Liberty and Justice for All – A realty check

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.”

Every Tuesday evening I recite this with my fellow toastmasters in the Horizon Toastmasters Club. Being an immigrant from India, I had the impossible dream of wiping out the caste system, eradicating poverty and eliminating corruption in my country. After a reality check, I decided to come to the US to work as a software engineer. On the plane, I was reading about this great land where there is supposed to be liberty and justice for all.

I arrived in Atlanta just before the Thanksgiving weekend in 1997. I liked the freedom and opportunities of this country. I met my wife in a party and married her in 1999. She belonged to the Christian faith and the majority white race. Though I came from a very traditional Hindu family back in India, after my marriage I cherished peaceful coexistence between faiths and started believing in “Universal Love” as my faith. My parents invited us to go to India to have an Indian wedding. Many things happened in India which made me ashamed of myself as an Indian, like my wife was not allowed in few Hindu temples. I was very upset with this as I believed Hinduism stood for universal brotherhood.

On January 26th 2001, there was a massive earthquake in India that took 20,000 lives. I was involved in raising money for the earthquake victims in India. A few of my friends suggested that as I am a very outgoing person married to a white American woman, I should not restrict my fund raising activities to the Indian community. As my in-laws were not regular members of any church, they could not help me. I called Mt. Zion Baptist church and the pastor asked me to go there and see him before the Sunday service. I went to Mt. Zion Baptist church in Morrow, GA by myself. There was a deacon standing in front of the church who stopped me from entering the church. I told him that I was asked by the pastor to go inside and meet him before the service, so that he can make an appeal to the congregation to donate funds. The deacon said that he can not allow me to do that. Then I politely asked him that as my next meeting is at noon, I would like to go inside and pray…He said he can not let me do that. I asked him “why” and he said “Ours is a White church” I told him that I protest his decision, I won’t do anything. I will just close my eyes and pray outside the church. He said that he will call the police and I said go ahead. The police came and arrested me falsely accusing me of solicitation and charging me with “Criminal Trespass”. (Even the police man reminded me that the church was a white church and a private property) After a few weeks, both my wife and I were fired from our jobs. (Our co-workers told us that it is because of the call from the deacon who worked for my parent company) We didn’t have the resources to fight the case in the court. I approached the judge to fight the case myself (thinking to act like Mahatma Gandhi, fighting for injustice) and he declined. Then I went to the church and apologized to them that I was sorry if unknowingly I created any inconvience and asked them to drop the case, they said that I am going to hell by not following Christianity.

As per my attorney’s suggestion, I plead no lo contestant. I was sentenced to six months probation and as per the first offender plea bargain, after the probation period, I received a letter from Clayton county court system that I have no adjudication of guilt and I should not be discriminated for jobs in the private or government sector or, for any other consideration.

After this incident, my Green card process was delayed by one year and after a lot of follow up, I received my Permanent Resident card from CISin May 2002. I sincerely wanted to get my US citizenship as I wanted to participate in the democratic process in this country apart from other benefits like eligibility to apply for certifications to get federal, state/local government and private sector projects for my company EmTechPro, Inc. as a minority owned disadvantaged business. In May 2005, I applied for US citizenship. On January 10th 2006, I was interviewed and cleared the test for US citizenship, and then my application of US citizenship was rejected on the basis of lack of moral character due to the judgment against me in July 2001. In the letter it said that I can reapply after July 13th 2006 or apply for rehearing. On April 18th 2006: I requested a rehearing application after submitting reference letters from leaders of the community. On May 30th, 2007: the Rehearing was held and I was told that they may not be able to overturn the earlier decision.

After this unique experience, I realized the true reality. I am not living in a country which is one nation and indivisible. Actually, we all live in segregated societies of people like us, may it be Asian, African, Hispanic or White. It would be naïve to believe that we have justice for all. It is a distant dream not a reality. I have realized that you can be punished for standing up for your rights, many times it is all about perception. If you go to jail, even fighting a good cause, you might be denied job opportunities and other rights of citizenship etc. After being fired from my then employer and denied opportunities in the private sector, I have founded EmTechPro based on my values of Honesty, Integrity, Trust, Compassion and Diversity. I aspire to build a global company, where employees from developing and developed countries work hand in hand to build better communities.

Sanjib K. Mohapatro
Founder of EmTechPro, Inc
Co-Founder of http://www.ucanswap.com/
404-552-2274 (direct)