Last Sunday, Midtown Manhattan was filled with the cacophony of bass drums and Bollywood beats as thousands of Indian-Americans gathered for the annual New York City India Day parade. It was an exciting opportunity to celebrate Indian heritage, and as thousands of men and women marched down Madison Avenue decked out in saris and sherwanis, there was a deep sense of pride and joy. But this celebration of Indian nationhood and culture also, counterintuitively, also showed some of the best aspects of America as well.
By now, it’s trite to talk about America being a “country of immigrants”. America’s perspective on immigration has always been a bit of a contradictory one. On one hand, we look for immigrants to assimilate into “American culture” (a concept that is admittedly amorphous and hard to define); on the other, a key component of the American ethos is diversity and multiculturalism. The result is a kind of tension as immigrants are simultaneously absorbed into the American fabric while retaining the traits of their homeland, traits that are then themselves mixed in and melded with the broader American culture writ large, ultimately creating a culture and country that is different than what it was before.
Of course, it isn’t always easy. Immigration brings change, and change brings tension. And despite the ways that openness and diversity are celebrated as part of our national identity, Americans’ attitudes towards immigration shift greatly over time (usually in relation to the country’s economic situation). And the effects of immigration – whether it’s big things like sheltering migrants or just adjusting to having to press “2” for English on customer support lines – present hurdles for both new arrivals and native-born citizens.
But as a country, we are uniquely successful at both absorbing and integrating immigrants into our great American experiment. Our nation’s “melting pot” mentality has been pivotal in helping to absorb immigrants in a way that other countries with more hardened, less amenable attitudes, such as France, have struggled with.
As thousands of Indian-Americans marched down the streets of Manhattan, proudly waving Indian flags in one hand and American flags in the other, it was a reminder that this philosophy was paying off. In many other countries, a parade celebrating a foreign nation’s independence day would be seen as an affront; here, it’s a celebration of our diversity and success.
But it wasn’t just the parade itself that showed off the best of America. It was also the crowd, and in particular a group of people who weren’t there to celebrate.
As the parade began, a small group of about a dozen or so protestors showed up. They carried banners decrying occupation of places like Palestine and Kashmir, and some wore Palestinian flags as capes. Their protests were focused on one particular float displaying a model of the Ram Mandir, a controversial Hindu temple that was built on the site of a mosque that had been demolished years earlier. The float had prompted controversy before the parade, with one Muslim group refusing to take part because of it.
As the float rolled down the street, the protestors followed along in the crowd, stopping every block or so to chant, blow airhorns, wave their homemade banners, and pass out satirical versions of the “New York Times”. It was a raucous, and noisy, and at times the protestors and parade participants would pause to trade angry words and more than a few middle fingers.
But this is how free speech works in a democracy. One of America’s perennial struggles has always been how to balance the right to speak between opposing groups. As a country, we haven’t always gotten it right, and whether it’s freedom of speech on social media or protestors at this week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the questions are omnipresent and ever-changing. But we choose to grapple with them, tackling them head on and wrestling until we find a path we (or at least most of us) can agree with. This is a lot more than other countries are willing to do. It’s hard to imagine such a protest during a parade in, say, China or Singapore.
And, for the most part, it worked. One side was able to hold its parade while the other was able to say its piece and make its voice heard. Both sides had a chance to get its message out, and they did so without violence. It was rowdy and at times chaotic, but public speech often is. This is what free speech in a democracy looks like. This is how it should work.
With Election Day just 76 days away, we’re wrapped up in a fierce debate about who we are and where we want to go in the next four years. In times like this, it can be easy to lose track of some of the core ideas that ground us and make America what it is. It’s a bit ironic that an India Day parade, of all places, offered two examples of America at its best – diversity and free protest. I’d say that’s something worth raising a glass of lassi to.