South Asian Man Ostracized After Posting A Picture of Himself With The #ILookLikeAnEngineer Hashtag
In a hashtag campaign that started earlier this week on Twitter, men and women alike aimed to destroy engineer stereotypes by posting pictures of themselves that show, that contradictory to common belief, technology is full of diversity. They took photos or shared anecdotes of their lives followed by the #ILookLikeAnEngineer hashtag.
Kamdesh Sitar, in support of this, pitched in taking a picture of himself and tweeting in solidarity.
Expecting favorites and retweets, Kamdesh was instead met with anger and hatred toward what many thought was an attempt to troll the campaign.
"Are you fucking kidding me," one user on Twitter wrote. "Get out of here you unsupportive piece of trash," said another.
Kamdesh, who was incredibly confused by a growing inbox filled with hate mail had to deactivate his Twitter account after an hour. "All I was trying to do was show my support," he said. "I had no idea that my image was breaking the hashtag's meta-stereotype," he went on to say.
For now, Kamdesh still supports the campaign despite the animosity he faces in the Bay Area. His friends have refused to talk to him and he no longer gets invited to social gatherings. "It's just part of change, I suppose," he said.