A month has passed since the June 25 brutal beating and death of Divyendu Sinha, 49, at the hands of five teenagers in Old Bridge, N.J. Despite all the progress it has made and all the talk of its rising political clout, the Indian-American community remains fractured in its response.

"If this had happened in the Hispanic or Black community, there would have been a more immediate national response to it. There was none in this case," says one Obama campaign activist who did not want his name used.

There are a few nation-wide organizations within the community, such as the Sikh Coalition or, to an extent, the South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) that respond to such issues. The dearth of such groups points to a fundamental fault-line within the Indian-American community.

Dino Teppara, former chief of staff for Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), says it would have been very helpful to have a national infrastructure in place to respond cohesively to situations like this. "But the community is so divided, that has yet to happen," he notes.

In interviews with News India Times, members of the community also pointed to the need for more outreach, more participation in the wider society.

"This is such a shocking incident – we are all still in shock. But, it is not an organized crime," cautioned Mahinder Tak, of the Indo American Leadership Council in the Democratic National Committee. She has lived in the greater Washington area for decades and says she has observed the lack of wider participation. If the community stays secluded, it can have repercussions, she says.

"If our people can participate so much in mandirs, they can spread that participation to other things. When I look at the wider community, I see, if anything happens, so many people come out to volunteer and help, but not so many from our community," Tak says.

Reshma Saujani, candidate for the September Democratic primary for U.S. Congress from New York's 14th District, sent News India Times a prepared statement when asked what her response was. "This tragedy offers a reminder that we need to continue to foster dialogue between the Indian-American community and our neighbors to ensure that tragic incidents like this are prevented in the future," the statement said.

But not all of the second-generation of Indian-Americans believe the violence in the Sinha case can be countered with outreach.

"I don't think lack of assimilation is the issue, we have Indian Americans very involved in New Jersey, including Upendra Chivukula, who has been very active in this situation representing the community's interests," Teppara says. He sees the Sinha tragedy as a senseless act of violence, one that is a warning that people should be aware of their surroundings at all times, even in their own neighborhoods.

"Remember, even Kal Penn was robbed at gunpoint in D.C., so we should be in the frame of mind that anything can happen at anytime and be ever vigilant," says Teppara, referring to the popular actor who was serving in the White House Office of Public Engagement.

"Assimilation is not the issue here. What is more important is the need for a national infrastructure that can speak for the community," the Obama activist asserts. He sees a bigger picture emerging from a series of incidents over the past few months – political ads that build on anti-India feelings through outsourcing, the Sinha incident, and the Joel Klein viewpoint ("My Own Private India") in Time magazine that poked fun at Indian-American culture and beliefs.

"It draws out some of the feelings that are developing toward South Asians. There's this growing xenophobia toward the subcontinent," he says.

Teppara disagrees. "I don't see this as a rise in xenophobia against South Asians or immigrants. This appears to be a random act of violence by a group of young men and this family unfortunately was a victim," he contends.

Other younger politicos agree that they have a greater responsibility to build a national infrastructure to counter such attacks.

"As the second generation, we are more aware of the resources and networks than the older generation," says Toby Chaudhari, who served as communications director at the progressive Campaign for Americas Future and continues to work with candidates and labor groups.

Teppara, who chairs the Indian American Conservative Council, believes the law will take its course.

"As a state appellate law clerk, it was all too often that we had criminal cases on appeal with facts similar to the one at hand," he says. "This senseless violence will be dealt with properly in court, but the family must live with this loss forever and the defendants have essentially thrown their own lives away as well."

Older Indian Americans like Kamil Hasan, a businessman in California and a senior Democratic political activist, want "much stronger laws" against racial crimes. The community does not have enough political clout to put pressure on the system, he says. "We must make sure there is a really good investigation and that if it is a racial crime, it should be prosecuted as such," he says about the Sinha murder.

That is something the local Indian-American community has mobilized effectively for. Local authorities have responded with a determination to see the case through. The prosecutor wants to try the teens as adults.

Hasan says the community is doing much more outreach now than ever before. But the economy is down, "and when people see how well the Indian community is doing economically in this downturn, there may be a tendency to be against it," he says, urging everyone to write to their elected representatives.

Mangal Gupta, a resident of Old Bridge for 25 years, who runs the annual Dussehra festival and is involved in building a Sankatmochan Hanuman Temple in the town, says this murder could be a wake-up call and ultimately result in something good for the community. But disbelief still hovers in his voice.

"This is not that kind of town where it should happen. This is a farm town. There is no 'downtown' here," Gupta says. "This is the result of a culture of violence. Children play violent games from childhood – games that involve killing. Killing is like nothing. That is a serious problem."

The whole town is shocked, he says. "I met a contractor about some work to be done for the temple. He is brought up from childhood in Old Bridge. And he was almost in tears saying he had not seen anything like this and how could he help."

Gupta says he has in the past heard from members of the mainstream community that the Indian community is seen as "just sticking together."

"Some people feel we don't get involved anywhere else. And we are getting worse every day. We have all our weekend programs – either it is a Gujarat event or a Bengali event, or whatever. How many 'intercultural' programs do we have?" he questions.