Scribe raps exclusionary language in Indian American Advisory Council legislation

“Red flags should be obvious as the traditional Indian bride’s wedding lehenga”

An American Indian columnist took exception to the “exclusionary language” used in legislation unanimously approved by the Illinois General Assembly in creating an American Indian Advisory Council.

“Creating a group designed to advise Governor JB Pritzker on policy matters affecting the Indian community in Illinois should not be a cause for concern,” Romana Hussain notes in her Chicago Sun-Times column.

But when an unencumbered text begins creating such a board with discriminatory and false descriptions, the red flags should have been as obvious as the traditional Indian lehenga marriage, writes Hussain, who is also on the Sun Times editorial board.

“Indian” means a person who hails from any country on the Indian subcontinent that is not primarily Islamic in character, including India, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka, and reads the part of the bill signed into law by the ruler over the summer, notes.

Hussain points out, “An Indian is a citizen or resident of India or a person of Indian origin, regardless of his religious background.” “Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka are separate independent states and their citizens do not want to be misidentified as Indians.”

“To conflate India with select parts of South Asia is misleading and insulting enough,” Hussain writes. “But then…