

Let us recognize that fighting discrimination starts within each and every one of us. Being a victim can occur to Christians, Jews, and 'white people".

I saw a video of a white man who was pulled out of his car, beaten violently by a gang of black youth, and his car was stolen. A black woman in the video was yelling "he is a Trump supporter, yeah, beat his ass." Is being a Trump supporter and white a reason to justify stealing his property and beating him up? really? is that what the country has come to?

There was a homicide case in NY state where 5 young minority youth, one age 10, beat a white man to death. They were playing the knockout game. The victim was white. They kicked him literally when he was down on the ground. He did not do anything to them. He was out 11PM at night at a little bodega. They were just having fun playing the knockout game. They kicked him in the face til one of his eyes literally popped out of his head. This was a fun game to them. We will never know what words they said to him. Did they say "hey, let's kick this white man some more? look he is bleeding, haha"? we will never know. But we do know the phrase 'polar bear hunting." Yes that is the knockout game, also called polar bear hunting. What color is a polar bear? Yes this is really happening in the USA.

Violence and discrimination start within each individual soul. Each individual can make a choice to control their own behavior.

Welcome and blessings, Sir. May we make the USA the welcoming community that it has always professed to be.

We all know that many in the U.S. are tolerant and 'live and let live' people. We have certainly seen a great deal of bigoted rhetoric as of late, and it exposes a good deal of ignorance that's out there. The danger behind a lot of bigoted rhetoric, especially that which comes from the POTUS, is that it may give justification for crackpots to engage in dastardly deeds. Some may justify this stuff as "just Tweets." But this may be about more than just votes or firing up "the base." The consequences could be much more serious.

I read Mr. Singh's column and these comments online, as I live in east TN. A friend here is also an immigrant, from the Czech Republic. Though blond and blue-eyed, he also receives comments and the eternal ignorant question, "Where you from?" He handles these by saying, "I'm from Knoxville. Where are you from?" Folks, unless you're pure, 100% Native American, you are from "someplace else". Forget the politics and remember your own roots. My family? Been in New England since the 1600s -- and I know that my first immigrant ancestor was both illegal and illiterate. How about yours?

It can be a friendly question to ask someone with a foreign accent where they're from -- it can be a means of starting a conversation. I think one needs to gauge the intentions of who is asking the question and why, and it's best, in lieu of evidence of bad intent, not to assume that the asker is trying to be nasty or provocative.

Yes, we're all from "some place else" -- that's what makes life interesting.

The first North Americans were themselves from someplace else. They migrated here from Siberia, 15,000 years ago; tidied up the place, took to hunting and gathering, and later built casinos, as was their right.

Well written article Mr. Singh!

[ View Kanwar Singh's profile on LinkedIn, the world's largest professional community. Kanwar has ... Private Wealth Advisor at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. ]
" Kanwar Singh is a volunteer advocate for the Sikh Coalition "
It is what FAKE NEWS NPR does not say that counts !

Yes Ron, he has a day job. So what's your point?

The " socialists " in the Democratic Party -like the Bernie Sanders fan club - might note that there is a dividing line in politics between capitalists and politicians like " Wall St. Hillary " , " Corrupt Hillary " and the rank and file of organized labor . They identify the CLASS ENEMY disguised as " progressive " Democrats .

LOL the "Socialist" who uses Donald Trump's childish names like "corrupt Hillary."

Socialists don't emulate Donald Trump, Ron. You're not a socialist, you're a white supremacist.

I am so very sorry. As a teacher in a preschool I am appalled at the example being shown by the so-called "leaders" of this country - their mothers should wash their mouths out, take away their phones and ground them.

Kanwar Singh will no doubt take his smug self-satisfied immigrant " SUCCESS " story into Democratic Party and " liberal " Hollywood celebrity country clubs.
He has little in common with the " hard working " Italian , Irish, German , Jewish immigrants who came here in the immigrant wave of 19th and early 20th century - many of them experienced the horror of WAGE SLAVERY in the dark Satanic mills of the New England Industrial Revolution . Does that describe your life, Kanwar Singh ?
Would he have ignorant working class American citizens fined for every insult to his puffed up self-esteem ?
Are everyday banal WORDS of bigotry evidence of a neo-Nazi , white supremacist movement in the USA -led , of course, by " Hitler " Trump ?
Smug " liberal " Democrats don't see the HATE at the core of their vicious " identity politics ". Is it in their DNA ?

The more of your posts I read, the more convinced that you are a bigoted, intolerant, and extremely confused human being, Ron. Why don't you just go and say a couple Hail Marys and Our Fathers for all the sins your church has committed, and call it a day?

Get any professional anti-Semitism - or white supremacism - hunter to study Radical Ron's blog for solid evidence of anti-Semitism and white supremacist propaganda.
How many white supremacists have a favorite Black Muslim Malcolm X quote : " Show me a capitalist and I'll show you a blood sucker " ?
How many white supremacists oppose the inequality caused by capitalism and ALL the wars of American imperialism ?
How many anti-Semites are inspired on social issues by Erich Fromm 's " The Sane Society " or appreciate the economic analysis of capitalist exploitation by old Karl Marx in " Das Kapital ".
Yet whatever the depth of Hitler's anti-Semitism in " Mein Kamp " the book is worth reading for its insights on German nationalism embittered after the defeat of the First World War. Hitler made sharp observations on the weakness of the German socialists and the communists who could not sell the virtues of Stalin's Russia to middle class - often Catholic or Protestant - Germans .
In the 1920s starving German children were poor propaganda for British and French imperialism in the big cities like Berlin and Munich .
Hard to believe that so many non-religious socialists - even Marxists - cannot believe that historic anti-Semitism has a RATIONAL explanation .
So I was not shocked when I was banned from the World Socialist Web Site after some Socialist Equality Party troll smeared me as their " resident Catholic , anti-Semite, fascist " . No doubt their permanent GREAT LEADER David North approved . He himself ( real name David Green ) is , oddly enough , a Jewish capitalist owner of a NON-UNION printing company . Quite a hobby for this two faced Marxist leader of the revised Trotskyist Fourth International .
One SEP troll threatened in an e-mail to smash this " Catholic , anti-Semite , fascist " face - IF only sweet David approves.
I will say a couple of Hail Marys and Our Fathers for Comrade North . And for NPR trolls here who also call me a white supremacist and an anti-Semite.

blah blah blah, ignore all the crimes of your Church, and project names which nobody called you.... But, yeah, you can wear the title of BIGOT proudly.

Find ONE single comment of mine that any fair minded person would agree is bigoted ? Do secular Zionist Jews at NPR set themselves up as the JUST JUDGES of hate speech ? Any Christians in the NPR club that agree with you ? Any Catholics welcome at NPR which always seeks PUBLIC funding ?Isn't it rather low to call a person using his real name a bigot while hiding under a personal TAG ?

"He has little in common with the " hard working " Italian , Irish, German , Jewish immigrants who came here in the immigrant wave" there you go; you can't even see your own bigotry...

Yes , most SOCIALISTS would agree that working class immigrants have nothing in common with their capitalist exploiters wherever they settle or come from .

Most bigots, and white nationalists, would minimize the plight of non European immigrants. And most pathetic radical religious wingnuts would paint criticism as socialist.

As a SOCIALIST I ask : just WHO among " liberal " Democrat believes in completely OPEN BORDERS - where illegal immigrants are granted AFFIRMATIVE ACTION privileges in obtaining JOBS & WELFARE SERVICES ? Unionized American workers- organized labor- supports and just love that ?

As a purveyor of truth, I ask all those "conservatives" of the"moral majority" how many pedophiles priests, already within our borders and exacting their crimes on to our children tax-free, will go to jail for their crimes?

The last respectable prejudice seems to be anti-Catholicism. I don't know any conservative or liberal Catholics who are defensive about priests or nuns who had no business being priests or nuns .
There are numerous Zionists Jews in the news for being accused sexual predators -like Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Matt Lauer . Nobody says they were corrupted by their religion, by the Old Testament . ALL organized religions have a shady past. The Catholic Church survives for century after century as the Mystical Body of Christ - even when the Prince of Darkness occupies the chair of St. Peter- with his servants as bishops and cardinals . Vatican II was THE FALL of traditional Catholicism .
The atmosphere of sexual McCarthyism-stirred up by " progressive " Democrats - makes a fair trial impossible for many alleged sexual predators - even Jewish millionaires and billionaires.

There's no anti-Catholic prejudice. There's an anti pedophilia
prejudice, and the Catholics don't seem to be able to root it out from
their Church.
The clear difference from the individual examples of "Zionist Jews" you mention (reflecting your own ceaseless anti Semitic prejudice), is that the Catholic Church itself, from the Pope on down, is complicit in perpetuation and cover up of the ongoing abuse. That's clear to anyone who looks at it with an unbiased view.You just can't admit it because your own little world view, built around the Catholic church, would come crashing down...

Oh in an already divided nation, now you divide immigrants into categories too! Kudos to you!

Yep, and don't overlook that while he named countries of origin, what he's really doing is dividing them by race.

The good immigrants were the white immigrants.

And when a non-white immigrant merely shares his story of what it felt like to be confronted with an unprovoked act of bigotry, he flies into a rage. Because he sees himself in the person who committed the act of bigotry. Ron's vision of America has no room for people like Mr. Singh.

Nothing DIVIDES the nation as foolishly as the vicious " identity politics " of the " progressive " Democrats.
The DNC has virtually disowned the white working class Christians in the USA .
IMMIGRANTS are objectively divided by CLASS -as the capitalist system divides them by class. The capitalist class exploits and oppresses the working class whatever their race, gender, or ethnic group .
In general capitalist America is a class divided society . Telling working class people that " OUR democracy " is threatened by post-communist Russia is ludicrous . The American plutocracy has made a joke out of " OUR democracy " for more than a century .

Ron, seriously, what are you so angry about? are you upset because you found a linked in page that claims the author works for Merrill Lynch?

Are you upset at the identity politics of the Democrats?

The author may not even be a Democrat. It sounds like this article or this author working for Merrill Lynch is 'triggering" you over something.

Are you mad with Merrill Lynch? Are you mad that in some articles the Dems claim to be for the poor working guy but really have a lot of wealthy politicians telling us what to do? what is the issue?

what is your problem, what are you so angry about?

He's consumed with Christian white male resentment.

Hostile much? Judgemental? Jealous? Geez! Get a fella!

Ron.. if Kanwar is a successful immigrant, he worked hard to get there. No immigrant is given anything on a silver platter.

He is NOT a rags to riches story . He comes from the upper class of a very class divided -almost a caste system - Indian society . What a phony !
Another NPR story of Mr. Singh :
["I think the backbone of the United States has been the military ... people from other nations, other religions, I think that’s the marrow of the bone," he said. "That’s important and it’s vital to our survival, both militarily and as a country, and I think when we go overseas it shows that we kind of practice what we preach in our own country." ]
What would veterans of past and present anti-war movements in the USA think about this gift to American military caste ?
Did Mr. Singh ever study a US imperialist or British imperialist war that did not arouse and please his Sikh faith ?
In Vietnam and Iraq and Afghanistan " we kind of practice what we preach in our own country ". Iran- next dirty war for " practicing what we preach " ?

All people are entitled to be treated with respect and dignity and India does have a caste system, not 'almost a caste system', and so what? Perhaps read up ....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste...

The SO WHAT is that Mr.Singh was PRIVILEGED CASTE in India and privileged CLASS in the USA . Working class Americans from immigrant backgrounds are misrepresented by these phony made in Hollywood " American Way of Life " immigrant SUCCESS stories.
The Democratic Party is now two faced : it pretends to want to be the old fashioned " liberal " party of FDR while it IS-in fact- the party of the neo-con Democrats, the party of " Wall St. Hillary ", " Hawk Hillary ".
The phony " progressive " Democrats never challenge the war plans of the Pentagon or the military budget .
The " progressive " Democrats oh-so-SENSITIVE - about racism - promote the HATE RUSSIA , New McCarthyism ( I hear it now at the Mueller hearing ) . Unlike the liberals of the past they slobber over the CIA, FBI , the shadow government of the United States.( And transcripts show no lack of racism and bigotry among FBI agents who hated Donald Trump) .
And Trump and his millions of supporters ask a question that any fair minded American citizen will think about : Are illegal immigrants in this country above the law ?
The phony " socialists " in the Democrat Party ask ordinary CLASS conscious voters : " What are you so angry about ? " No, nothing wrong with " OUR democracy " but Donald Trump , " Hitler " Trump ?
What if Donald Trump is NOT Hitler and his " liberal "
opponents have betrayed " OUR democracy " ?
And I did not vote for Trump . I am a democratic socialist , INDEPENDENT of all Marxist , Trotskyist , Leninist totalitarian cults.

Being financially privallaged does not mean that he should be bullied and the article is about being bullied; 'go back to where you come from".

Under American capitalism - supported even by " socialist " Democrats - the FINANCIALLY PRIVILEGED like Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein and Matt Lauer- do most of the bullying. An " underprivileged " woman telling Mr. Singh " go back where you come from " is no credible threat to his comfort , privilege, and constitutional rights.
In general BULLYING - like cops bullying homeless people or striking workers on a picket line or working class black people being " questioned " is what our capitalist Way of Life is all about .
A rich CEO -like THE DONALD - daily yelling " You're fired " is the essence of American capitalist bullying .
The Pentagon War Crimes Machine is BULLYING on a wide world scale. Mr. Singh says he is in love with our military . Everywhere on the planet he sees American imperialism reinforcing his Sikh faith ( in human equality ? ) .

If and I emphasize, IF the author was born into a caste system where he had some advantages from a very young age, is that his fault? Should he be condemned for that? I say no.

An " underprivileged " woman telling Mr. Singh " go back where you come
from " is no credible threat to his comfort , privilege, and
constitutional rights.

Sigh...more toxic white Christian resentment from the world's worst socialist.

You just can't help yourself. This is clearly pathological behavior, nobody could possibly think that you can build a socialist movement by so obsessively defending white supremacy. You really need help, Ron.

Your misunderstanding of my comments is more evidence that the Great Silent Majority is correct : the Democratic Party has gone MAD with its personal hatred of the LEGITIMATE president of the United States , Donald Trump .
The Mueller testimony was THE END of the Kafkaesque TRIAL for a CRIME never mentioned and never detected.
Think about Election 2020 . Banner headline : DEMOCRATS LOSE BIG TIME !

If I may ask without making you upset, do you believe that Trump is sincerely trying to help working class Americans improve their lot in life while the Democrats are just phonies?

(BTW I do agree with you that there are Democrats in Congress and other Democrats whose main politicial agenda above anything else is 'get Donald Trump')

Long ago Ralph Nader and different socialist parties spoke for me on this : the American plutocracy controls BOTH the Republican Party and the Democratic Party . For me voting for the " lesser evil " was voting for socialist third parties which up close and personal resemble CULTS - their devoted members much like those daffy " Clears " in the Church of Scientology.
Ordinary - but getting rare in " OUR democracy" - HONESTY compels me to defend even plutocrats like Donald Trump against lies and smears and not so subtle hints of physical violence .
The long vacuous Mueller Russia investigation - with Trump the unnamed CRIMINAL IN THE DOCK - was nothing less a Kafkaesque nightmare for thinking PATRIOTIC Americans .
As a democratic socialist I can separate SANE American patriotism - the kind I feel watching Red Sox baseball games and New England Patriot football games or seeing an American ON THE MOON - from homicidal fantasies " patriotism ", from deranged war fever patriotism .

thanks, a very interesting response.

Your comments have become virtually indistinguishable from Donald Trump's tweets.

And even when you're repeatedly told that you're undermining every effort you make to portray yourself as a socialist by obsessively defending Donald Trump, taunting Democrats by bragging about Republicans winning, and RELENTLESSLY attacking minorities and defending white supremacists, you still can't stop yourself. I've never seen anything like this, your inability to control yourself is mindboggling.

If you weren't so bigoted, watching you destroy yourself would actually be sad and depressing.

I remember a few years ago the Gov. of NY, Cumo, told Conservatives they were not welcome in NY. Strange, that did not get any outrage from the Left. So, now that this guy knows about that hate policy from the Gov. Of NY, what does he think about it? Will he denounce it? ....

The NYTimes just ran a fake news story about some Democrat in GA claiming that another person told her "to go back". The Democrat from GA lied. And the NY Times knew it but still ran with the story. Is this guy telling the truth? Or just another fake story?

"I along with the rest of the immigrant community and Americans of color are not going anywhere."

'nuff said.

A gentle reminder for our Republican friends

If you are American, your heritage is either

   • slave


   • refugee


   • Native American


   • immigrant


And that's a complete list

You forgot conqueror.

That's right. And British convicts sent to American colonies, like my ancestors. Let's drink to them.