[Music]
little Fargo it is good to be back this
is my eighth trip to Fargo North Dakota
the first one taking place in a month
not named December and it feels like a
foreign country to me you know what’s
fascinating is the first time I came to
Fargo my perception of this city this
area was shaped by popular culture and
Hollywood and comedy and I remember one
of the first things I did I went to your
tourism center and I got a picture by
the wood chipper because that’s what I
thought Fargo was about then I learned
pretty quickly that was a stereotype you
guys didn’t like and the more I
frequented Fargo it was incredible how
quickly not just stereotypes shattered
but perceptions also crumbled and the
way I started to view not just this area
but the people here changed you start
from seeing maybe a group of people at
the outset the more you come and the
more you get to know them and talk to
them you find out through these complex
characters they’re not caricatures
they’re well rounded and a group of
people quickly turns into a collection
of individuals the reason I bring that
up because I’m first-generation my
parents came here from India we know
what stereotypes are like I was born in
New Jersey grew up playing sports going
to school doing things American kids do
but now stereotypes were unavoidable and
I remember the one stereotype that I
hated growing up and that my community
as an Indian American that we hated
growing up was that of a poo from The
Simpsons
I love the Simpsons but that was such a
caricature that was our version of Marge
Gunderson and you rebel against that and
your community doesn’t like it you try
your best to change it and then I
discovered as I got older there is
a little bit of hypocrisy that exists
and as minority subcultures is an
indian-american part of that community
one of the things that I found out was
that you know we kind of have our own
stereotypes our community and maybe we
don’t like the app who stereotype but we
put stereotypes on our own people my own
community telling us what we can and
can’t do who we can be and can’t be and
great example that is you know as an
Indian American growing up one of the
things that you’re expected to do the
expectation the cultural expectation is
you go into a profession that’s gonna
make you money and you’re gonna be
successful and your parents can brag
about you know the number one profession
on that list is is doctor now I know
you’re thinking it’s a hell of a
stereotype to have it’s pretty good
stereotype people have asked me are you
a doctor
if I’m feeling like it’s sometimes a lie
and I’ll say yes because shoot it’s not
the worst thing but if you’re not a
doctor and you’re not a lawyer or an
engineer an IT guy or in software then
sometimes you’re a disappointment and
that’s not a label put on us by society
at large that’s a label that we put on
ourselves and so if you have somebody
from your community somebody from my
community who wants to be a painter a
writer a musician a sportscaster your
first line of resistance is met by the
people who look like you and I remember
this from growing up I was very
fortunate in that my parents were
incredibly supportive of what I wanted
to do my dad has a degree in accounting
and he’s been a professional
photographers whole life so he can’t
tell me not to pursue my dream but the
reaction that I got from my community
growing up and I knew what I wanted to
do when I was 14 15 years old was you
can’t do this you can’t be a
sportscaster well why not it’s what I
love I love sports I grew up watching it
I loved studying it I liked the numbers
I liked the nuance why can’t I do this
I’ll work really hard that’s not what we
do
if you do that you’re not Indian enough
you’re too white and Here I am thinking
to myself well nobody else has told me
this why is my community not even giving
me the chance to get to that threshold
where I could fail or succeed it’s funny
how it works and I started questioning
you know why can’t they just be
supportive am i stepping out of bounds
is there some arbitrary nth degree of
ethnic authenticity I need to be meat to
be considered a member of a group and
not just a group my group and so I got
frustrated and then I decided to do it
anyway and one day I ended up at ESPN
and I got that job and you know it’s
funny all of a sudden I represented and
I struggled with that for some time
because I said hey I’m the same guy that
you said couldn’t do it because of what
I look like and where I was from and
where my parents were from and because
they have accents but I I got to the
finish line and and now I I represent
and the message that I want to put
forward is that’s not where we need you
you know we as minority sometimes like
to put these labels on ourselves not
black enough not Asian enough not
Hispanic enough not brown enough not
Indian enough what does that mean this
is America we came here because we
didn’t want to be defined by lines we
didn’t want to be constricted by
boundaries and instead that’s what we’re
doing and we’re not having somebody else
do it for us you know I’m totally aware
yes there are some societal factors that
maybe can impact what you can do but
maybe let’s allow us to get to that
threshold because we’re really good at
fighting against that when it happens
but coming from our own we don’t need
that let’s encourage our people let’s
encourage them at the starting line
let’s encourage
when they get to mile marker 13 and
they’re thinking man I got some doubt I
need a cup of water
I need a pat on the back go finish the
marathon but sometimes we discouraged
them to run the race entirely and that’s
always that’s always troubled me and I
want to tell you a story here today to
kind of wrap things up about this
experience and where we can where we can
go from it my first job in television
was in a small city in Central
Washington Yakima and wasn’t making a
lot of money was living in a small
apartment and across the street we used
to have all these drive-through baristas
it was it’s big in the state of
Washington and you know a couple times a
week I could maybe afford a cup of
coffee from there so I pull up into one
of these drive-through baristas in my
first couple of weeks and I remembered
the woman at the drive-thru liked the
way I presented my order I’m thinking
all right yeah I’m on TV my bass and
treble hitting all the notes she likes
the way I sound I mean you know my ego
is kind of propped up a little bit I was
like okay and then she asked a follow-up
question she said what’s your
nationality if you don’t mind me asking
and to make things perfectly clear there
was no malice I think it was kind of
genuine curiosity like maybe I don’t see
a ton of people look like you and didn’t
expect you to sound the way you sound
and so you know me being me and trying
to have some fun with it I’ve kind of
deadpanned and I said my nationality
American so then she goes no no no I
mean were you from to which I replied
New Jersey
clearly not the answer she was looking
for then things got a little bit awkward
and she kind of started to stammer no no
you know what it’s okay I’m I’m just
gonna make your coffee it’s gonna be on
me and and get out of here because this
conversation needs to end but I tried to
explain and I said I think what you
meant to ask me is what’s my ethnicity
and my ethnicity is Indian my parents
came here from India but at this point
she just kind of said I there’s five
cars behind you other coffees on me
don’t worry about pain don’t worry about
tip just go so I Drive off but I’m
thinking this whole time I’m like all
right you know I grew up and people from
my own community told me I wasn’t Indian
enough and based on the way I look
there’s probably a segment of people who
will never look at me and say hey there
goes an American and it’s something that
I’ve always thought about you know you
kind of get trapped in this vortex of of
who are you you know what’s your
cultural identity and I started to think
I go you know this idea of what an
American is what is an American what is
the American Way you know because we’re
always trying to define that as a
country we always talk about you know
this is the American Way the American
that well what is that and I’ve lived in
New Jersey I live in North Carolina
right now I have lived in upstate New
York in Connecticut I’ve traveled the
entire country covering various sports
for ESPN I lived in Central Washington
and everywhere I go this definition of
what an American is is different what
you guys may think an American is in
North Dakota is different than what
people in North Carolina may think it’s
different what people in New Jersey may
think what people in Connecticut may
think what people in Texas may think so
thought about it and I thought about it
and I said you know what I don’t have an
answer but that’s that’s our strength as
a country we are division by 0 and we
are infinity and we continue to try to
define who we are we do it in these
little subgroups we do it on a macro
level and when we do it we close
yourself off the possibility if an
Indian American can be a musician or an
artist or a writer or a painter or a
sportscaster let’s take those cultural
shackles off because that could
potentially open the door for so many
others from the community
here in Fargo you guys don’t like your
stereotypes that you have and I’ve seen
the way that you’ve broken them in many
ways with what you have in your football
team here
North Dakota State becoming this
national brand but it comes back to this
idea that you know we’re so into
defining ourselves let’s move away from
that we don’t need a rigid definition of
who we are because what’s beautiful
about our country and I say this through
the prism of a first generation son of
immigrants what’s beautiful about our
country is that our nationalism isn’t is
defined as it is in other homogeneous
cultures in Asia and Europe and Africa
you go all over you see all sorts of
different people and we are undefined
and we are all possibilities
so why Limit who we can be where we can
go and what we can do that’s what I’m
fourth thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
little Fargo it is good to be back this
is my eighth trip to Fargo North Dakota
the first one taking place in a month
not named December and it feels like a
foreign country to me you know what’s
fascinating is the first time I came to
Fargo my perception of this city this
area was shaped by popular culture and
Hollywood and comedy and I remember one
of the first things I did I went to your
tourism center and I got a picture by
the wood chipper because that’s what I
thought Fargo was about then I learned
pretty quickly that was a stereotype you
guys didn’t like and the more I
frequented Fargo it was incredible how
quickly not just stereotypes shattered
but perceptions also crumbled and the
way I started to view not just this area
but the people here changed you start
from seeing maybe a group of people at
the outset the more you come and the
more you get to know them and talk to
them you find out through these complex
characters they’re not caricatures
they’re well rounded and a group of
people quickly turns into a collection
of individuals the reason I bring that
up because I’m first-generation my
parents came here from India we know
what stereotypes are like I was born in
New Jersey grew up playing sports going
to school doing things American kids do
but now stereotypes were unavoidable and
I remember the one stereotype that I
hated growing up and that my community
as an Indian American that we hated
growing up was that of a poo from The
Simpsons
I love the Simpsons but that was such a
caricature that was our version of Marge
Gunderson and you rebel against that and
your community doesn’t like it you try
your best to change it and then I
discovered as I got older there is
a little bit of hypocrisy that exists
and as minority subcultures is an
indian-american part of that community
one of the things that I found out was
that you know we kind of have our own
stereotypes our community and maybe we
don’t like the app who stereotype but we
put stereotypes on our own people my own
community telling us what we can and
can’t do who we can be and can’t be and
great example that is you know as an
Indian American growing up one of the
things that you’re expected to do the
expectation the cultural expectation is
you go into a profession that’s gonna
make you money and you’re gonna be
successful and your parents can brag
about you know the number one profession
on that list is is doctor now I know
you’re thinking it’s a hell of a
stereotype to have it’s pretty good
stereotype people have asked me are you
a doctor
if I’m feeling like it’s sometimes a lie
and I’ll say yes because shoot it’s not
the worst thing but if you’re not a
doctor and you’re not a lawyer or an
engineer an IT guy or in software then
sometimes you’re a disappointment and
that’s not a label put on us by society
at large that’s a label that we put on
ourselves and so if you have somebody
from your community somebody from my
community who wants to be a painter a
writer a musician a sportscaster your
first line of resistance is met by the
people who look like you and I remember
this from growing up I was very
fortunate in that my parents were
incredibly supportive of what I wanted
to do my dad has a degree in accounting
and he’s been a professional
photographers whole life so he can’t
tell me not to pursue my dream but the
reaction that I got from my community
growing up and I knew what I wanted to
do when I was 14 15 years old was you
can’t do this you can’t be a
sportscaster well why not it’s what I
love I love sports I grew up watching it
I loved studying it I liked the numbers
I liked the nuance why can’t I do this
I’ll work really hard that’s not what we
do
if you do that you’re not Indian enough
you’re too white and Here I am thinking
to myself well nobody else has told me
this why is my community not even giving
me the chance to get to that threshold
where I could fail or succeed it’s funny
how it works and I started questioning
you know why can’t they just be
supportive am i stepping out of bounds
is there some arbitrary nth degree of
ethnic authenticity I need to be meat to
be considered a member of a group and
not just a group my group and so I got
frustrated and then I decided to do it
anyway and one day I ended up at ESPN
and I got that job and you know it’s
funny all of a sudden I represented and
I struggled with that for some time
because I said hey I’m the same guy that
you said couldn’t do it because of what
I look like and where I was from and
where my parents were from and because
they have accents but I I got to the
finish line and and now I I represent
and the message that I want to put
forward is that’s not where we need you
you know we as minority sometimes like
to put these labels on ourselves not
black enough not Asian enough not
Hispanic enough not brown enough not
Indian enough what does that mean this
is America we came here because we
didn’t want to be defined by lines we
didn’t want to be constricted by
boundaries and instead that’s what we’re
doing and we’re not having somebody else
do it for us you know I’m totally aware
yes there are some societal factors that
maybe can impact what you can do but
maybe let’s allow us to get to that
threshold because we’re really good at
fighting against that when it happens
but coming from our own we don’t need
that let’s encourage our people let’s
encourage them at the starting line
let’s encourage
when they get to mile marker 13 and
they’re thinking man I got some doubt I
need a cup of water
I need a pat on the back go finish the
marathon but sometimes we discouraged
them to run the race entirely and that’s
always that’s always troubled me and I
want to tell you a story here today to
kind of wrap things up about this
experience and where we can where we can
go from it my first job in television
was in a small city in Central
Washington Yakima and wasn’t making a
lot of money was living in a small
apartment and across the street we used
to have all these drive-through baristas
it was it’s big in the state of
Washington and you know a couple times a
week I could maybe afford a cup of
coffee from there so I pull up into one
of these drive-through baristas in my
first couple of weeks and I remembered
the woman at the drive-thru liked the
way I presented my order I’m thinking
all right yeah I’m on TV my bass and
treble hitting all the notes she likes
the way I sound I mean you know my ego
is kind of propped up a little bit I was
like okay and then she asked a follow-up
question she said what’s your
nationality if you don’t mind me asking
and to make things perfectly clear there
was no malice I think it was kind of
genuine curiosity like maybe I don’t see
a ton of people look like you and didn’t
expect you to sound the way you sound
and so you know me being me and trying
to have some fun with it I’ve kind of
deadpanned and I said my nationality
American so then she goes no no no I
mean were you from to which I replied
New Jersey
clearly not the answer she was looking
for then things got a little bit awkward
and she kind of started to stammer no no
you know what it’s okay I’m I’m just
gonna make your coffee it’s gonna be on
me and and get out of here because this
conversation needs to end but I tried to
explain and I said I think what you
meant to ask me is what’s my ethnicity
and my ethnicity is Indian my parents
came here from India but at this point
she just kind of said I there’s five
cars behind you other coffees on me
don’t worry about pain don’t worry about
tip just go so I Drive off but I’m
thinking this whole time I’m like all
right you know I grew up and people from
my own community told me I wasn’t Indian
enough and based on the way I look
there’s probably a segment of people who
will never look at me and say hey there
goes an American and it’s something that
I’ve always thought about you know you
kind of get trapped in this vortex of of
who are you you know what’s your
cultural identity and I started to think
I go you know this idea of what an
American is what is an American what is
the American Way you know because we’re
always trying to define that as a
country we always talk about you know
this is the American Way the American
that well what is that and I’ve lived in
New Jersey I live in North Carolina
right now I have lived in upstate New
York in Connecticut I’ve traveled the
entire country covering various sports
for ESPN I lived in Central Washington
and everywhere I go this definition of
what an American is is different what
you guys may think an American is in
North Dakota is different than what
people in North Carolina may think it’s
different what people in New Jersey may
think what people in Connecticut may
think what people in Texas may think so
thought about it and I thought about it
and I said you know what I don’t have an
answer but that’s that’s our strength as
a country we are division by 0 and we
are infinity and we continue to try to
define who we are we do it in these
little subgroups we do it on a macro
level and when we do it we close
yourself off the possibility if an
Indian American can be a musician or an
artist or a writer or a painter or a
sportscaster let’s take those cultural
shackles off because that could
potentially open the door for so many
others from the community
here in Fargo you guys don’t like your
stereotypes that you have and I’ve seen
the way that you’ve broken them in many
ways with what you have in your football
team here
North Dakota State becoming this
national brand but it comes back to this
idea that you know we’re so into
defining ourselves let’s move away from
that we don’t need a rigid definition of
who we are because what’s beautiful
about our country and I say this through
the prism of a first generation son of
immigrants what’s beautiful about our
country is that our nationalism isn’t is
defined as it is in other homogeneous
cultures in Asia and Europe and Africa
you go all over you see all sorts of
different people and we are undefined
and we are all possibilities
so why Limit who we can be where we can
go and what we can do that’s what I’m
fourth thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
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