Where are all the South Asians in NoVa?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PPs, I watch these chat boards closely, but I seldom post except in re a very few particular private-school, Alexandria City, and college matters. I may not have much of value to add on the many other (often important) issues that people discuss in this forum. I am posting now merely to ask that people please try to be sensitive and aware about the ethnic and racial issues that have been raised in this thread. "South Asian" is a legitimate term, with a legitimate meaning. It means India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, the IAS Sikkim, and the immediately adjacent and associated ethnic and culturally-associated people. It does not mean Indonesia, or Viet-Nam. It does not mean Southern China. Please do think before posting comments and/or inquiries which demean one-sixth of our planet.

I have no idea what you think is demeaning. If someone wants to know where the Indians are congregating, just ask where the Indians live. Saying "South Asian" is meaningless to a lot of people. I don't see ethnic/racial issues to that. If someone is offended b/c someone else lumped in their kind of south asian with some other kind of south asian, well, that's their problem IMO.

I haven't seen a single demeaning post on this thread yet. As far as South Asia being a vague term, four people have taken a stab at naming the countries in that geographic area and all of them came up with a different list od countries. Even the poster above left out Afghanistan.

[Anonymous]

Our elementary is 25% Asian, with about 10% of that being East or SE Asian and 15% beiing South Asian. Just over Fairfax County line in Loudoun.

[Anonymous]

Plenty of south Asians along the Dulles Corridor - ie Herndon/Reston area - try Floris Elem/ Mcnair and Coates. Plenty in western Fairfax schools such as Powell/Greenbriar West etc. (If you attend a Odyssey of the Minds or Math club orientation for the latter two schools - it is almost all south Asians.)

[Anonymous]

My sister is a teacher at Coates and I know that she has had a number of South Asian kids in her classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:East Asians are mostly in Montgomery county. There are a lot of south Asians in Arlington.

Not true for North Arlington. I find that I'm pretty much the only S. Asian (often the only minority) in most places in North Arlington.

[Anonymous]

NP South Asian here. I did not find any of the posts on here demeaning or racist. Just maybe a little ignorant, but honestly the use of South Asian has really only popped up in the past 15-20 years and is mostly used by that group to self identify, so we shouldn't expect that everyone is going to know what it refers too.

Sure, I think there are one or two people responding on this thread that are being jerks, but whatever, just ignore them, and listen to the several other people that have posted helpful things.

[Anonymous]

Parts of Falls Church and Vienna

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:East Asians are mostly in Montgomery county. There are a lot of south Asians in Arlington.

Not true for North Arlington. I find that I'm pretty much the only S. Asian (often the only minority) in most places in North Arlington.

There are not many minorities of any type in N. Arlington anymore!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:East Asians are mostly in Montgomery county. There are a lot of south Asians in Arlington.

Not true for North Arlington. I find that I'm pretty much the only S. Asian (often the only minority) in most places in North Arlington.

There are not many minorities of any type in N. Arlington anymore!

True. Anyone care to tell me why? It isn't a money thing either because all of the freakishly wealthy Indian family's i know (i.e. those buying houses in the 2-4 million range) all bought in bethesda/potomac.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, those groups are Southeast Asian, not South Asian. It's a well-defined term, not a vague one.

Clearly it isn't since several pps seem confused by what it means. It may be "well-defined" to the people defining themselves, but I for one didn't know precisely what it meant. You should consider the possibility that it's not nearly as well-defined as you think. Or, maybe the question is better asked in a forum where there's already a baseline understanding of what it means.

[Anonymous]

Well op, these responses make it very clear to me why you want to be sure your school has some south Asians.

Central Arlington has just about everything under the sun. TJ middle school and long branch don't have large SA communities, but there are certainly some. More Muslim than Hindu, if that matters..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, those groups are Southeast Asian, not South Asian. It's a well-defined term, not a vague one.

Clearly it isn't since several pps seem confused by what it means. It may be "well-defined" to the people defining themselves, but I for one didn't know precisely what it meant. You should consider the possibility that it's not nearly as well-defined as you think. Or, maybe the question is better asked in a forum where there's already a baseline understanding of what it means.

I'm Indian and I agree with this. The term 'south asian' or 'asian' which encompasses all of the peoples from the subcontinent is more widespread in the UK.

In america, outside of the south asian community, most don't know it (though a place like DC, i would imagine having a more knowledgeable/cosmopolitan populous would know it).

I do like using the term south asian better than 'indian' because in the US I've found lots of overlap and decent bonds between Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, Bangledeshis, etc so when I want to describe all groups its easier and more accurate to say 'south asian' than to say 'indian'.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, those groups are Southeast Asian, not South Asian. It's a well-defined term, not a vague one.

Clearly it isn't since several pps seem confused by what it means. It may be "well-defined" to the people defining themselves, but I for one didn't know precisely what it meant. You should consider the possibility that it's not nearly as well-defined as you think. Or, maybe the question is better asked in a forum where there's already a baseline understanding of what it means.

There is a difference between 'well defined' and 'well known'. It is a well defined term in that there is a list of generally accepted countries for the group. Just because other posters don't know the list doesn't mean it isn't defined.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:East Asians are mostly in Montgomery county. There are a lot of south Asians in Arlington.

Not true for North Arlington. I find that I'm pretty much the only S. Asian (often the only minority) in most places in North Arlington.

There are not many minorities of any type in N. Arlington anymore!

True. Anyone care to tell me why? It isn't a money thing either because all of the freakishly wealthy Indian family's i know (i.e. those buying houses in the 2-4 million range) all bought in bethesda/potomac.

The freakishly wealthy Indian families want both large houses and large yards - you can't get those in N. Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:East Asians are mostly in Montgomery county. There are a lot of south Asians in Arlington.

Not true for North Arlington. I find that I'm pretty much the only S. Asian (often the only minority) in most places in North Arlington.

There are not many minorities of any type in N. Arlington anymore!

True. Anyone care to tell me why? It isn't a money thing either because all of the freakishly wealthy Indian family's i know (i.e. those buying houses in the 2-4 million range) all bought in bethesda/potomac.

Arlington is prime SWPL territory. Wealthy South Asians - who may be more likely to work in the suburbs and have little need to travel into DC - look at Arlington and just see mostly small houses and small yards. Proximity to Metro is not so important to them.

South Arlington is home to a different demographic. The South Asians there are lower-income immigrants who've lived there for decades now. The cardiologist from India lives in Potomac or McLean; the cab-driver from Bangladesh lives in South Arlington.