By Hannan Adely / My Central Jersey
In his native India, Shaheen Khateeb said he was treated like an outsider, harassed at school and called “Turk” because of his Muslim faith. Hearing about cases of mob violence against Muslims, he decided to move to the U.S. in 1979.
Today, Khateeb, who lives in Washington Township, fears the tensions he left behind are bubbling up in Indian immigrant communities, including in New Jersey, where, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 420,000 people of Indian ancestry live.
In recent months, controversies have ensued over a divisive display at the India Day Parade in Edison, a scuttled speaking engagement in Ridgewood by a Hindu nationalist leader and a Teaneck committee resolution condemned by Hindu groups.
Khateeb said the tensions have strained friendships.
“We visited each other’s homes. We shared dinners. But not anymore,”he said. “What’s happening in India is happening here nowadays because social media news travels really very fast.”
This story was originally published in mycentraljersey.com . Read the full story here