Over in , in this post, omorka introduces us to Minnesota state Senate candidate Rae Hart Anderson, and her nasty sermon “concession” email after she lost the race to Satveer Chaudhary, an Indian-American, and a practicing Hindu. (You can read the text of her “concession” here.) An editorial in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune has this to say:
‘Saving’ Sen. Chaudhary: Not necessary and not nice
How would Jesus vent his frustration after losing an election? Never mind. It’s a trick question.
Jesus doesn’t seek worldly power and sees all humans as beloved by God. But some of his followers have difficulty, well, following.
After state Senate candidate Rae Hart Anderson lost to Sen. Satveer Chaudhary, she had a suggestion for the first state senator of Asian-Indian descent in the country:
Accept Jesus as your savior.
Not since former Republican legislator Arlon Lindner boycotted a State Capitol visit by the Dalai Lama has a Christian made his or her beliefs look so petty.
Spare me the hate mail. I’m cool with the Lord. But I still love that old sing-along, “They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love.” It doesn’t say “by our self-righteousness.”
Chaudhary, 37, was elected to represent Senate District 50 in the northern suburbs in 2000 after four years in the House, and is a practicing Hindu.
Minnesota is not just for Lutherans anymore. We have Hindus and Jews, Muslims and more. What we don’t have, it seems, is enough “Minnesota Nice.”Minnesota Nice” is annoying, but it keeps us from killing each other. It makes us behave in public and helps us stay civil, even when we lose. We could use some “Minnesota Nice.”It is my sincere wish that you’ll get to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior,” Republican Anderson told DFLer Chaudhary in an e-mail after being defeated by the Hindu from Fridley. “Jesus is the way, the truth … this is very important, Satveer … Take time to get acquainted with this power-filled Jesus … You could be a temple of the living God …”Could be?” Okey-dokey.
There was more, including a suggestion that Jesus can forgive Chaudhary’s sins. This stuff is fine in Sunday school but out of line in politics, where we are supposed to debate not how many angels dance on pinheads, but how many poor kids we can put on health care.
“I have no problem with people wearing their religion on their sleeve,” Chaudhary says. “That’s their choice. But before they lecture me, they should think of a Bible verse: ‘Judge not, lest ye be judged.’ When I got her letter, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. This is exactly the type of politics the voters have rejected.”
Chaudhary has faced death threats, hate mail and ignorance so deep it almost seems funny. Last spring, when he wore traditional Indian dress to the Senate, including a formal Nehru jacket, a Republican senator wearing a hideous hick tie asked that Chaudhary be ejected for not wearing a tie.
“HE was wearing a tie, but whether he was following any sense of decorum was debatable,” Chaudhary jokes.
Chaudhary, you see, has a sense of humor. He needs one.
He was born in Minneapolis to parents from India. His mother was a lab worker, his father a veterinarian. He is a graduate of St. Olaf College and got a law degree from the University of Minnesota. If you judge by his hobbies, he’s Minnesotan to the core: fisherman, hunter, cabin owner.
This fall, he bagged a whitetail deer near his cabin, and also shot a redhead duck, which he plans to display in his office at the Capitol.
“I like to be called ‘Swede,’ ” he jokes. “But if there’s one place I find my soul, it’s at my cabin on the lake. That’s where I find my clarity.”
Sounds like Swede to me.
Still, he empathizes with other minorities, and with Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, who was asked by a cable-TV moron last week to “prove” he isn’t “working with our enemies.”
Chaudhary blames “culture warriors,” red-blooded American Christians who think they can defend their culture by slamming everyone else’s.
“That’s a PC [politically correct] term, ‘culture warriors,’ ” Chaudhary says. “I think it’s just another term for racism. Fortunately, Minnesotans have caught on to that and are more interested in the things elections are supposed to be about — education and health care and the outdoors. The bottom line is: I won.”
Maybe, in the end, Rae Hart Anderson and other culture warriors should take comfort from Chaudhary’s religion:
“We accept her and others like her into the family of God,” Chaudhary says. “It is the Hindu way to seek understanding and to do it with respect and kindness.”
We’ll know they are Hindus by their love! I wish I could say the same for my religion.
Nick Coleman • ncoleman@startribune.com
I particularly appreciated this part:
Chaudhary blames “culture warriors,” red-blooded American Christians who think they can defend their culture by slamming everyone else’s.
“That’s a PC [politically correct] term, ‘culture warriors,’ ” Chaudhary says. “I think it’s just another term for racism. Fortunately, Minnesotans have caught on to that and are more interested in the things elections are supposed to be about — education and health care and the outdoors. The bottom line is: I won.”
Yes, that’s pretty close. It’s racism, and fascism. And it is intent on destroying what this nation has stood for since its very inception.
An Aging Trans Woman 
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