During fall term, Indo-Pak held a Diwali-Eid show to display the many talents of South Asians at Andover. At the event, the audience was asked to participate in an Indian accent contest. At the time, I was appalled. I had assumed everyone understood how degrading that was to not only Indians, but South Asians in general. Allow me to explain. I grew up in Pakistan, a country that shares both a border and a similar culture with India. An Indian accent contest would offend a Pakistani because Indians and Pakistanis speak almost the same language, so we pronounce English words the same way. Therefore, when you do an Indian accent, you are essentially doing a Pakistani accent as well. Not only did a large number of audience members volunteer, but also people around me encouraged me to compete. I did not. Since then, I have discussed this with my close friends to try to gain some perspective and have come to the conclusion that I am right as a South Asian to be offended by the accent contest. The contest was offensive because it belittles the effort South Asians have channeled towards learning the English language. As a kid growing up in Pakistan, my father forced me to speak English at home to practice and perfect the language as much as I could. I spent the first thirteen years of my life doing exactly that. In a country where most people do not understand a word of English, I had no reason to do so. However, once I got to the states, I was teased about my English. Though I used all the right subjects and tenses, it just wasn’t good enough. People made fun of how I pronounced my Vs as Ws and sounded the Hs in “thirty” or “thermometer”. Though I tried so hard to master this language, I was still treated as a stranger. To make fun of Indian accents or any accents for that matter, is to isolate immigrants and tell them their efforts to assimilate into the American culture are spent in vain. It also insinuates that no matter what they do, they will still be recognized as immigrants because of their accents. In other words, “You’re only as American as your accent.” The act of mocking accents makes a generalization about South Asians, but people don’t view making such generalizations about South Asians as offensive as generalizing other races. Specifically, approaching an African American and saying, “Yo, homie, where the bathroom at?” would generally be taken as offensive. If we can understand the offensiveness in that, then why don’t we comprehend that imitating Apu from “The Simpsons” to describe a South Asian working at a local store is offensive as well? Fatima Liaqat is a two-year Lower from Salt Lake City, UT.
