Nadim Haque, a Muslim from India, arrived in Lewiston, Maine to attend college for the winter term in 1991. He was befriended by Lori Taylor, a fellow student, who was married and lived with her husband and daughter. By the summer of 1992, their friendship developed into a love affair and early in 1993,Taylor left her family.
The relationship continued and in the summer of 1995, Taylor proposed to Haque. Haque declined the invitation of marriage and soon they began seeing each other less frequently. That fall Taylor befriended Hall, a neighbor at her apartment building, and they became intimate in March of 1996.
Haque and Taylor attended two counseling sessions, in late April and early May. After the second session, Haque presented Taylor with an engagement ring. He spent the night at her apartment. Two days later, after refusing a call from him, Taylor telephoned Haque and told him that the relationship was over.
Two days later, Haque bought a knife and some mace. He waited outside of Taylor's apartment. He confronted her as to why she wanted to end the relationship. She replied," We are just too different." He then slashed her throat.
Charged with murder, Haque offered the affirmative defense of adequate provocation or extreme anger, claiming he was guilty of manslaughter, a lesser offense. The defense psychiatrist, Dr. Bloom, offered that Taylor's statement "We are just too different" was interpreted as a racist statement by the immigrant Indian Muslim. Haque snapped and was in a "state of blind rage" at the time of the murder. Dr. Caughey, a cultural anthropologist, offered that the on again, off again, nature of the relationship was extremely difficult for Haque to manage because there are no dating relationships in India and relationships last forever in India once forged. The trial court disallowed testimony of both experts.
Holding: The Supreme Judicial Court of Maine affirmed the trial court. Bloom's statement about Haque's mental state at the time of the killing was conclusory and beyond the proper scope of expert opinion and thus not admissible.
Dr. Caughey's testimony, held the court, was irrelevant because Taylor's words were not legally sufficient to reasonably provoke Haque. Thus, the testimony that Haque's murderous response to the words, whether a cultural anomaly or not, was irrelevant.
INDIAN RESPONSE TO PREJUDICE
| Swarna Singhal, M.A., M.S. Psychotherapist |
Mrs. Singhal comments: What predictable responses to subtle prejudice normally result in the South Asian immigrant population?
In the United States, every immigrant group is compared against the norms established by the dominant Euro-American society. Due to skin color and other physical characteristics, accent, and communication style, non-white immigrant groups are often considered less cultured, less intelligent and thus inferior to the people of European ancestry. These differences result in subtle discrimination in employment, housing, and education, which results in exclusion, isolation, and separation of Asian Indians from the mainstream of American society. The traditional patterns of ethnocentrism are directed toward both the ethnic minorities who succeed and also those who fail in the new ethnic immigrant environment. Asian Indians experience subtle prejudice from lower as well as upper echelons of society.
Asian Indians react to the subtle forms of prejudices in many different ways. It is generally true that Asian Indians' way of fighting discrimination and prejudice in this country is to educate themselves, accept what ever jobs are available and work hard to improve their situation, become more friendly and accommodating and maintain silence.
Some of them make a desperate effort to assimilate by denying their South Asian heritage completely. They associate only with Euro-Americans and refuse to speak their own language even at home. They do not consider that discrimination against them is racially motivated. They strongly associate themselves with the Caucasian race. They generally refuse to be a part of any ethnic group of color, including their own.
Some Asian Indians' reaction to subtle forms of non-acceptance by the dominant society is to become even more traditional than even the Indians who reside in India. This group of Asian Indians becomes more religious and tends to cling to traditional Indian culture and values. They totally emphasize their Indian-ness and tend to glorify it.
Many Asian Indians successfully strike a balance between the Western culture and their own. These Indians and their children are more adjusted in this country.
Subtle forms of prejudices and discriminations foster immense frustration for immigrants old and new. It affects them psychologically as they begin wondering about their own worth as human beings. Their self-esteem is damaged and they may react by feeling inferior and becoming extremely sensitive to any type of perceived rejection. Frequently, the sense of isolation and rejection from the main stream of society fosters bitter feelings of anger, frustration, paranoia, and depression.
Indian males especially often have a difficult time adjusting. Many of the Indian males are used to deference from females in their own country. The men are usually the breadwinners while the women stay home and take care of their families and other household affairs. Upon arrival in the United States, these men often find that they are not accepted by Indian women who have been in this country for a while and who have become used to a different set of expectations from a male.
In India, parents generally take charge of arranging a son's or a daughter's marriage. In Mr. Haque's case, the thought of their son's marrying a non-Muslim girl may have been totally unacceptable to his parents.
In many families in certain Arabian countries, men are raised to believe that women are a man's property. There have been instances where male family members have murdered their women on suspicion of infidelity and society has condoned their action.
Perhaps the defendant wanted to punish Ms. Taylor for her infidelity. However, Muslim religion and culture advocates respect and gentle treatment of women. Muslim religion also admonishes its followers not to engage in any relationship with a married woman. Murder of a defenseless woman in any circumstance is not pardonable by any law or cultural mores of the Indian society.
