Pakistani American

A Pakistani American is any citizen or resident of the United States who has Pakistani heritage.

History in the United States

Muslim immigrants from areas that are now part of Pakistan have been migrating to America and first entered the United States as early as the eighteenth century, working in agriculture, logging, and mining in the western states of California, Oregon, and Washington. The passage of the Luce-Celler Act of 1946 allowed these immigrants to acquire U.S. citizenship through naturalization. Between 1947 and 1965, only 2,500 Pakistani immigrants entered the United States; most of them were students who chose to settle in the United States after graduating from American universities, according to reports from the Immigration and Naturalization Service. This marked the beginning of a distinct 'Pakistani' community in America. However after President Lyndon Johnson signed the INS Act of 1965 into law, eliminating per-country immigration quotas and introducing immigration on the basis of professional experience and education, the number of Pakistanis immigrating to USA increased dramatically.^[4] By 1990, the U.S. Census bureau indicated that there were about 100,000 Pakistani Americans in the United States and by 2005 their population had grown to 210,000.^[5]

Ethnic classification

Pakistani Americans are currently classified as Asian Americans by the United States Census Bureau.^[6] Ethnically, they fit the definition of South Asian American, which also includes Indian Americans, Bangladeshi Americans and Sri Lankan Americans. Pakistan has ethnic and cultural diversity in its nation.^[7]

Demographic

The U.S. Census Bureau in 2000 estimated that there were 229,306 U.S. citizens of Pakistani descent living in the United States.^[8] The Census Bureau, however, excluded those living in institutions, college dormitories, and other group quarters. Some studies estimate the size of the Pakistani community to be much higher and in 2005 the Pakistan embassies research stated that there were more than 700,000 people.^[9][10] The gap in numbers maybe a result of the U.S. census to count only Pakistani immigrants and exclude those born in the United States between Pakistani parents and those that are second/third generation Americans of Pakistani descent.^[11] Pakistan is the 12th highest ranked source country for immigration into the United States.^[12]

The top 10 states of residence for the foreign-born of Pakistani origin, 2006 and top 10 metro areas of residence for the foreign-born of Pakistani origin, 2006. Out of a total population of 271,428:^[13]

50% of Pakistani Americans have origins in the Punjab Province of Pakistan. About 30% are Muhajirs and the rest are made up of other ethnic Groups from Pakistan, including Pashtuns, Balochis and Sindhis.^[7] The most systematic study of the demography of Pakistanis in America is found in Prof. Adil Najam's book 'Portrait of a Giving Community', which estimates a total of around 500,000^[14]

Pakistanis in the United States hold the largest concentrations in the states of New York and New Jersey, each with around 100,000 Pakistani-Americans.^[15]

• New York City Metropolitan Area

The Greater New York City Combined Statistical Area, consisting of New York City, Long Island, and adjacent areas within New York State, as well as nearby areas within the states of New Jersey (extending to Trenton), Connecticut (extending to Bridgeport), and including Pike County, Pennsylvania, comprises by far the largest Pakistani American population of any metropolitan area in the United States, receiving the highest legal permanent resident Pakistani immigrant population.^[3] Within the greater metropolitan area, New York City itself hosts the largest concentration of Pakistani Americans of any U.S. city proper, with a population of approximately 34,000 as of the United States 2000 Census, primarily in the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn.^[16] These numbers made Pakistani Americans the fifth largest Asian American group in New York City. As of 2006, this number had increased to 50,000 people of Pakistani descent said to be living in New York City. This figure additionally rises to 70,000 when illegal immigrants are also included.^[17]

• California

It is estimated the number of Pakistanis in California number around 150,000.^[18] Large numbers also reside in Southern California in particular Los Angeles and the County areas of Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura and San Diego.^[18] Silicon Valley is home to large numbers of highly educated and skilled workers from Pakistan most of whom work in the information technology sector. From 1990 - 2000 the Pakistani population in the San Francisco Bay Area increased to 6,119 which is an increase of 76%^[19]

• Chicago

Estimates suggest that there are 100,000 Pakistanis residing in Chicago and in particular Devon Avenue which has a street named after the founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah.^[4][20]

• Texas

There is a large Pakistani population in Texas with estimates numbered around 100,000. They are concentrated around three main cities of Austin, Dallas and Houston (in the three County areas of Harris, Spring and Fort Bend). They are also located in Plano, Richardson, Carrollton, Arlington, Irving, Hurst, Euless, and Bedford.^[21]

The community is made up of professionals involved in medicine, I.T., engineering, large businesses involved in textiles, manufacturing, real estate, management and also smaller ones such as travel agencies, motels, restaurants, convenience stores and gas stations.^[22]

• Other cities

Newly arrived Pakistani immigrants mostly settle in cities like New York City, Los Angeles, Houston, Boston, San Diego, San Francisco, Chicago, and Detroit;^[23] like other South Asians, Pakistanis settle in major urban areas, particularly the East and West coast cities of New York City and Los Angeles. The Pakistani American community are also prevalent in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New England, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Seattle, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Wisconsin and Utah.^{[14][18][22][24]}

Towns and cities in America with the highest percentage of Pakistani ancestry include Madison Park, NJ (5.7%),^[25] Herricks, NY (4.1% ),^[25] Boonton, NJ (4%),^[26] Lincolnia, VA (3%),^[27] Stafford, TX (2%)^[28] and Avenel, NJ (2%).^[29]

For a more comprehensive list: Epodunk - Pakistani Ancestry by place and Cities with the most residents born in Pakistan

Religion

Most Pakistani Americans are Muslims. Religion figures prominently in the life of Pakistani American families, and the Quran and the teachings of Muhammad serve as the guidelines that Pakistani Muslims are supposed to follow throughout their lives.^[7]

The majority of Pakistanis belong to the Sunni sect of Islam, although there is a significant representation of the Shi'ite sect. In smaller towns in America where there may not be mosques within easy access, Pakistani Americans make trips to attend the nearest one on major religious holidays and occasions.^[7] Pakistani Americans worship at mosques alongside other Muslims who might trace their ancestry to all parts of the Islamic world; there are generally no separate Pakistani American mosques.

Pakistani Americans also participate in and contribute to the larger Islamic community, which includes Arab Americans, Iranian American, Turkish American, African Americans, Indonesian Americans, South Asian Americans, and many more ethnic backgrounds in America.^[7] They are part of the larger community's efforts to educate the country about the ideals of Islam and the teachings of Mohammed. Pakistani Americans have played important roles in the association the Muslim Students of America (MSA), which caters to the needs of Islamic students across the United States.^[7]

Although most Pakistani Americans are Muslims, there are also Hindus, Christians, and Zoroastrians within the community. Pakistani Christians, like Asian Christians, worship at churches all over the country and share in the religious life of the dominant Christian culture in America. Pakistani Hindus mainly share in the religious life of numerous Hindus (including large number of American converts) from various nationalities. Pakistani Hindus are mostly from Karachi. In recent times, Pakistani Zoroastrians (called Parsis) have come to the United States mainly from the cities of Lahore and Karachi. Apart from fellow Pakistanis, they also congregate with fellow Zoroastrian co-religionists from Iran.

Culture

Like the terms "Asian American" or "South Asian American", the term "Pakistani American" is also an umbrella label applying to a variety of views, values, lifestyles, and appearances. Although Pakistani Americans retain a high ethnic identity, they are known to assimilate into American culture while at the same time keeping the culture of their ancestors. Pakistani Americans are known to assimilate more easily than many other immigrant groups because they have fewer language barriers (English is widely spoken in Pakistan among professional classes), more educational credentials (immigrants are disproportionately well-educated among Pakistanis), and come from a similarly diverse, relatively tolerant, and multi-ethnic society. Pakistani Americans are well-represented in the fields of medicine, engineering, finance and information technology. Pakistani Americans have brought Pakistani cuisine to the United States, and Pakistani cuisine has been established as one of the most popular cuisines in the country with hundreds of Pakistani restaurants in each major city and several similar eateries in smaller cities and towns. There are many Pakistani markets and stores in United States. Some of the largest Pakistani markets are in New York City, Central New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Houston

Music

Languages

Pakistani Americans often retain their native languages. Some examples of these are Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi and Pashto.^[13] As English is an officially recognized language in Pakistan and is taught in schools throughout the country many immigrants coming to the United States generally have a good grasp of the English language.^[30]

Economics and Education

The Pakistani American community today lives in a comfortable middle-class, upper-middle-class^[7][30] and wealthy-class lifestyles.^[31] Many Pakistani Americans follow the residence pattern set by others that when they increase their wealth, they are able to own their own businesses; including restaurants, groceries, clothing and appliance stores, newspaper booths, and travel agencies. It is common to include members of the extended and immediate family in the business. The Pakistani American community is said to be philanthropic, research shows that in the year 2002 the community gave close to US$ 1 Billion in philanthropic activities (including value of volunteered time).^[15] An increasing number of Pakistani Americans work in the medical field. The Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America, APPNA, has been meeting in various locations across the United States for the past 30 years. There are more than 15,000 doctors practicing medicine in America who are from Pakistani decent.^[32] Pakistan is the fourth highest source of IMG doctors in the U.S.^[33] and they are chiefly concentrated in New York, California, Florida, New Jersey and Illinois.^[34] They are also the fourth highest source of foreign dentists licensed in the United States.^[35] US congressmen and congresswomen have lauded the contributions of Pakistani medical professionals to the country's healthcare system.^[36] Pakistani Americans tend to follow the residence pattern set by other Americans, in that they move to more affluent suburbs as their prosperity and wealth increases. Members of the community believe in the symbolic importance of owning homes; accordingly, Pakistani Americans tend to save money and make other monetary sacrifices earlier on in order to purchase their own homes as soon as possible.^[7] Members of the family and the larger community tend to take care of each other, and to assist in times of economic need. Hence, it would be more common to turn to a community member for economic assistance rather than to a government agency. This leads to relatively low levels of Pakistani-Americans on welfare and public assistance.^[7] According to the 2000 census the mean household income in the United States in 2002 was $57,852 annually, whereas for Asian households, which includes Pakistanis this was $70,047.^[4] A separate study conducted by the American Community Survey in 2005, showed the mean and median incomes for Pakistani male full time workers were US$59,310 and US$42,718 - respectively compared to the average male American full time workers' mean and median incomes of US$56,724 and US$41,965 - respectively.^[11] There is also incidence of poverty in the Pakistani community and in particular around new immigrants that migrated from less privileged backgrounds. These migrants tend to take low-paying jobs involving manual or unskilled labor and tend to live in large cities where such jobs are readily available and in particular New York, where as of the 2000 census, poverty rates for Pakistanis in relation to the total New York population were higher overall, with 9,417 (28%) of Pakistanis living in poverty, which is greater than the general New York City poverty rate of 21%.^[37] Compared with those immigrants that arrived from 1965 who were either professionals or students and considered to be middle and upper class backgrounds, the newer migrants tended to be worse off economically.^[38]

Compared to other heritage groups in the United States, Pakistani Americans tend to be better educated with 87.4% being at least a high school graduate^[39] and 60.9% holding a bachelors degree or higher professional degree.^[11][30] Dr. Mehtab Karim, at the Pew Research Center found that 29.5% of Pakistanis completed four years of college, 22.5% completed a Master’s in a professional degree while 1.6% acquired a doctorate degree, this compared with the American national average of 17.6%, 20% and 1.1% respectively.^[40]

Labour

The table shows the areas of work that Pakistanis are employed in and compares the persons that are born in the U.S., those born in Pakistan and those that are American nationals:^[41]

Note: FB1 = Pakistani born, NB2 = American born Pakistani and NB3 = All American nationals

The New York Times estimated that there were 109,300 workers born in Pakistan in all occupations in the US in 2007. With the top 10 occupations in ascending order being; sales-related, managers and administrators, drivers and transportation workers, doctors, accountants and other financial specialists, computer software developers, scientists and quantitative analysts, engineers and architects, clerical and administrative staff, and teachers.^[42]

Politics

Muslim immigrants were actively involved in the struggle for residence and citizenship rights in America. Since the second wave of immigration in 1965, the Pakistani American community has not been politically inclined, but this is now changing, with the community starting to contribute funds to their candidates of choice in both parties, and running for elected office in districts with large Pakistani American populations. In recent times, Pakistani American candidates have run for the state senate in districts of such city boroughs as Brooklyn, New York. Because the community is geographically dispersed, the formation of influential voting blocs has not generally been possible, making it difficult to for the community to make an impact on politics in this particular way. However, there are increasing efforts on the part of community leaders to ensure voter registration and involvement. Pakistani Americans have tended to vote Republicans due to the shared ideology of conservatism and the perceived notion that Republican Presidents and leaders are more pro-Pakistani than Democrats. This was evident that during the 2000 Presidential Election, as Pakistani Americans voted in overwhelming numbers for Republican candidate George W. Bush. However, that trend reversed itself in 2004, after George W. Bush's first term in office. His policies alienated Muslims at home and abroad, and Pakistanis were no exception. When George W. Bush was up for re-election, Pakistani Americans voted for Democratic candidate John Kerry.

Relations with Pakistan

Pakistani Americans have always maintained a strong bond with their homeland. Several leading airlines fly from US to Pakistan, carrying with them thousands of Pakistanis who mostly go home to visit family and relatives. First-generation Pakistani Americans travel to their native land at least once every two years, and tens of thousands of airplane tickets are sold to Pakistani Americans every year. They often take back to Pakistan gifts of money, food, and clothing for friends and family, and donate generously to charities. Second-generation Pakistani Americans tend to travel to Pakistan less frequently as ties become attenuated. The relationship of the U.S. and Pakistani governments in the past few decades has been very close, and the Pakistani American community has benefited from this American interest in the country of their origin. Pakistani TV channels have found their way into homes of the diaspora worldwide.

Several paid TV channels are available for viewing; Pakistani TV serials, reality TV shows and political talk shows are popular among the expatriates. Those without access to TV can also watch the same channels on the internet. Pakistani Americans maintain a deep interest in the society and politics of Pakistan. Funds are raised by the community in America for the different political parties and groups in Pakistan. From all the Pakistani diaspora, Pakistani Americans raised the largest number of funds to help Pakistan due to the 2005 Pakistan earthquake. Tensions among ethnic groups like the Sindhis, Punjabis, Pashtuns or Baluchis, in Pakistan are not reflected in interaction between these subgroups in America. Several international airlines serve the growing Pakistani community in US connecting major US airports to those in Pakistan.

The Pakistani community in the United States also remits the largest share of any Pakistani diaspora community since 2002/03, surpassing those from Saudi Arabia which from 2000/01 remittances were $309.9 million and increased to $1.25 billion by 2007/08 and during the same period remittances from the USA increased from $73.3 million to $1.72 billion.^[11]

Discrimination

Incidents of deliberate overt discrimination against Pakistani Americans are few and far in-between. Any discrimination that exists is primarily in the form of being not so welcoming in social interactions, compared to the treatment received, say, by northern European immigrants who are more readily embraced. Though rare, explicit discrimination is not unknown in the Pakistani American community. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, there have been scattered incidents of Pakistani Americans having been mistaken targets for hate crimes and Pakistani Americans have to go under more security checks in places such as airports due to their Muslim background. Up to 45,000 of the estimated 100,000-strong Pakistani community in New York were deported or left voluntarily following the attacks, according to reports.^[43] One of the notable case of discrimination is that of Hasan a Princeton University graduate who was deported to Pakistan even when no case was proved against him. His American wife Rose along with two children is fighting for justice in Islamabad.^[44]

In American popular culture

• Nadia Ali is a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter, prominent in electronic dance music and the voice of the single "Rapture", which dominated dance charts across the world.

• Babu Bhatt was a Pakistani immigrant who was befriended by Jerry Seinfeld in the popular 90s sitcom Seinfeld. He was portrayed somewhat stereotypically as a Pakistani immigrant trying to open his own restaurant.

• Nadia Yassir, a character on the hit TV show 24, portraying a fictional Pakistani American.^[45]

• In fall 2007, CW aired a comedy show titled Aliens in America. The show is about a Wisconsin family that hosts a Pakistani exchange student.^[46]

• Faran Tahir is a Pakistani American actor that has appeared in hit American television shows such as 24, Monk, and Justice. He also starred as the captain in the 2009 Star Trek movie.^[47]

Events

• Flag raising events^[48]

Pakistan day flag raising events are held throughout USA around August 14, 2011

• Pakistan Independence Day Parade

The event is held every year around August 14 (the date Pakistan was established in 1947) in New York City.

• APPNA Conference

This event is organized every year by APPNA (Association of Pakistani Physicians in North America). The conference attracts hundreds of Pakistani American physicians and their families from all over North America.

APPNA's doctors have also volunteered their time and services for a free health care event taking place throughout June 2010.^[49]

• Pakistan Independence Day Festival of Battery Park

This is the largest gathering of Pakistani Americans in United States which was founded by a very well connected, political and social activist, Khalid Ali.

• In April 2010 the USA Cricket Association signed a deal with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to host games in America. The PCB said that they had reached an agreement with the USA Cricket Association and anticipated games starting in 2010.^[50] This is also due to the large Pakistani American and Pakistani expatriate community residing in the United States.

Notable Pakistani Americans

See also

• Pakistanis
• Little Pakistan
• Asian Americans
• Pakistani Canadian
• Pakistanis in the Caribbean
• Pakistani diaspora
• Americans in Pakistan
• List of Pakistani Americans
• Islam in the United States

External links

Organizations and associations

Many associations tend to be headquartered in big cities with significant Pakistani American populations^[7] like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. There are a large number of Pakistani institutions in America, they are diverse, complex and dynamic. They are located in many regions throughout the United States and include Civic, Cultural, Student and Professional institutions.^[51]

• Association of Pakistani Physicians (APP)
• Association of Pakistani Physicians in South Florida (APPSF)
• U.S. - Pakistan Business Council (USPBC)
• Council of Pakistan American Affairs (COPAA)
• PakUSonline
• Pakistani American Association of North America (PAANA)
• Pakistani American Business Association (PABA)
• Association of Pakistani Professionals (aopp)
• Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee (PAKPAC)
• Pakistan Association Of New York Capital District (PakNYCap)

Assocation Of Professional Women( AOPW )

For a more comprehensive list visit PakUSonline

Other

• The Asian Population: 2000 page 8
• Pakistani Americans on PakUSonline.com
• Negotiating the Pakistani American Identity Pre and Post 9-11
• Census Profile: New York City’s Pakistani American Population
• Urdu Times: Pakistani-American Urdu newspaper
• Pakistan Link: US-based Pakistani newspaper
• The Saturday Post

Notes and references