From:
Ramesh Malayappan
Connecticut
Dated – May/22/2012
To:
Honorable Bruce J. Kaplan
Prosecutor
Middlesex County
25 Kirkpatrick Street, 3rd Floor
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Dear Mr. Kaplan,
My name is Ramesh and I am a United States Citizen residing in Connecticut. I briefly lived and worked in New Jersey in 1998 and 1999 and then moved on to Connecticut. I am writing this open letter to you with the hope that this letter somehow reaches you in time for you to take timely action.
I am appealing to your sense of magnanimity, compassion and understanding in order that you may find within your prosecutorial powers and discretion to let Judge Glenn Berman’s sentencing decision stand and allow Dharun Ravi to move on with his life that will anyway be restricted for the following three years under probation. I am requesting your office to NOT appeal the Judge’s sentence imposed yesterday. Your office along with the Jury and the Judge has sent a clear enough message – Bullying is wrong, it will not be tolerated and will be punished regardless of whether the victim gets satisfaction from seeing his tormentor punished. However, the overwhelming public opinion also is that your office is also seeking to send the message that hating Gays and members of the LGBT community is wrong and that any behavior that even remotely borders on such hatred will also be severely punished. While I sincerely applaud your desire to send such a message in an effective manner, I would like to explain why Dharun Ravi is the wrong example for this. This case is not the right one to send the message that you want to send.
Like Dharun and his parents I come from the Southern State of Tamil Nadu in India, where I was born. Fellow Indians call us “Tamilians”. I chose to become an United States Citizen after living in this country for over two decades, a choice that neither Dharun Ravi or his parents made although they had the opportunity, the means and the incentive. It is indeed an honor and a privilege to become a Citizen of the greatest country on earth, but many legal immigrants, including Dharun and his parents consciously make the choice of not becoming one because of reasons peculiar to people of Indian origin. India is the world’s largest democracy, although in the eyes of many it is still an economically poor one. The reasons to leave India could be many, including economic conditions, but there is never a reason not to return and settle down there after one has spent a useful and productive life here in the USA. None of us chose to run away from anything including religious or political persecution and most of us in fact did not come here because we lacked economic prosperity or even decent living standards. Therefore, Indians do not have the pressing need to become American Citizens, although they are well positioned in front of the line thanks to America’s selective immigration policies that targets India’s highly educated workforce. Dharun did not come here to the USA to study on a student visa as alluded to by many commentators. Indeed, he came legally into this country along with his parents who chose to come here for work on a legal work visa as highly talented and qualified IT workers. They came to the USA in the 1990’s, giving them ample time to become American Citizens. However, for reasons best known to them, they chose not to. The key point to remember is that Dharun is a Permanent Resident of the United States, not some graduate student who came to America a couple of years ago. If Dharun and his family had made the choice of becoming American Citizens, there would never be any loose talk of "Deporting" him. Dharun had the right, the means and the opportunity to become an American Citizen and he did not. So, it is ironic that there is so much talk about how much of a factor deportation was in all of this. Of course, you already know all of this.
The United States Government by either design or conscious choice provides only one viable straight path for Indian Citizens to immigrate into this great country – bring exceptional skills and education and enhance everything by even more advanced education. Needless to say, Indians who have arrived and settled in the USA are among the brightest, prosperous and law abiding citizens of this land, with a crime rate that I can guarantee is the lowest in the USA. We are often called “Model Immigrants”, but truth be told, there is nothing “Model” about us. Indians are by nature harmless, non-threatening, non-violent, extremely law abiding and GOD fearing people who through tens of centuries of the practice of the Hindu religion know nothing better than to strive to be ideal human beings. In fact, this Hindu influence has even affected people practicing other religions in India, such as Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains and Buddhists among others. India got its independence from the British through a massively non-violent movement where millions of Indians were suppressed, beaten and slaughtered before the British finally gave up and left the land. Today, millions of Indians continue to thrive and prosper in the United Kingdom as useful, law abiding and prosperous citizens who are full citizens of the British Crown without an ounce of hatred in their hearts to a country that occupied India for over 200 years.
Dharun Ravi and his parents practice Hinduism just like me. Hindus have evolved over the tens of centuries so much so that some fundamental basic tenets fostered upon us by our great teachers, philosophers, Gurus and Saints have either been lost or lost in translation during the enormous waves of invasion that occurred over the centuries by people from other lands who wanted to steal from India. In fact, in those days, India was the most prosperous land on earth, so much so that Christopher Columbus lost his way trying to find it, which is why we are here now! Christopher Columbus did not intend to steal from India, he really wanted to trade, but the point I am trying to make is that everyone wanted to go to India, much like everyone is trying to come to the USA these days in the current era. Today, the United States is the most prosperous, generous, opportunity giving and decent place on this planet, worthy of being home to only the world’s most law abiding individuals. It is natural to expect that any immigrant to this country come with the intent to lead a full and productive life here that is completely free of even the minutest infarctions, but that is wishful thinking. Indians are also human beings like any other immigrant and the only thing we can do is to place ourselves, our families and our children in situations that cannot even provide a crucible for any mishap. That is the best we can do and as you can see from the lowest crime rate in the country, we do it quite well! Situations like the one Dharun placed himself him can be truly chalked up to immaturity, stupidity and idiocy, but never to malice, hatred or meanness. Why? Because it is in our DNA to be good citizens and it is Hindu belief over tens of thousands of years to be tolerant to everyone – all religions, all people and all living beings, including animals.
The Hindu religion unlike some other major religions does not believe that marriage and union can only be between a man and a woman. Bravely and openly, Hindu mythologies and stories about our GODS and GODDESSES contain examples of infatuation between male GODS to the extent that it is celebrated even today as plays – the most famous of which is called “MOHINI ATTAM”. Even after being told that Lord VISHNU was taking an Avatar as MOHINI and was in fact male, Lord Shiva continues to intensely court Lord VISHNU even as his own wife, PARVATI looked on with anxiety and pain! As in any mythologies, the point of such stories is not just to entertain but to bring a point across and in this case, as Hindu mythologies are won’t to do, influence social behavior. Stories of cows such as KAMADHENU influenced the Hindu culture to such an extent that we don’t eat Beef anymore and stories of Incarnation resulted in a majority of Indians being Vegetarians over the centuries. Going back tens of thousands of years, Hindus also ate Beef and slaughtered other animals for food.
I realize that many Hindus after reading this open letter might either disagree with me or admonish me for writing so candidly about our great religion. Some may perhaps even vehemently disagree with my analysis of the MOHINI story and tell me that I am wrong. However, as I said, Hindus have evolved over the centuries. Hinduism is not an organized, strait-jacketed religion like many others. Every Hindu practices Hinduism in his or her own unique way and not every parent tries to foster their religious ideas onto their children. Dharun Ravi’s parents may or may not have taught Dharun about Hinduism’s great tolerance and acceptance of GAY culture, but please do not for a moment think that they ever brought him up as a GAY hating, GAY bashing individual. I don’t know Dharun Ravi or his parents, but I can guarantee you that they had no hatred in their hearts for GAYS because I was raised in the same South Indian, Tamilian culture that they share with me. There just could not have been an ounce of hatred in either Dharun’s heart or his parent’s hearts or in fact in any Hindu’s heart regardless of whether they know or agree with my analysis presentation of Hindu religion. Dharun Ravi, therefore, is the wrong example to make – for anyone! The prosecutor’s office will gain nothing from this because there is nothing to deter others from within the Indian community from hating GAYS or members of the LGBT community! The GAY and LGBT community will have nothing to gain because, through the influence of centuries of practice of the Hindu religion, Indians are already accepting of alternative life styles at one level or at least indifferent at a completely different level. We don’t have leaders – either religious of political that go about telling us that the LGBT community is an unnatural community of people. Punishing Dharun Ravi for 30 days in Jail is enough – I am sure he has learnt the costly lesson from his youthful immaturity, but how can he be punished for something that never existed – hatred in his heart?
I also want to bring to your attention the perception that the great State of New Jersey will never be a complete home to the Indian-American community, a key reason why I chose to get up and leave back in 1998. I never quite figured it out, but it appeared that our prosperity and well-being and our presence as incredibly productive members of the New Jersey community had led to intense jealously and subsequent hatred for us! You are well aware of the hate crimes committed against us through the “DOT BUSTERS’ movement with the perception that the law enforcement community stood by and did nothing to stop the sometimes violent actions of many groups and individuals against Hindu women. The most recent case of Professor Divyendu Sinha from Old Bridge showcases the perception that it is Okay to kill Indians and law enforcement will not move a finger or at least make just a weak attempt! I had a choice but chose the more prudent one – of moving away to Connecticut. But, I know that the Indians who still choose to stay in New Jersey are wondering, “Did we make the right choice?” I have said before and I will say it again – Indians are one of the most productive citizens of your great State and please do not forget that. From media utterances by many pundits – political or media, I have gathered the impression that this case because a license to publicly humiliate Indians with the so called perceived notion that somehow Indians are leeches on the New Jersey populace! DEPORTATION is a word that I have watched with dismay being thrown around pretty loosely! The extreme hatred for Indians is uncomfortably palpable!
I resent the idea that there is the perception out there that Dharun Ravi should be deported forcibly to send a message! Any Indian immigrant into this country would willingly self deport himself or herself at the blink of an eye and I make this point because we are a people with immense pride! We are not beggars, and we are not economically desperate runaways who came into this country to run away from something. We always have a home to go back to a place to call our “Motherland”. America is our “Homeland”, but India is our “Motherland” because first time immigrants like me were born there. The idea of harping on the deportation angle appears to send a different message – “We hate these colored Indians anyway, so let us use this excuse to throw these unwanted fellows out!” It is an extremely powerful impression that has been etched into the minds and hearts of every Indian – that we are somehow not welcome here just because we are quite prosperous, more particularly in the great State of New Jersey! Is it because we pursued and followed the American Dream and are shining examples of this successfully philosophical dream? I surely hope NOT! We embrace this uniquely American idea that Miracles are Possible and if one can put his or her mind to it, one can achieve anything in America! How can it be wrong to pursue the American Dream? Does one foolish act by a young 18 year old teen just negate everything? How mature is a human being at that age? If both Tyler and Dharun had just been a year younger, we would have been talking a completely different set of circumstances here.
We understand Tyler Clementi’s pain and his family’s pain. Hindus believe that a person’s soul lives on and if Tyler is watching over us or maybe even already amongst us as an already incarnated child, we want his soul to move on in peace. We say to Tyler – “Dharun did not hate you, although he did something incredibly stupid.” We also say to the LGBT community out there – please do not judge Indians with the same standards that you judge everyone else. We are very tolerant and do not have hatred in our hearts! We embrace all cultures, all religions and all lifestyles and we respect each and every individual, no matter how different.
Mr. Kaplan - Please do the right thing….Please DO NOT APPEAL Judge Berman’s sentence and please show that you are not vindictive towards a member of a law abiding, virtually crime free immigrant community that has done so much for New Jersey!
Respectfully,
Ramesh Malayappan
