Pakistanis Are Silicon Valley's Largest Foreign-Born Muslim Group
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COMMUNITY MAY 20, 2016 – PAKISTAN LINK – P17 Community Link VOL. 26/21 Friday, May 20, 2016 12 Sha’ban 1437 H PAGE 19 PAGEPAGE 21egum PAGEPAGE 27 17 For news, PCB Optimistic Lena Khan Gets Suriya & Dev updated round Best Film Director Anand’s Doomed Amir Will Get the clock, visit Award in LA Love Affair Visa for UK www.PakistanLink.com Pakistanis Are Silicon Valley’s Largest Foreign-Born Muslim Group n By Riaz Haq Pakistani actor Kumail Nanjiani playing a Pak- CA istan-born Silicon Valley techie. akistani-Americans are the largest for- Silicon Valley’s biggest tech start-up in- eign-born Muslim group in San Fran- cubator Y-Combinator is now headed by Qa- cisco Bay Area that includes Silicon sar Younis, a Pakistani-American born in the PValley, according to a 2013 study. The study Pakistani village of Lala Musa. Younis was a was commissioned by the One Nation Bay keynote speaker at the Pakistani-American Area Project, a civic engagement program entrepreneurs conference called OPEN Forum supported by Silicon Valley Community 2016 just last month in Silicon Valley. Foundation, The San Francisco Foundation, Marin Community Foundation and Asian Islamophobia in America Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy. Muslim-Americans, including Pakistani- Overall, US-born Muslims make up the Americans are thriving in the high-tech Bay largest percentage at 34% of all Muslims in the Area in spite of the recent rise of Islamophobia Bay Area, followed by 14% born in Pakistan, in parts of America where the Republican pre- 11% in Afghanistan, 10% in India, 3% in Egypt sumptive nominee Donald Trump appears to and 2% each in Iran, Jordan, Palestine and Ye- be popular. men. Ashar Aziz, Founder of FireEye Osman Rashid, Founder of Chegg But Muslim-Americans cannot afford to ignore the gathering clouds of Islamophobia Silicon Valley Pakistani-American by and xenophobia in America. The economic dif- the Numbers ficulties of many Americans are being exploit- There are 35,000 Pakistani-born Mus- ed by demagogues like Donald Trump who is lim in San Francisco Bay Area, or 14% of the blaming foreigners for their unemployment 250,000 Muslims who call the Bay Area home, and underemployment which can be traced to according to the study. Bay Area Muslim com- the twin forces of automation and globaliza- munity constitutes 3.5 percent of the area’s to- tion. tal population and is one of the highest con- First, it was the manufacturing jobs that centrations of Muslims in the country. moved offshore in the 1980s and 1990s in an ef- As of 2013, South Asian Muslims, includ- fort to save costs and fatten profits. This forced ing Pakistanis, have the highest income levels, many factory workers to move into service with nearly half (49%) of them having a house- industries and take pay cuts. Now the service hold income above $100,000. In comparison, sector jobs are also falling prey to outsourcing those groups with the lowest proportion of and automation. household incomes above $100,000 were His- Instead of addressing the root causes of panic Muslims (15%), Afghans (10%), and Af- economic difficulties faced by many Ameri- rican American Muslims (10%). Qasar Younis, Head of YCombinator Raghib Husain, Founder of Cavium cans, Republican front-runner Donald Trump’s The Bay Area Muslim community is very presidential primary campaign is blaming im- diverse in terms of race and ethnicity: migrants and Muslims for their problems. This South Asians (30%) is giving rise to forces of racism, bigotry, xeno- Arabs (23%) phobia and Islamophobia in America. Afghans (17%), African Americans (9%) Summary Asian/Pacific Islanders (7%) It’s in the best interest of Silicon Valley Whites (6%) entrepreneurs, particularly Muslim-American Iranians (2%) entrepreneurs, to pay attention to the eco- Based on the survey findings, the majority nomic difficulties being faced by many Ameri- of Muslims live in the following three counties: cans who are losing jobs to automation and Alameda (37%) globalization. These difficulties lie at the root Santa Clara (27%), of growing xenophobia and Islamophobia. and Contra Costa (12%) The Muslim-American entrepreneurs need to think of new ways to help people who are Pakistani-American Techies being left behind. They need to explore ideas Thousands of Pakistan-born techies are such as helping build new skills needed for the working at Apple, Cisco, Google, Intel, Oracle new economy, promote policy discussions on Rehan Jalil, Founder of Elastica Naveed Sherwani, Founder of Open Silicon and hundreds of other high-tech companies the idea of universal basic income and expan- from small start-ups to large Fortune 500 cor- bankers, accountants and lawyers make up a tion of Pakistani Entrepreneurs (OPEN) has sion of safety nets and development of new porations. Pakistani-Americans are contrib- growing ecosystem in Silicon Valley. Dozens become a de facto platform for networking gig economy to ensure full employment with uting to what Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew of Pakistani-American founded start-ups have among Pakistani-American entrepreneurs in decent incomes. Failure to do so could lead to McAfee describe as “The Second Machine Age” been funded by top venture capital firms. Many Silicon Valley. significant social strife and cause irreparable in a recent book with the same title. such companies have either been acquired in Pakistani-American techies presence in damage to the very foundations of the system Pakistani-American entrepreneurs, advis- M&A deals or gone public by offering shares Silicon Valley has been recognized in a popular that has brought great wealth and power to ers, mentors, venture capitalists, investment for sale at major stock exchanges. Organiza- HBO show called “Silicon Valley” that stars a America as a nation. www.PakistanLink.com P18 – PAKISTAN LINK – MAY 20, 2016 COMMUNITY In Election Year, More Immigrants Applying for US Citizenship n By Anthony Advincula side the United States, have immu- nity from deportation, and get a job Houston, TX: For more than a de- with the federal government. cade, Jannette Diep has been help- Tien Nguyen, a recently natu- ing immigrants apply for US citizen- ralized US citizen from Vietnam, ship. But as the presidential election said that becoming a US citizen al- looms, Diep, the executive director lows him to travel without worrying of Boat People SOS, says she has whether he will be let back into the seen a rising interest among immi- country. grants in becoming US citizens. “I can now travel freely as an More immigrants are going to American,” said Nguyen. community centers like hers to find Research has shown that be- out how to become a US citizen, she coming a US citizen is also associ- said. ated with an increase in income. The number of people applying Since he became a US citizen for US citizenship shows an uptick this year, Mateo Amador Perez says during presidential election years, he got a better-paying job and the according to the US Citizenship and quality of life of his family has im- Immigration Services (USCIS). proved. “They come to our office or call “I decided to naturalize be- us,” said Diep. “They’re very eager to cause I knew it will bring more op- get their citizenship.” portunities for me and my family,” The good news, she said, is that said Amador Perez, who is origi- applying for citizenship is easier nally from Mexico. “I wanted them than people think. The naturalization process, from the time an applicant sends in the application to an interview with an immigration officer and to have the best future that I could Boat People SOS and other taking part in the actual swearing-in ceremony, can take five to six months. That means that many immigrants are applying to g i v e .” organizations across Houston are become US citizens now, in the hope that they will be able to register to vote in time for November Texas State Representative providing free and low-cost services Gene Wu, who spoke at the press to help Houstonians take the step versity, said that between January they’d become part of the life of the Some newly naturalized citi- briefing, echoed the sentiments of to become US citizens. The effort and April, her organization alone city,” Juarez said at an ethnic media zens say being able to exercise their the newly naturalized citizens. Forty is part of the New Americans Cam- has helped more than 1,000 immi- briefing in Houston. “They’d be- right to vote is the main factor that percent of the people in his district paign, a national, nonpartisan cam- grants file their citizenship applica- come more active [in civic engage- prompted them to apply for citizen- are foreign-born, he said. paign now in its fifth year that helps tions. “We’re hoping that more and ment].” ship. “My family, myself—we are legal permanent residents take the more will apply,” she said. The naturalization process, “Now that I can vote, this gives all immigrants ourselves,” Wu said. step to become citizens. There are about 8.8 million im- from the time an applicant sends in me a sense of ownership to be part “Being an American citizen is some- The organizations host free migrants in the United States eli- the application to an interview with of this country,” said Ming Shen, an thing that I have been very proud workshops where legal permanent gible for naturalization, and about an immigration officer and taking immigrant from Taiwan who be- of .” residents can get help with their ap- 350,000 live in the Houston area, part in the actual swearing-in cer- came a US citizen earlier this year.