Jayapal, a 55-years-old first-ever-Indian-American Congresswoman, represents Seattle in the US House of Representatives.
Chennai-born woman, Jayapal posted a collection of five audio messages on Twitter on Thursday. In all such audio messages, the male caller is heard threatening her with dire consequences and asked to go back to her country--India. A few portions of these audios have been redacted due to abusive content.
Taking to Twitter, the Indian-American Congresswoman said, “Typically, political figures don't show their vulnerability. I chose to do so here because we cannot accept violence as our new norm. We also cannot accept the racism and sexism that underlies and propels so much of this violence."
"A man full of racism and anger showed up at my home with a loaded gun. I'm sharing this because we can't be silent in the face of rising violence. These aren't isolated incidents. From the Big Lie to Jan 6 to an armed man at my door, too much is at stake," she further tweeted.
A man with a pistol threatened the Congresswoman's house in Seattle. The man, identified by police as Brett Forsell (49), was later arrested.
On September 1, another Indian-American man in California had to deal with a barrage of anti-Hindu insults and racist slurs in yet another case of hate crime. On August 21, according to US media sources, Krishnan Jayaraman was verbally attacked by Tejinder Singh, a Californian, in the Taco Bell in Fremont.
Jayaraman had claimed that the experience had scared him, and the discovery that the offender was also Indian made him feel even worse. He told NBC Bay Area that, while he was angry, he was also terrified that the man might get overly aggressive and turn on him.
Prior to this, four Indian-American women on August 26 were racially abused by a Mexican-American woman in Texas who hurled abusive racial comments at them. The Texas woman said that they are "ruining America" and should "go back to India". This incident took place in a parking lot in Dallas, Texas. The woman, identified as Esmeralda Upton, was later arrested.
(With PTI inputs)
