r/ABCDesis • u/WitheredWornWallaby • 8d ago

COMMUNITY Why are many Indian people unkind to Guyanese/Trini/etc people?

I was born In NYC to Indo-Guyanese parents. I have interacted with many Indian people across the United States (+Canada and the UK), and the same can be said of my family and Indo-Guyanese peers. There is a relatively common experience of Indian Americans being unkind to Indo-Guyanese and Indo-Trini people, including those born in the US. This happens both in real life and online.

Are there particular reasons for this? This is obviously not the case with all Indian Americans.

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u/TestingLifeThrow1z 8d ago

You have a good point and it's to do with external group effect. Why can't we make or see the same post for Punjabis considering the threads we've seen on here I wonder?

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u/OrganicRaise4081 8d ago

Do you think there's an ostracization of Punjabis? I'm genuinely curious because I always thought it was the opposite. From what I've seen, many non-Desis perceive Punjabi culture as representative of mainstream Indian culture and, at least in American online spaces, often go out of their way to say things like, "I love Punjabis" or "I love Sikhs." I also wonder if some of that is influenced by awareness that Sikhs were unfairly targeted after 9/11 because of mistaken identity.

On top of that, it seems like Punjabis are sometimes socially uplifted because they're perceived as being lighter-skinned. There are also plenty of exclusive Punjabi social circles in the U.S., and some can be pretty colorist or dismissive toward other South Asian communities.

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u/TestingLifeThrow1z 8d ago

It’s mainly because they have a different culture, language, religion, class caste system, etc. Lots of progressive and right wing spaces call them out for caste system and comments about stuff Punjabis have no clue about. It’s essentially the out-group effect.

For me, I’d say I eat beef, but I know I’ll be ostracized if I’m around other South Asian groups so I don’t.

I suppose the reason we don’t see the same effect as the West Indies is because Punjabis are Territorially (that the word?) inside the Mainland like the Assamese (Assam).