Pointing that there has been a rise in racism and crimes against South Asian Americans since the November 2016 election of President Donald Trump, first Indian-origin US Senator Kamala Harris has called on Americans to stand united and speak the truth to deal with these issues.
Speaking at a gala organised by Pratham, one of India's largest non-governmental education organisations, here last week, Harris made a strong call to Americans to stay united and fight collectively at a time when there are powerful voices that are "sowing hate and division among us."
Making a reference to the white nationalist rally that turned deadly in Charlottesville, Virginia, last year, Harris said, "Let's speak truth if Charlottesville didn't make it clear, if the statistics that we are familiar with don't make it clear (that) racism, sexism, homophobia, anti-semitism are real in this country, let's speak that truth so that we can deal with it."
She said there is a need to speak the truth that "right now in the US, crimes against South Asian Americans since the election in the November of 2016 have increased by 45 per cent. Let's speak that truth so we can deal with it, the California Senator said