POLITICS GAME CHANGER
By Priya Kumar
In early November as Hawaiian voters extended President Obama’s stay in the White House by four years, they also elected a new Congresswoman for the sunny island state. Tulsi Gabbard, 31, was an ideal candidate if there ever was one—not only at the age of 21 was she the youngest legislator ever elected to office in the state of Hawaii, but as an army veteran, she served twice in the Middle East under the Hawaii National Guard Unit. She also happens to be the very first Hindu-American to enter Congress. When she is sworn in January she will take the oath over the Bhagavad Gita. A strict vegetarian, Gabbard began to embrace her religion in her teens and has made provisions for it in her life ever since. Despite being blessed with the looks of the next big Bollywood starlet, she’s in fact not South Asian. When we spoke to her she said, “I am a practicing Hindu, but my ethnic heritage is Pacific Islander. I have no Indian/South Asian ethnic connection.” Her father is half-Caucasian, half-Samoan and her mother is Caucasian and a practicing Hindu. Her religion has recently come to the forefront, not only for setting a precedent for Hindu-Americans, but also because her opponent Republican K. Crowley had the audacity to state her religion “was incompatible with the Constitution.” Gabbard made a valid point to The Huffington Post about the situation stating, “It is stunning that some people in Congress would so arrogantly thumb their nose at the Bill of Rights. When I volunteered to put my life on the line in defense of our country, no one asked me what my religion was.” Born in American Samoa, Gabbard moved to Hawaii with her family at the age of two. Thoroughly Hawaiian, she started her email to us with a friendly “Aloha.” However, as a member of Congress, she hopes to utilize her religious leanings to strengthen ties between the US and India. “It is clear that there needs to be a closer working relationship between the United States and India. How can we have a close relationship if decisionmakers in Washington know very little, if 46 SHE CANADA
anything, about the religious beliefs, values, and practices of India’s 800 million Hindus?” she said to The Huffington Post. In fact, other South Asian-Americans already in Washington such as Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R) and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley (R) both converted to Christianity from Hinduism and Sikhism respectively. Although Haley has kept close ties with her Indian roots, Jindal has distanced himself from his ethnic ancestry and has even been called uncomfortable in his own skin. Perhaps the disparity in behaviors is a classic case of bipartisan boundary lines; the Democratic Party is known for its acceptance of diversity including religion, race and, increasingly, sexual orientation. On the contrary, the GOP tends to live up to their acronym “Good, Ol’ Party”. It’s no surprise Obama’s campaign slogan simply read “FORWARD.” It’s because of politicos like Gabbard, who insist their differences be recognized, there will be more diversity in the US Government and, as a result, a better understanding of other races, cultures and religions other than the countless denominations of Christianity that currently reign supreme in Washington.