Indian-Americans make their mark in another field

The Indian-American community has finally arrived, says a leading sociologist, and it’s not because Bobby Jindal was elected governor of Louisiana or Sanjaya was a finalist on American Idol. Nor is it because Indian-Americans have excelled in fields such as medicine, engineering and business.

The true sign that the Indian-American community has arrived is that it’s making a mark in a field that gets plenty of media exposure: crime. “More Indian-Americans are involved in criminal activity than ever before,” says Jacob George, sociologist at Harvard University. “Obviously, it won’t be seen as a positive sign, but it shows that Indian-Americans are not just sitting back and allowing other communities to grab all the empty spaces in prison.”

As a result, Americans are now seeing more Indian names in newspapers, he said. “It’s not just names like Vick and Peterson in the crime stories,” George said. “It’s also names like Crookmansingh and Embezzleraman.”

In the ’70s and ’80s, when an Indian-American was involved in crime, it was often unintentional, George said. “It was usually a new immigrant who didn’t know the laws of the land,” he said. “Perhaps it was an office worker who thought it was okay to take the stapler home. Or maybe it was an office manager who thought it was okay to take the secretary home.”

These days, Indian-Americans are more deliberate about their crimes, George said. “They work very hard at planning and executing it,” he said. “I’m sure no one is surprised to hear this, but when it comes to criminal activity, Indian-Americans are very ambitious. They don’t bother with petty crimes like shoplifting and burglary. They commit crimes that will put them in either financial security or maximum security for the rest of their lives.”

He cited the example of Balram Chandiramani, a director in New York City’s transportation department who’s been charged with soliciting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. “It may seem like a terrible crime,” George said, “but how many Indian-Americans can say they’ve been on the front page of the New York Post?”

Even leaders of the Indian-American community are not exempt from committing crimes, George said, noting that Maryland state legislator Kumar Barve has been charged with driving under the influence. “Don’t forget that George W. Bush committed the same crime many years ago,” he said. “So perhaps Barve is just preparing himself for higher office.”