WASHINGTON: It’s a story of humanitarian heroism that generally gets buried in the blizzard of bad news.The bullet that all-American hero Ian Grillot took standing up to xenophobic hate against two Indian engineers in Kansas last month was worth more than the handsome $100,000 the Indian-American community raised for him , because there is no price tag on compassion crowned by courage. Still, in a mood of virulent intolerance towards foreigners in conservative redoubts in America, desis in Houston celebrated Grillot’s heroism , citing it as an example of true American greatness."Whatever you have done to save the life of a stranger, you represent the true America, you are the true hero ... money cannot compensate you for your heroism, but I hope you will accept this cheque and utilize it towards buying your house. Thank you so much," community leaders, fronted by India’s ambassador Navtej Sarna and Consul General Houston Anupam Ray, told Grillot at a moving event in Houston on Saturday."Oh my gosh ... wow!" gasped Grillot’s mother, who attended the event along with his father. Grillot's face crumpled into tears."I don't know if I could've lived with myself if I wouldn't have stopped or attempted to stop the shooter because that would've been completely devastating," Grillot said. "I do now have a very powerful message and if I can help empower people and spread hope and love, then why not?"That was not how Adam Purinton , an angry, resentful, underemployed military vet-turned-infotech worker felt on February 22, when he accosted Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Reddy Madasani , engineers from India working for Garmin USA, at a bar in Olathe, Kansas. He wanted to know their visa and residency status (both were legally certified workers), and when he was evicted from the bar by patrons concerned about his aggressive behavior, he went to his car and returned with a firearm to shoot at the two Indians, shouting "Get out of my country!"Kuchibhotla died of gunshot wounds and Madasani survived bullet injuries.Grillot, who was also at the bar at that time and interceded when he thought Purinton had emptied the first magazine, ended up taking a bullet which tore through his hand into his chest, fracturing his vertebrae."I was just doing what anyone should have done for another human being. It’s not about where he’s from, or ethnicity. We’re all humans," he would say later.But the incident left a deep impression on Indian-Americans, many of them at the receiving end of American resentment for their success, rather than their legality. "For he that sheds his blood for me today is my brother," said Jiten Agarwal, a community leader who lead the drive to raise the money, quoting Shakespeare in Henry V."Ian has given us an occasion to reaffirm a tie that binds us all as Americans, irrespective of where we come from ... (he) is a man who reminds us of the promise of America and its greatness," he added.The $100,000 raised by Houston desis comes on top of nearly $473,000 that came from a gofundme campaign launched by Grillot’s sister, with contributions from many Indians in the US, India, and across the world. A similar campaign to help the family of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, the victim, raised $682,793.The show of solidarity and togetherness, not to speak of financial heft, comes at a time many Indian-Americans feel extra scrutiny under a new dispensation that is clearly nativist and not enamored of the diversity and pluralism that America has embraced over the past two decades. Many community activists blame President Trump for engendering a permissive atmosphere for right-wing elements to express xenophobia, which they say is resulting in attacks on people of India-origin."No matter what gunmen or the President say, this is our country, we are here to stay, and we will keep demanding our rightful and equal place in this quintessential nation of immigrants," Suman Raghunathan, an activist for South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) said at a townhall to discuss the growing intolerance in USIndian-American supporters of Trump maintain the fears are overblown and the President and his aides are well-inclined towards India and Indians. But they are dismissed as enablers who are blind to the deteriorating atmosphere and the "acute relationship between policies and rhetoric that criminalise Muslim, Arab, and South Asian American communities and the hate violence targeting these communities."Even US lawmakers have spoken up on behalf of the America's immigrant and minority communities that are feeling the effect of the President's rhetoric."It starts with the leadership. President Trump's comments as a candidate and a President is just the opposite of what you need," Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland said, holding Trump responsible for the current anti-immigrant atmosphere.