South Asian Immigrants In The US : A Model Minority?

[Lady Macbeth]

- By Maria Tirmizi

Mumtaz Ahmed was 25 when he flew to the U.S. in pursuit of his American dream. Eager to make it big in the land of opportunities, he washed cars, cleaned toilets, helped at construction sites and volunteered as an auxiliary police officer. Now, at the age of 45, he works as a chauffeur and sleeps in the boiler room in the basement of an apartment building. His family in Pakistan, however, thinks he is thriving as a construction contractor.

“The American dream is gone,” he said with a wry smile.


The Asian community in the U.S. is typically considered a “model minority,” a phrase coined in the 1960s after the Immigration Act of 1965 encouraged skilled professionals from Asian countries to move to the U.S.

The Immigration Act of 1990 boosted this influx, but apart from allowing in doctors, engineers and artists, it also let in a large number of unskilled workers looking for the kind of life earlier immigrants had established. From 1971 until 2002, 7.3 million Asia-born immigrants were admitted to the U.S., according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Though a large majority of South Asians were educated (837,200 South Asian immigrants aged 25 and older have tertiary education and 256,005 have secondary and primary education or less, according to 2000 U.S. Census), many of them did not find the same success as the earlier immigrants.

Some of them now scoff at the label of “model minority” and take great pains in hiding what they call “the shame of their situation” from their extended families back home.

“Many South Asians now pump gas or work in convenience stores,” said Sanjay R Nath PhD, a South Asian psychologist and Assistant Professor at the Institute for Graduate Clinical Psychology, Widener University.

A 2004 survey conducted by The South Asian Council for Social Services pointed to a large group of unskilled South Asians living in New York City. Out of a random sample of 626 Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, 63% worked in the service sector, 9% in the professional sector, another 9% were self employed and 13% were unemployed. Almost 50% of the sample made under$ 25,000 and 30% made between $25,000 and $50,000. Around 20 % in the survey described themselves as having very little English fluency.

Many have had to take a job lower than their educational qualification in order to hang on to their dream of finding success someday.

“When we interviewed a bunch of tax drivers, some actually had their bachelors in biology, but their college work did not translate to the right amount of education here,” said Neha Navsaria, co-chair of the division on South Asian Americans with the Asian American Psychological Association, who took part in The South Asian Council for Social Services survey.

This lesser role, especially in a community that attaches great value to a person’s class, social standing and even caste, has been painful for some.

“When people leave to go the U.S., there is an expectation of not just making more money, but of class and status mobility as well,” said psychologist Sanjay Nath. “Thus a Brahmin family—the highest caste among Hindus— might be appalled to learn that their children drive taxis, even if they are sending home lots of money. The class/caste perception still applies, and people may hide the facts of what they do from their relatives, being aware of this.”

Still, a move to the U.S. represents more than job titles and financial success. It represents opportunities for their children that they never had. It represents freedom of speech and religion.

“For many, the American dream could mean owning a home, a Lexus car for instance, perhaps exceeding the previous generations in terms of material achievements,” said Priyanka Upadhyaya, a psychologist who wrote her doctoral dissertation on the needs and barriers experienced by South Asian immigrants. “However, over the years of living in this country, the dream changes and evolves into one also encompassing psychological and social acquisitions, freedom of speech, for instance and the sense of psychological and cultural space from others,” she said.

Al-Amin Muhammad Bashir, 50, agrees. He came to New York from Pakistan 22 years ago with an undergraduate degree in medicine but has been driving a taxi ever since. Though he still hopes for making it big in the construction business, he doesn’t feel his American dream went to waste.

“There is freedom of speech here,” he said. “There is peace and rule of law. This is a land of opportunities and I don’t regret coming here at all.”

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