Barve tells grandfather’s story to denounce immigrant-bashing
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Version 0 of 1. Amid the furor over refugees set off by last week’s attacks in Paris, Maryland state Del. Kumar Barve has made his Indian immigrant grandfather’s struggle with racism and xenophobia part of his own story in the Democratic primary for Maryland’s 8th congressional district. [Congressional hopefuls differ more in style than in substance] In a new ad, Barve recounts Shankar Gokhale’s fight to retain his U.S. citizenship in the 1920s. “I try to put myself in his shoes,” said Barve (D-Montgomery), who was the first Indian American elected to a state legislature in the country when he first won his seat in 1990. The story could have special resonance as elected officials at every level debate whether to welcome Syrian refugees into their jurisdictions. At Tuesday night’s candidate forum in Bethesda, Barve said Republicans have shamelessly exploited fears of terrorism in the wake of the Paris attacks. [Quiz: On Syrian refugees, which politicians said what?] “Larry Hogan, Donald Trump and much of the Republican Party have decided to score cheap political points at the expense of some of the most put-upon people on the planet,” he said. |