[Reader-list] Pratap Pandey's Postings

VinitaNYC at aol.com VinitaNYC at aol.com
Sun May 26 23:37:10 IST 2002


Dear PP;

you are funny.
you do write well, but
are you sure your anger is directed at me?
Do you have any idea who you are talking to?
Do you have any idea what you are saying?
I'm not sure where you got your ideas about who I am and what I think:
By calling people to go to an anti-protest as I did (meaning one that tries to drown out the voices of the Hindu Right in a New York city public space, which happens to be the school I attend), I was engaging in a vision: Dialogue and dispute in public space.

By all reports the young (mostly women) did drown out the old (mostly men) "members" of the U.S. Hindu Right.
You make me laugh because did you think I was going to support the protesters or instead
join the anti-protesters?

I don't need to defend myself, or tell you that I know exactly everything or the way things should be or that I have a 100% defined progressive south asian politics in america
(you say I should know).
(Instead this, of course, changes and is flexible). 

you make me laugh because:
maybe you did not think about
why I was going to an (anti)-protest, in support of someone who is speaking out against the very things you hate.

you make me laugh because you reacted without finding out what you were reacting to. 
Aside from the mistake of your assumption:
Do you know anything about progressive U.S. South Asian politics? Or the complexity of the immigrants that live here -- (instead of assuming all kinds of things like a homogeneous class, race and politics.) 
Oh, and I don't necessarily need to go to India to do the "good work," as you say. There's enough shit here to tackle. 
(or haven't you heard?)

fuck off back. (excuse my language y'all). Just had to push back a little. 
but listen, hey, one day, if you stop to listen
we might become friends. (or maybe never at all) 

not yours at all, 
Vinita 








More information about the reader-list mailing list