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THREAD. The idea that some (but not all!) Indians are really "white" is not new. Unfortunately, this claim has a very ugly history of and association with -- wait for it -- racism, both in India and the U.S., which Nikki Haley, of all people, should know. Some background: https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1298329226123390979
2. The history of this idea goes back to something called the "Aryan Invasion Theory" (AIT). According to this theory, Aryans invaded the northern part of the Indian subcontinent around 1200 B.C, driving the Indian race (Dravidians) to the South
3. The evolution of this theory is complicated -- it's promulgated by the East India Co. in the 19th century, then somehow gets coopted by Hitler. The upshot is that (surprise!) that northern Indians are descended from Aryans https://www.thoughtco.com/who-were-the-aryans-hitlers-mythology-171328
4. Recently, DNA studies have debunked the AIT myth -- though the debate rages on (in India at least) and there are other studies claiming that it is substantiated https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2019/09/06/new-study-debunks-aryan-invasion-theory.html
5. Why do Indians care? Well, given its history of colonialism, a claim to "whiteness" was important in a country once defined by racial stratification -- something that has since extended to color stratification, as I explain here https://www.huffpost.com/entry/miss-america-and-the-indian-beauty-myth_b_3941524
6. Making this claim in the U.S., however, is especially strange since the U.S. Supreme Court literally considered this exact question in a 1923 case called U.S. v Bhagat Singh Thind. Thind was a naturalized U.S. citizen from India -- but his citizenship was challenged
7. Thind, who was an Indian Sikh from Punjab (same area as Nikki's family), had a legal defense: He said that he was "Aryan," which meant that he was white, and therefore qualified for citizenship under the rule allowing it for "any free white person"
8. The Court rejected Thind's argument, stating that whatever the merits of his "Aryan" descent, he was not "white" within the meaning of U.S. law. This Teen Vogue article is a good explainer on this fascinating case https://www.teenvogue.com/story/bhagat-singh-thind-supreme-court-whiteness-citizenship
9. Sadly, as a result of the Court's decision, hundreds of *other* Americans of Indian descent were DEnaturalized -- and prevented from owning land (many left the U.S.). This was followed by immigration restrictions creating racial quotas and excluding Asians
10. It was not until the Immigration and Nationality Acts of 1952 and 1965 that these racial quotas and nationality restrictions were lifted -- allowing Indians, like Nikki's parents, to immigrate to the United States
11. So Nikki can identify as whatever she wants -- it's her business. But in doing so, she should at the very least acknowledge that in doing so, she is invoking a trope that helped create the very racism -- in her parents homeland and her own -- that she now denies even exists.
