Sriram Krishnan’s appointment to the White House as an AI advisor and the subsequent discussions on H1B visas has set off a racism storm against Indians in the United States. Over the last few days, social media has been overwhelmed with hate-filled posts against Indians – most of them coming from a section of the American internet which feels that Indian immigrants have taken away jobs meant for Americans.
In the midst of this, one post is going viral online for its sheer shock value.
“Profit off their misery”
An American man took to the social media platform X with a suggestion that many slammed as racist and bigoted. The man, who goes only by the name Rich, suggested using wealth disparity between Americans and Indians to their advantage.
Rich suggested using the dollar’s power to “buy entire neighbourhoods” in India and then tripling rent for tenants.
“Business idea: raising capital to buy up entire neighborhoods in India since our dollar goes so much further than theirs, then tripling their rents. Since the whole world is just everybody’s for the taking, I’m going to become an Indian slumlord and profit off their misery,” he wrote on X.
business idea: raising capital to buy up entire neighborhoods in India since our dollar goes so much further than theirs, then tripling their rents.
since the whole world is just everybody’s for the taking, i’m going to become an Indian slumlord and profit off their misery.
— Rich 🐺 (@heywildrich) December 29, 2024
The post has gone viral with 1.6 million views.
In the comments section, many people informed the original poster that India does not allow foreigners to buy property. However, many of the responses were reflective of the larger issue of racism.
business idea: raising capital to buy up entire neighborhoods in India since our dollar goes so much further than theirs, then tripling their rents.
since the whole world is just everybody’s for the taking, i’m going to become an Indian slumlord and profit off their misery.
— Rich 🐺 (@heywildrich) December 29, 2024
Many also pointed out that India’s real estate prices have skyrocketed in the last few years, making property ownership increasingly unaffordable, even for Americans.
“Fun fact- cost of property in India is much higher than rental yields can support. If you indeed did this, it will help out a lot of Indian property owners,” wrote an X user.
However, Rich also received backlash from a number of people. “22k likes on a post calling for colonialism is CRAZY,” a person wrote.
