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DENVER, COLORADO, May 6, 2004: The Denver Post received more than 60 letters as of Friday afternoon from angry Hindu Americans protesting the column by Pius Kamau (see HPI, May 1) reports Ved Chaudhary (“source” above). One letter read, “Like Pius Kamau, I am a first-generation immigrant to America. As I read his sweeping putdown of Hindus and Indian immigrants, I experienced a tremendous sense of sadness and anger. Sadness that someone whose ethnic heritage would undoubtedly have made him sensitive to caricaturing and viciously stereotyping a people has succumbed to the same age-old cycle of prejudice. Anger that the premier newspaper in a major metropolitan area would run such a slanderous column without exercising any editorial discretion.” Another reads, “I am shocked and appalled by this article. This is the kind of ignorance that I deal with every day, ever since I became a student in Colorado. Yes, I too have had bad experiences with Christians and Muslims, but I know that a few bad apples don’t represent the whole culture. Such utter ignorance of a religion, and to have the courage to actually write it with no understanding, is quite remarkable.”



Dr. Kamau responded, “The above letters show I touched on a subject important to many Indians. In some ways, I think my take on Hinduism is dated – from living with Indians in Kenya 40 years ago. Most of them were keen adherents to their faith; in the same way, we too were of our own, Christianity. Living side-by-side with Indians in Mombasa and Nairobi, we were always a rung below them, which brought the thought of a lower caste – the untouchables, to mind. Unfortunately, the feeling I had when confronted by new Indian arrivals here was quite similar to what I felt then. The feeling of being a new untouchable erupted in my mind, which led me to explain a shallow comportment on their part with a deeper religious explanation. Naturally I regret causing pain to good people with my unguarded illustrations and words.”

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