The Curious Case of Rachel Paulose.
"Kerala-born Rachel Kunjummen Paulose is the 40th U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota and the first Asian American ever named to that post."
(from an India-West article linked from the link above).
Also from the India-West article:
"Her maternal grandparents, Daniel and Sara Kunjummen, immigrated to the U.S. from Kerala in the 1960s, and raised their family in Minnesota. Her paternal grandparents, both deceased, also lived in Kerala."
From a Powerline Blog article on Rachel Paulose:
"When I spoke with her before she met with Senator Dayton on Wednesday, I told Rachel that if things didn't work out for her in the legal profession, she could always go into modelling. Rachel laughed and recalled her grandparents, who had fled persecution by the Communists in East Asia to come as immigrants to the United States with seven dollars in their pockets. She said she thought it would take a miracle for her confirmation to occur this session, but that her family (devout Christians) believes in miracle."
The FreeP has this:
"Her grandfather, a government official in India, came to the United States to study theology in the 1960s.
"I have a hard time talking about this without becoming emotional," Paulose says, her eyes suddenly welling with tears. Her family, she explains, "came here hoping for the American dream at a time when the Communists were basically sweeping across Southeast Asia."
-----------------
IMO, "fleeing Communist persecution in Kerala in the 1960s" is hogwash. A government official fleeing Communist persecution in Kerala in the 1960s is even more hogwash.
To recall events in Kerala from those days, see, e.g., this
Wikipedia on EMS Namboodiripad:
"India achieved its independence in 1947 and the state of Kerala was formed in 1956 . In 1957 , EMS led the Communists to victory in the first election for the state government, making him the first communist leader anywhere to head a popularly elected government.On5th April 1957 he was appointed as the first chief minister of Kerala.He soon introduced the Land Reform Ordinance and Education Bill . His government was dismissed in 1959 by the Central Government, which invoked the controversial Article 356 of the Indian Constitution . He became the Chief Minister of Kerala for the second time in 1967 . This time his tenure lasted for two years.
EMS was the Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly from 1960 to 1964 and again from 1970 to 1977 . He influenced Kerala society by his vision on decentralization of power and resources ( People's Plan ) and the Kerala Literacy Movement."
--------
Mid-60s was when my parents moved from the US to Kerala.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Yes, fleeing from communist persecution in India is certainly hogwash - people just trying to enter US by taking advantage of the antipathy for communism.
BTW, here is another such case (without going into the merits of deportation) - Fleeing from religious violence in India in the early 90s????? Hindus?????
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4617826.html
I lived in Shillong during the early-mid 1980s and was subject to persecution for my religion and language. In fact, the state has been essentially ethnically cleansed of Bengalis in the subsequent years. However, I never felt that the persecution was so pervasive that I had to seek asylum in a different country. We just moved out and went to a state that was more accepting of our background.
Anyone who claims persection in India as the cause for seeking asylum in the US or Europe is just trying the play the system.
Hey, I'm the one who originally wrote the diary on Paulose. Thanks for the link and for your interesting background.
Think she's creating a "communist-fleeing" family mythology to boost her "street cred" (or would that be "'burb cred"?) with the right-wingers?
They certainly seem to love her devotion to Federalist Society principles and her Bible-beating:
http://powerlineblog.com/archives/016994.php
Family history of anti-communism just sweetens the batter.
I think she is repeating what her parents told her.
Her grandparents asked for asylum in the U.S, as they were apparently fleeing communism in Kerala. Would Ms. Paulose be kind enough to grant me asylum too? I'm from West Bengal.
Ironically Ms. Paulose is supposed to be a immigration hawk; the kind which is tough on asylum cheats and liars.
LOL!
Post a Comment