Showbiz / Conforming To Whiteness: #BobbyJindalIsSoWhite

Conforming To Whiteness: #BobbyJindalIsSoWhite

Showbiz Jun 30, 2015

by Rumnique Nannar

We take a look at Bobby Jindal's polarizing presence and his response to what is now considered one of the greatest Twitter reactions of all time: #BobbyJindalIsSoWhite.

By now, you've seen Bobby Jindal's awkward announcement for his presidential candidacy, complete with unenthused children and hidden cameras. Now, Twitter users have put Jindal through the wringer these past few weeks with the #BobbyJindalIsSoWhite hashtag, which trended soon after his announcement.

^{_{Souce: CNN}}

Jindal began his commencement speech with an anecdote about his immigrant parents. "Fourty four years ago, a young couple who had never been on an airplane before left their home on the other side of the world to come to a place called America," he intoned. It was especially galling when, straight after, Jindal railed against new immigrants who undermine America's freedoms, which raised a red flag on social media.

Uniting Indian-Americans, and popular Indian comedians, the #BobbyJindalIsSoWhite hashtag was started by comic Hari Kondabolu, who's been a vocal critic of Jindal since his stint on the FX show Totally Biased. The tweets poked fun at Jindal's speech and his distancing himself from his Indian heritage.

The tweets poked fun at everything including, Jindal's penchant for white portraits!

While others were downright hilarious:

Comedian Aasif Mandvi from The Daily Show called him out on his hypocrisy and created the #Jindian hashtag.

Meanwhile, Kondabolu delivered some of the most scathing jokes that truly sparked a dialogue around Jindal's assimilationist politics.

Jindal is a polarizing figure in the Indian-American community, as he initially made great strides as a Rhodes Scholar and the first Indian governor of Louisiana but soon adopted some very hardliner positions on same-sex marriage, abortion rights and immigrants. Throughout his career, Jindal has had a strong base of Indian donors for his campaigns, many of whom have grown disillusioned with his disassociation from his heritage.

While we can't negate the adverse or racist experiences that Jindal may have experienced, we have to wonder why he's adopted this ambivalent reaction towards his heritage. In his speech, Jindal was adamant that we get rid of hyphenates like "Indian-American" because, in his view, "We are all Americans." Jindal doesn't seem to realize that identity is not static and that our race and heritage are intersections of our identity that we tend to embrace. With his American-first stance, Jindal is standing against the millions of Americans who are proud of their multi-hyphenates.

Piyush became "Bobby" as a teen. That process of choosing a name like "Bobby" after the Brady Bunch brother and Jindal's becoming Christian both involved the hybridity that Jindal virulently opposes. Identity politics involve constant negotiation, but with Jindal, the past is the past — including his heritage — which can cannily be brought up at donation meetings.

Jindal's campaign manager, Timmy Teepal, accused the liberal media of racism. "The liberal media that developed this week was disgusting. Apparently Bobby is brown enough for them," Teepal remarked.

The team soon unveiled Jindal's limited-edition T-shirts with the slogan "Tanned. Rested. Ready," to which Kondabolu responded fast with this jibe.

Meanwhile, the Nixon Foundation accused Jindal of stealing the slogan.

While the jokes almost wrote themselves with Jindal uncompromising in his stances, this is another tragic case of a brown man disavowing his heritage in order to conform to whiteness. The trending hashtag is not "race-baiting" as he sees it but a hilarious yet painful dissection of how Jindal isn't the Indian-American we need in American politics right now.

^{_{Photo Credits:

Featured Image — CNN

Celebrity Tweets — Twitter}}

Rumnique Nannar

Author

Rumnique Nannar is a new journalist with a passion for all things pop culture, film, and art. Rumnique was born in London, with a predilection for devouring English chocolate with her Vogue, ANOKHI, and Glamour magazines in tow. She is currently in her Journalism Masters at UBC. Connect ...

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Conforming To Whiteness: #BobbyJindalIsSoWhite

by Rumnique Nannar

We take a look at Bobby Jindal's polarizing presence and his response to what is now considered one of the greatest Twitter reactions of all time: #BobbyJindalIsSoWhite.

Rumnique Nannar

COMMENTS

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