UK Today News: Indian-Americans In New Jersey Get Apology From Time Magazine Regarding ‘My Own Private India’ By Joel Stein
The sentiments of the Indian community especially in New Jersey were hurt deeply because of a column written offending the community at large.The column was written by Joel Stein a journalist of the prestigious ‘Time’ Magazine. The magazine has reportedly apologized the community for the same.
Joel Stein Picture Credits Time Magazine
The apology came after the outrage by the Indians who demanded apology from the Magazine.
The Magazine said,
“We sincerely regret that any of our readers were upset by Joel Stein’s recent humour column ‘My Own Private India.’ It was in no way intended to cause offence.”
Joel Stein wrote the column ‘My Own Private India’ who put his personal views and observations about the Indians in his home town Edison in New Jersey.
He said,”I truly feel stomach-sick that I hurt so many people.” He added, “Eventually, there were enough Indians in Edison to change the culture. At which point my towns folk started calling the new Edisonians ‘dot heads’. One kid I knew in high school drove down an Indian-dense street yelling for its residents to ‘go home to India’.”
The column that was published on July 5 mentioned, “For a while, we assumed all Indians were geniuses. Then, in the 1980s, the doctors and engineers brought over their merchant cousins, and we were no longer were so sure about the genius thing. In the 1990s, the not-as-brilliant merchants brought their even-less-bright cousins, and we started to understand why India is so damn poor.”
Feeling bad that his article hurt so many Indians, Stein said, “I was trying to explain how, as someone who believes that immigration has enriched American life and my hometown in particular, I was shocked that I could feel a tiny bit uncomfortable with my changing town when I went to visit it. If we could understand that reaction, we’d be better equipped to debate people on the other side of the immigration issue.”
