Combating Hate Against Indian Americans: It Can Be Done

Photo: StopAAPIHate

By Jeevan Zutshi

In the last few years, I’ve watched a worrying trend: people I know, neighbors and friends, are more anxious about being visibly Indian in public — about speaking Indian language in a store, about wearing a bindi or Indian attire, about their children coming home shaken from school. That fear matters because it’s real, and because it comes on top of a long record of contributions Indian Americans have made to this country. We must call out the hate without letting fear drown out what we’ve built together.

Let us list some of the contributions Indian Americans have made to enrich the United States in roughly the last 60 years and how lives have been touched.

Starting with Leadership in technology and business, Indian-origin leaders now run some of the world’s biggest companies from Microsoft and Google to major Fortune firms. Their leadership shapes products, hiring, and global commerce. 

Coming to Jobs and economic growth, Indian tech firms and Indian-owned businesses create and sustain hundreds of thousands — and by some estimates over a million — American jobs and generate tens or hundreds of billions in annual economic activity. 

When we talk about Medicine and science, Indian-born doctors, researchers and professors are regular fixtures in American hospitals and universities — delivering care, pioneering treatments, and training the next generation of clinicians and scientists.

Next is small business and neighborhood life. Indian-owned stores, restaurants, and services are part of the daily fabric in many towns — main streets, malls, and suburbs. They provide livelihoods, tax revenue, and community ties.

Even Public life and civic service, Indian Americans serve as elected officials, judges, educators and organizers at all levels. Their voices enrich local politics and national debate.

All of these are simple facts — we show up, we work, we innovate, we invest like many Americans do. That makes attacks on us not just an attack on a community but an attack on neighborhoods, hospitals, universities and businesses across the country.

Now the harder fact: the data show hate, especially anti-Asian and anti-South Asian hate, rose sharply during and after the pandemic era and remains a serious problem. Multiple sources paint a consistent picture.

The FBI’s national hate crime statistics reached record levels in recent years, with hate incidents rising in consecutive years (11,634 reported incidents in 2022 and continuing at high levels after). The trend shows hate crimes are not static; they spike and remain dangerous. Community data focused on Asian and South Asian experiences show large numbers of incidents that never make it into official police statistics. Stop AAPI Hate and partner research found thousands of self-reported incidents of bias and harassment during 2020–2023; a focused South Asian report documented increasing anti-South Asian hate as the community gained more public visibility. Independent studies and surveys show wide underreporting as many victims do not report to police, so official numbers almost certainly underestimate the problem. Surveys also found that a large share of Asian Americans experienced some form of racial harassment between 2020 and 2024. 

There’s now solid evidence from law enforcement and community groups that hate increased sharply starting in 2020 and that it remains a serious concern. Underreporting, fear of retaliation, and distrust of authorities mean the real scale is probably larger than any single dataset shows.

A few straightforward actions can be taken proactively to diffuse the tension and build communities around us. Some suggestions have been listed here:

1.   Schools and workplaces must clearly call out bias when it happens and teaches students and employees how to stand with victims, not shrug them off.

2.   Police and community groups must make it easy and safe to report hate. When people report incidents and see action, they are more likely to come forward.

3.   Indian Americans have allies among other Asian groups, Black, Latino, Muslim and Jewish communities. We gain strength when we organize together against common threats.

4.   Invest in local community centers, legal hotlines, and neighborhood watch programs that make reporting and recovery real and quick.

Hate doesn’t arrive fully formed. It grows from rumors, fear, and the small everyday choices people make: a joke that goes too far, a leader who uses demeaning language, a teacher who ignores a student’s report. We can stop it by noticing the small things and changing them. The contributions listed above show why it’s worth doing the work: Indian Americans are woven into American life. Protecting that fabric protects the country.

If you read one thing to remember: our safety is not a niche interest — it’s part of keeping towns, workplaces and families healthy. Standing against hate is a simple, practical thing we can all do, one conversation and one report at a time.

(Zutshi is the founder of Indo-American Community Federation in CA, which celebrates diversity.)