Sudhir Avirneni says first time he’s been targeted since coming to US 20 years ago.
An Indian American family living in Town and Country, Missouri, feel they have been racially targeted and profiled after finding the name of president-elect Donald Trump scratched on their car.
Sudhir Avirneni was shaken after finding his 2008 model Honda Accord purposely scratched by some miscreants who wrote ‘Trump’ using a sharp object.
Avirneni was quoted by stltoday.com saying, “Is this a random vandalism act, or am I targeted because I am a minority? My family and most of my neighbors are very concerned about the racial undertones of the message.”
For someone like Avirneni, an Indian immigrant who watched the elections closely listening to the derogatory remarks on immigrants made by Trump, it was natural to feel that the criminals who scratched his car wanted to intimidate him for being an outsider.
Since Trump won the presidential election last week, there has been numerous reports of racial targeting and attacks on immigrants and the concerns of Avirneni in this backdrop is quite valid.
Avirneni said the incident happened sometime in between 9 am Saturday and 7 am Sunday. The scratch was first noticed on the passenger door of the vehicle by his wife who was planning to take her older son to a music class.
Avirneni said this is the first time ever since he first landed in the US 20-years back that he has felt targeted. He added that close to 30 – 40% of the people living in the new subdivision of Highway 141 and Clayton Road are immigrants, largely of Indian and Chinese origin.
Avirneni’s wife was quoted saying by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch saying that she never expected something so admonishing to happen to her and family.
“I never thought it would happen here, and yeah, it happened,” she said.
Their 8-year-old son’s reply was: “Oh, somebody supports Trump.”
“My hope is that if more people know about this cowardly act, more people will be vigilant and come together condemning this kind of behavior,” Avirneni said. “Hopefully, the election mania will die down soon, and people once again can live together and respect one another.”
Avirneni’s wife who was appalled by incident asked him to buy a gun but he was quoted saying “and we’re not gun people.”
Other than police confirming a few items being taken from some unlocked vehicles, there has been no other reports of any vandalism in the area.
“Hopefully, it’s just teenage crap,” he said. “I keep telling myself that. But we’re still shaken.”