What Indian American Kumar Rocker’s historic MLB pick means for South Asians.
His mother, Lalitha Rocker, is an instructional designer and the daughter of Indian immigrants. While many star high school baseball players sign with major league teams shortly after graduating high school, both Kumar and Lalithathat Lalitha’s desire for him to attend college was a big reason why he decided to enroll at Vanderbilt.
Lalitha Rocker told the paper that she wanted to name him Kumar as a nod to her Indian heritage. “I want him to be aware of his heritage and for other people to question where his heritage is, and not look at him only as an African American child,” she said. Fans also hope that Rocker’s presence in the Mets organization means that the team will make a concerted effort to market the game to the Greater New York area’s South Asian populations.
As a third-generation, mixed-race Indian American, Rocker represents how much the diaspora has evolved since the 1960s and '70s, when a considerable number of South Asian immigrants like Rocker’s grandparents first began moving to the United States after passage of the 1965 Immigration Act.
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