Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans
Interview: Joe Wilson
The new Republican Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and
Indian Americans speaks to National Affairs Editor Aziz Haniffa
India Abroad
February 21, 2003 print edition pg. A20
Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina told India Abroad in an exclusive
interview that today "it doesn't take you long to explain to people
how important the community is because virtually everyone immediately
knows someone of the Indian American population who is very prominent
in their community".
The new Republic CO-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian
Americans does not believe that expanding the Caucus' membership -- a
priority of his agenda -- will be difficult anymore because of the "positive
impact" the Indian American population has made across the country
in recent years.
Q. Here you are, only a second term Congressman, unanimously being
elected Republican CO-Chair of the 140 member plus Congressional Caucus
on India and Indian Americans. Were you pleasantly surprised?
A. I really want to give a lot of credit to my election to the
former [GOP] CO-Chair Congressman Ed Royce of California. He was instrumental
in getting me heavily involved in the Caucus. He determined early on that
I was sincere in my interest in working with the Indian American population
of the United States. In addition to my working toward warmer relations
between the people of India and the U.S., he knew that if anyone would
be present and supportive and active and enthusiastic, it was me. So I
am grateful for the opportunity.
Q. Now that you are the Republican CO-Chair and someone relatively
young like your fellow CO-Chair Congressman Joe Crowley, what is going
to be your agenda for the Caucus?
A. We want to first of all expand membership. So we will make
a very concerted effort to recruit new members. It is really not hard
to do now. The reason it is not hard is because the Indian American population
in the United States has made such a positive impact that it doesn't take
you long to explain to people how important the community is, because
virtually everyone immediately knows someone of the Indian American population
who is very prominent in their community. That is the first thing.
The second fact is that with the end of the Cold War, the relationship
between India and the United States has taken a more natural turn. We
are establishing much warmer ties economically, culturally and militarily.
Q. You have had a sort of long-term love affair with India. I
believe your dad served in India during World War II ...
A. He served in India during World War II with the Flying Tigers
of the United States Air Force. He served in the CBI -- China, Burma,
India Theater. He told me as I was growing up of the fine people of India,
of how hard working they were. That's what impressed him most. Then I
was very fortunate that in high school, you have an opportunity obviously
to do papers on different countries and ironically the country I felt
the closest to, based on my dad's comments, was India. So I had done studies
of the long and extraordinary history of India. I found the country itself
paralleled my life -- I am just 15 days older than the Indian Republic.
Q. When did your interaction with the Indian American community
begin?
A. When I began my law career, I met professionals who have moved
here [South Carolina]. Then I was a real estate attorney and worked with
the Indian American population, which has been vital to the development
of the hospitality industry in South Carolina. This is a multi-billion
dollar industry -- this is the largest industry in our state. It is the
fastest-growing industry in South Carolina. The Indian American population
has been vital and instrumental -- in fact, it owns the majority of hotels
and motels in South Carolina.
Q. So they have always been an important and integral constituency
of yours and I guess South Carolina as a whole.
A. Actually, still in numbers they are not very large. But in
terms of their impact on business and commerce, in their support of education,
and their success in education, their success in medicine, the Indian
American community is very disproportionately to their size, influential
in the community. They are very active in Rotary clubs, they are very
active in the chambers of commerce and they have assimilated fully.
Q. One of the criticisms of the Caucus over the years has been
that all members like to proudly declare how large the Caucus is whenever
they attend some Indian American function, but when it comes to real tangibles,
there are not more than a handful of members who are really committed
and involved. Is this something you hope to change during your tenure
in terms of resurrecting or to be more charitable, rejuvenating the Caucus?
A. It will be. In fact, on my election I had a number of members
of Congress tell me that they wanted to become more involved. Over and
over, I have had topnotch and very enthusiastic members of Congress tell
me they want to become involved. We will be more active and again a reason
that we are going to become more active is not just because of a change
in leadership but because the Indian American population of the U.S. has
become more active and better organized itself.
Q. Another criticism often leveled at the Caucus is that it tends
to be more focused on the India part and not on the Indian American part.
That the Caucus puts more emphasis on India in terms of India-related
foreign policy issues without getting focused on domestic issues of concern
to Indian Americans. Is this something you are going to balance out?
A. I am confident I can. The two parts of what I am trying to
do is work within the Indian American population and then work in regard
to relations with India. But you need to realize that most caucuses which
are of a particular country -- and we have them with virtually every major
country in the world -- most of them, if not all of them really focus
on a relationship say between the U.S. and the United Kingdom, between
the U.S. And Germany, Korea, Japan with minimum emphasis on the domestic
population.
But because of the growing significance of the Indian American population,
I see this is a way to promote the Indian American community and promote
better relations between the people of the U.S. And India.
Q. The issue of racial profiling in the aftermath of 9/11 has
been of paramount concern to South Asian Americans, including Indian Americans.
Is alleviating this concern and that of hate crimes, discrimination in
college admissions, immigration issues and such burning domestic issues
going to be a priority of the Caucus?
A. I certainly don't favor racial profiling of any form. So it
would be something we will certainly be following as would the other issues
you mentioned.
Q. Have you been to India, and if not, do you intend visiting
India shortly?
A. I will visit India hopefully in March for the first time.
I am making efforts to plan a trip for the last week of March. It would
mean a lot to me. It is very crucial for my service that I do this.
I am really looking forward to it.
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