Neema Avashia’s Indian American family was among the minority in West Virginia, a place she describes as having demographics that put you in two camps: white or not white. Though she said some people didn’t understand her family or community, she describes growing up in Appalachia was largely an experience of “care and love.”
“I’ve lived outside of Appalachia for 20 years now, but I will always say that people in Appalachia know how to love like nobody else in this country does,” Avashia told Boston Public Radio on Wednesday. “The kind of care that folks extend, the way in which they’re willing to put their needs away in order to meet someone else’s needs, is incredibly powerful.”
The author of “Another Appalachia: Growing Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place” has been vocal about her experiences since JD Vance’s ascension to the Republican presidential ticket, asserting that he does not represent the Appalachia that she knows. Avashia said Vance offers a very narrow view of the region’s people in his book, “Hillbilly Elegy.”
“This notion of Appalachia as having a monoculture, where everyone is the same way, is already a problem,” she said. “There have been Black folks in Appalachia for the past three centuries. There have been Indigenous people in Appalachia for millennia. There have been immigrants to Appalachia — from all over the world — for a very long time.”
Avashia said “Hillbilly Elegy” illustrates how Vance is more inclined to blame problems on people than systemic issues, and that he’s effectively saying “we don’t need to do anything for these people.” She also criticized Vance’s book for being a “political announcement” rather than a memoir.
“It’s fine for Vance to talk about his family, to talk about his experience,” she said. “When he starts to say things like 'the people of Jackson County are lazy and blame the government for their problems’ [and] 'the young men of Middleton, Ohio don’t want to work.’ That’s where I have a problem.”
She said that perspective has allowed leaders to absolve themselves of responsibility. Overall, she believes American politicians have not served Appalachia well.
“I think Appalachia has been poorly served by people on the left and the right,” she said. “You have to go back to [Lyndon B. Johnson] to see a president who stood in that position and said, 'I actually want to extend any resources to Appalachia in a meaningful way.’”
Yet, Avashia has hope for the future of Appalachia with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on the Democratic presidential ticket. When Vice President Kamala Harris announced Walz as her running mate, Avashia said many rural residents she knows were thrilled to see someone who represented them.
