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Sunak’s wealth and right-wing politics mean he is far from representative, British Asians say
London
CNN
—
Orange and pink fireworks colored the skies over south London on Monday, as members of the local South Asian community celebrated Diwali.
This year, the holiday aligned with Rishi Sunak, 42, becoming Britain’s first prime minister of Indian descent, as Hindus like him celebrated the festival of lights.
Sunak’s rise to power has split opinion among South Asians in the UK. Some believe his historic appointment is a moment of pride and sign of social progress in Britain, while others point to his immense wealth, privately educated background and adoption of hard right-wing policies.
Evidence of this wide range of views was clear when CNN spoke to South Asians in the London neighborhood of Tooting – home to a bustling migrant community within the British capital.
Flamboyant fabric shops, places of worship and food vendors offering syrupy Indian desserts alongside fresh fruits and vegetables line the streets, with family-run convenience stores dotting nearly every corner.
The London suburb is steeped in the richly diverse heritage of its residents, where people of color comprise over half of the population, according to the 2011 UK census.
The same data found that nearly 30% of people in Tooting identify as “Asian” or “Asian British,” and after English, Urdu and Gujarati are among the most common languages spoken.
“I think it’s a good thing and especially auspicious on the day of Diwali, for him to be appointed,” Raj Singh, a Punjabi-Sikh member of the Khalsa Centre, a local Sikh temple, told CNN.
“It is a sign of progress, but only at the top. Rishi Sunak comes from a very privileged background,” the 58-year-old solicitor said, his glasses tucked behind his bright orange turban.
Singh said he believed Sunak’s ascent is a sign that only South Asian politicians with immense social and economic privilege can “break the glass ceiling.”
Earlier this year, Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty, the daughter of an Indian billionaire, appeared on the Sunday Times Rich List of the UK’s 250 wealthiest people. The newspaper estimated their joint net worth at £730 million ($826 million).
Sunak received a flurry of congratulations from other politicians of South Asian heritage, including former Conservative cabinet minister Sajid Javid and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who is in the opposition Labour Party. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also sent Sunak “special Diwali wishes,” calling him a “bridge” between the two countries.
Outside the capital, Sanjay Chandarana, who heads a Hindu temple in Southampton, southern England, co-founded by Sunak’s grandparents in 1971, told CNN that Sunak’s elevation was “a Barack Obama moment” for the UK, in a nod to America’s first Black president.
“I think it’s something of importance to the South Asian community … seeing that he is the first South Asian prime minister of the UK. It’s something that I think all South Asians should be proud of,” Irtaza Nasir, a 24-year-old restaurant director in Tooting, said. “I never thought this day would come.”
Anil Shah, a garrulous 75-year-old Hindu Gujarati shopkeeper, said Sunak’s leadership “proves that we have Indians who are clever enough to do the job.”
However, Nilufar Ahmed, a psychologist at the University of Bristol in western England, said Sunak’s leadership is “nuanced and complex,” and cautioned the limits of racial representation at the highest rungs of British politics.
“I think that there was something quite lovely about his appointment coming alongside Diwali. I think that was really meaningful for many South Asians to have that,” she said.
“But I also think that it’s too simplistic to see Rishi Sunak as symbolic of a South Asian community in the UK. This is a man that has had lots of privilege and so he isn’t as representative as some of the discourse around representation is presenting him to be.”
Ahmed said she remains cynical about comparisons between Sunak and Obama’s premiership, citing the absence of a mandate from the general population in Britain.
Sunak was appointed prime minister, replacing Liz Truss, after his lone remaining rival Penny Mordaunt dropped out of the Conservative Party leadership contest. He is the third British prime minister in seven weeks, with his premiership sparking calls from across the political spectrum for a general election.
“Rishi Sunak was not even elected by his own party, let alone by the UK population. And so there will be a resistance in the population against Sunak being appointed. He will not be seen as somebody who perhaps represents the membership or the voters of the Conservative Party,” Ahmed commented.
She added that his premiership could “play out in quite worrying ways,” citing a viral video in which a Conservative party member launched racist criticism against Sunak and told LBC Radio that he “doesn’t love England” and “isn’t even British in most people’s opinion.”
Sunak was born in the coastal city of Southampton and is a British citizen.
For Lubeena Yar, a 56-year-old entrepreneur based in Tooting, Sunak’s appointment “was circumstantial.”
“Conservatives are Conservatives. I don’t think it really matters what color their skin is,” the 56-year-old reflected as she sat on a plush pink chair inside her Pakistani clothes store.
Yar said she did not align with Sunak’s Conservative Party values, but added that she identified with the sacrifices his parents made in migrating to the UK from East Africa in the 1960s.
She recalled that when her parents first came from Pakistan to the UK in the same period, her father was turned away from homeowning opportunities because racist neighbors would say they did not want a person of color living on their street.
“I’ve grown up in that era. And, you know, I remember what my life was or what my parents had to sacrifice so we could get a good education, get our degrees and do what we wanted to. Our parents weren’t from that privileged background, but they made it for us.”
Sunak has inherited myriad challenges as the UK’s new leader, namely the task of steering the country out of a grueling cost-of-living crisis and calming financial markets in the wake of Truss’ short and chaotic premiership.
However, Sunak is also partially responsible for the economic turmoil suffocating the UK.
While serving as the UK’s former finance minister under Boris Johnson’s government, he installed measures worth £400 billion ($452 billion) aimed at strengthening the economy, including a generous furlough scheme, business loans and concessions on eating in restaurants. But that stimulus came at a sizeable cost and left the government struggling to find savings.
He has pledged to bring “stability and unity” to the Conservatives by appealing to multiple factions of the party, which has seen deepening divisions since the 2016 Brexit vote.
He has historically voted to support stronger enforcement of immigration and asylum rules and opposed measures to prevent climate change and promote equality and human rights. Like his predecessor, Sunak promised a tough approach to illegal immigration and vowed to expand the government’s controversial Rwanda immigration policy.
Further north, in the Scottish city of Glasgow, Fariya Sharif, said she failed to see Sunak’s leadership as a sign of equality.
“Rishi Sunak’s appointment makes me feel deflated and devastated at the chaos of the Tories continuing to badly rule our country, especially another PM that wasn’t elected by everyday people,” the 30-year-old Muslim Pakistani chef said by email.
“I don’t see this as racial progress. I see this as tokenism from the Tories trying to push their agenda on wealthier immigrant communities … it encourages an environment where brown people are only accepted if they follow the same harsh rules on immigration and economics.”
Sunak’s premiership has sparked a debate among many British Asians that lies at the intersection of race, class and politics.
The new prime minister has entered Downing Street as one of its richest ever occupants, yet he has the task of leading a country where marginalized communities are falling deeper into poverty in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
During his time as chancellor of the exchequer, Sunak was criticized for proposing a negligible 1% pay rise to staff for Britain’s National Health Service, despite the institution crumbling under government cuts and staff shortages.
Rina Patel, a Hindu Gujarati doctor who works at St. Helier Hospital in south London, said she has “really mixed views” about Sunak’s premiership.
“In terms of representing people, I don’t feel that he can represent the poorest people in our society. And as a doctor in the NHS, I see some of the poorest people in our society that are struggling,” the 43-year-old said against the backdrop of a local jeweler.
“In terms of the fact that he is intelligent, has a finance background, I think he will do better than what’s gone before, but that’s no compliment,” Patel added. “I don’t think he represents me.”
“What I see in Rishi Sunak’s, first and foremost … is an incredibly privileged person with enormous wealth and with access to education and resources that the majority of South Asians in the UK do not have. And so, I have far more in common with working-class White politicians than I do with Rishi Sunak,” Ahmed mused.
Sunak may be the first British prime minister with Indian heritage, but his race alone does not qualify him to represent the diverse and nuanced views of the 4.2 million people with South Asian heritage who live in Britain today.
“Seeing someone brown becoming prime minister is something to be proud of, and yet it is also possible to vehemently disagree with the politics or the individual,” Jasvir Singh, a barrister and co-founder of South Asian Heritage Month, wrote by email.
“Politics is much, much more than just about color and race.”
Jay Leno apologizes for joking about Asians, advocacy group says
Media Action Network for Asian Americans has mounted a yearslong campaign regarding the former “Tonight Show” host’s history of racist remarks, according to a press release it shared Thursday with CNN.
The apology comes as violence has increased against Asian and Asian Americans in the US. Six Asian women were among those killed in shootings at three Atlanta-area spas last week, and a surge in reports of Ant-Asian hate has sounded a nationwide alarm.
MANAA said it’s been complaining for almost 15 years about Leno’s comments. The group said that, in a recent Zoom call between Leno, MANAA leader Guy Aoki, President Rob Chan and Vice President Lawrence Lim, the comedian expressed his remorse.
“At the time I did those jokes, I genuinely thought them to be harmless,” they quoted Leno as saying in a joint press release with MANAA . “I was making fun of our enemy North Korea, and like most jokes, there was a ring of truth to them.”
CNN has reached out to both reps for Leno and MANAA for further comment.
In 2002 Leno was documented as having made jokes about Chinese people and Koreans eating dogs and the comments continued over the years.
According to the MANAA press release “The day after the first of those jokes in February 2002, then Asian Pacific American Media Coalition (APAMC, of which MANAA is a founding member) chair Karen Narasaki and the Executive Director of Korean American Coalition had a conference call with Leno, who insisted some Koreans ate dogs.”
The jokes became fodder for discussion in 2019 after Gabrielle Union’s controversial exit as a judge from “America’s Got Talent” in which she detailed what she said was a toxic work environment, including Leno allegedly making Asian staffers uncomfortable by making such a joke. MANAA cited Variety’s reporting on the allegation in their news release.
“Whenever we received a complaint, there would be two sides to the discussion: Either ‘We need to deal with this’ or ‘Screw ’em if they can’t take a joke,'” Leno is quoted in the press release as saying. “Too many times I sided with the latter even when in my heart I knew it was wrong.”
“I do not consider this particular case to be another example of cancel culture but a legitimate wrong that was done on my part. MANAA has been very gracious in accepting my apology,” he said.
“I hope that the Asian American community will be able to accept it as well, and I hope I can live up to their expectations in the future.”
Confronting Violence Against Asians, Biden Says That ‘We Cannot Be Complicit’
“I know they feel like there’s a black hole in their chest they’re being sucked into, and things will never get better,” he said. “But our prayers are with you. And I assure you, the one you lost will always be with you, always be with you.”
The president’s ability to project empathy toward those who are suffering stands in contrast to Mr. Trump, who struggled to convey a sense of somber support at such moments. (His grinning, thumbs-up photograph at a hospital after a mass shooting in El Paso generated a backlash of angry commentary about his visit.) During a campaign played out against a backdrop of grief because of the pandemic, Mr. Biden often accused his opponent of having no real empathy for those who were suffering.
Mr. Biden also accused his predecessor of embracing and fomenting the very racial strife that has roiled the country and inspired acts of violence like the one that erupted across Atlanta on Tuesday. It was Mr. Trump’s reaction to racist violence in 2017 in Charlottesville, Va. — and especially his comment about “good people” among the white supremacist rioters — that motivated him to run for president, Mr. Biden has often said.
Moments of mourning after mass shootings can be a special challenge for any president. They require the ability to comfort those who are grieving the loss of their loved ones while at the same time offering optimism and hope to a nation that is often badly shaken by the horror of what has just happened.
In 2012, after 20 young children were killed by a gunman in Newtown, Conn., President Barack Obama concluded remarks at a memorial service by slowly reading their names, one by one, while some in the audience wept.
Three years later, after finishing his eulogy for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who was gunned down along with eight others during a Bible study in a Charleston, S.C., church, Mr. Obama sang some of “Amazing Grace,” bringing the church to its feet and touching the heart of the country.
Much like that moment, Mr. Biden now faces not only a gruesome killing spree, but an episode wrapped in racial tensions. And like during Mr. Obama’s tenure, the words of empathy will be followed by tough questions about what the federal government can or should do to prevent the tragic scene from being repeated again.
Sabrina Tavernise contributed reporting from Atlanta.
Atlanta shootings: Unsettling questions surround the motive behind three Atlanta-area spa shootings as Asians in the US face increased hate
“I’m hiding right now,” the woman said. “Please come.”
What would unfold was not a robbery, but one of three deadly shootings at Atlanta-area spas — one in Cherokee County and two across the street from one another within the city. Eight people were killed and another was wounded in the attacks that police believe were perpetrated by the same suspect.
Six of those killed were Asian women, and South Korea’s foreign ministry has said four were of Korean ethnicity.
Robert Long, 21, was arrested in connection with the attacks 150 miles south of the city, and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said he was on his way to Florida to potentially take the lives of more victims.
The suspect told police he believed he had a sex addiction and that he saw the spas as “a temptation … that he wanted to eliminate,” Cherokee County sheriff’s Capt. Jay Baker said at Wednesday’s news conference.
However, Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant said it is still too early to know a motive behind the devastating violence.
And for Asians and Asian Americans facing increased incidents of hate in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the attacks and questions around their motivations only exacerbate existing fears.
“When we learned about this last night, we were horrified and the sinking feeling that I had was this had to be a crime related to AAPI hate. As we have learned details of the event unfold, I still believe that this is a racially-motivated crime,” Georgia State House Representative Be Nguyen told CNN on Wednesday. “In this particular case, where the victims were Asian women, we see the intersections of racism, xenophobia, and gender-based violence.”
The way their race intersects with their gender makes Asian and Asian American women uniquely vulnerable to violence, said Sung Yeon Choimorrow, executive director of the non-profit advocacy group National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum.
In addition to being fetishized and sexualized, Asian women — often working in the service sector — are subject to the same racism that affects Asian Americans more broadly, experts said.
“While we’re relieved the suspect was quickly apprehended, we’re certainly not at peace as this attack still points to an escalating threat many in the Asian American community feel today,” Margaret Huang, President & CEO of Southern Poverty Law Center, said in a statement Wednesday.
Eight people killed across 30 miles
Shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday, deputies were called to Young’s Asian Massage between the Georgia cities of Woodstock and Acworth after reports of a shooting, Cherokee County sheriff’s officials said.
That shooting left four people dead — two Asian and two White — and one person injured, Baker said. Two of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene, while the other two died at a hospital.
Killed were Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33, of Acworth; Paul Andre Michels, 54, of Atlanta; Xiaojie Yan, 49, of Kennesaw; and Daoyou Feng, 44.
The injured survivor was Elcias R. Hernandez-Ortiz, 30, of Acworth, authorities said.
About an hour later and 30 miles away, Atlanta police responded to what was described as a robbery at the Gold Massage Spa on Piedmont Road in Atlanta. Police said they found three people dead.
While there, police received another call of shots fired across the street at the Aroma Therapy Spa, where they found one person dead, Bryant said.
The names of the four victims have not yet been released by authorities.
Investigators found surveillance video of a suspect near the Cherokee County scene and published images on social media.
Long’s family saw the images, contacted authorities and helped identify him, Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds said Wednesday.
“(The family members) are very distraught, and they were very helpful in this apprehension,” Reynolds said.
‘It would be appropriate’ if the suspect was charged with a hate crime, mayor says
Long has claimed responsibility for the shootings in Cherokee County and in Atlanta, the Cherokee County sheriff’s office said.
He is facing four counts of murder and a charge of aggravated assault, according to the county sheriff’s office. More charges are possible.
Bottoms added that she thought “it would be appropriate” if Long was charged with a hate crime.
“Sex” is a hate crime category under Georgia’s new law. If Long was targeting women out of hatred for them or scapegoating them for his own problems, it could potentially be a hate crime. The shootings don’t have to be racially motivated to constitute a hate crime in Georgia.
A law enforcement source told CNN on Wednesday that Long was recently kicked out of the house by his family due to his sexual addiction, which, the source said, included frequently spending hours watching pornography online.
CNN’s Jason Hanna, Amanda Watts, Audrey Ash, Casey Tolan, Nicole Chavez, Artemis Moshtaghian, Raja Razek, Jamiel Lynch, Steve Almasy and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.