Edina Asian American Alliance (EAAA): EAAA’s official statement, co-authored by Aditi Jha, Raja Chinnakotla, and Isa Li:
In November 2024, a white man harassed parishioners in the parking lot of the Sri Venkateswara Hindu temple in Edina, aggressively telling them they were unwelcome in the U.S. and using profane white supremacist language.
After verbally attacking them, he mocked an Indian accent and continued to use racist rhetoric. He later posted a video of the incident online with a series of anti-Indian ethnic slurs in the caption. Despite its harmful content, the video still has not been taken down.
While this incident happened here, anti-Indian racism is becoming increasingly common throughout the United States. In online spaces like social media, anti-Indian sentiments are unfortunately normalized and encouraged. Due to the polarizing nature of the 2024 presidential election, divisions have further deteriorated and messages of hatred and white supremacy are now regularly disseminated through podcasts and talk shows.
EAAA was founded to rise above hate. We stand in solidarity with Edina’s Indian community and condemn this hateful behavior in the strongest possible terms. Racism has no place in Edina, or anywhere. Our community and country was built on the hard work of immigrants and diversity plays a key part of Edina’s success. Examples such as this one serve as stark reminders of how racism is not a solved problem and we always have to keep working against it.