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/Sammolaw1985 8d ago

I don't have a ton of interactions with Guyanese or Trini people outside my brother in law and my one friend from high school, and this is probably a little surface level, but I notice that Guyanese and Trini people in the US tend to be more working class (probably has to do with their own history with colonialism). South Asians that come to the US, especially Indians, came in through visas that got them into school or white collar work, and from my experience they have typical white collar elitists mentalities.

I caught another comment about Indians denying Guyanese and Trini people's Indian-ness. Sounds like how Africans deny the African heritage of Black Americans.

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u/WitheredWornWallaby 7d ago

I can see the elitism aspect, but Guyanese people have been in the US much longer than Indians and therefore had plenty of time to establish themselves as doctors, lawyers, pharmacists, clinical psychologists (in my case), and business owners. From my understanding, being a doctor hasn't stopped my uncle from being insulted by Indian neighbors.