Anya, your analysis effectively highlights the intersection of racism and sexism in Western American society's treatment of Punjabis, particularly when it came to relationships with white women. The focus on the "strongest prejudices" against these relationships underscores how they were perceived as a direct threat to deeply entrenched racial and patriarchal hierarchies. The use of a term like "unworthy" to describe Punjabi men reflects how racial ideologies dehumanized them and sought to exclude them from forming relationships that crossed these socially constructed boundaries. The violent response, such as the incident with the shotgun, exemplifies how far society was willing to go to enforce these boundaries, showcasing not just personal prejudice but the systemic enforcement of racial superiority.

Your discussion also does an excellent job of addressing the lack of agency afforded to women in these dynamics. The societal contempt for darker-skinned individuals extended not only to Punjabi men but also to white women who were vilified for choosing relationships outside their race. This highlights how white supremacy and patriarchy worked together to control women’s autonomy and reinforce the dominance of white men. The example of the clerk refusing to issue a marriage license due to differences in skin color further emphasizes the institutional nature of this racism, showing how personal consent and choice were overridden by societal prejudice.

Overall, this post effectively ties together the systemic nature of racism and sexism in Western America, illustrating how these ideologies reinforced one another to maintain a rigid social order. By focusing on both the dehumanization of Punjabi men and the restriction of women’s choices, it provides a nuanced understanding of how personal relationships became battlegrounds for broader societal control and exclusion.

lmao rofl

It's interesting that what ultimately commutes Dom Sing's sentence is Verma's angle of Sing's inherent masculinity as given by his marital status, specifically catered towards the Western sensibility. "Verma emphasizes the wife’s ‘‘miserable condition’’ and her ‘‘cries for help’’ because she was without means of male support and would become destitute" (Shah 128). A damsel in distress is conjured to remind the court of Sing's patriarchal responsibilities, that he, too, is an honorable man like any other with a woman/family to provide for. This institution of Christian/moral monogamous heterosexual marriage so inherent to colonialism and white supremacy is used to reinstate the reputation of the non-white man and essentially undermine the white man's dignity in the process.