Yengkhom Jilangamba's timely and important article “Let's stop pretending there's no racism in India” (May 29) needs to be complemented and expanded by asking some more searching questions of ourselves.
It really seems like a joke to claim that we are not a racist country. Just a cursory glance at the Classifieds columns in any newspaper will show us our obsession with fair skin. Recently, a mainstream paper carried a story about a Manipuri woman being raped by an ‘African'. The responses to the article were frighteningly racist, about ‘Africans' as drug peddlers, criminals and rapists. Nationals of various African countries face a hellish time in India's metros too. Try asking them how they have to struggle to rent accommodation in Delhi. Or how they deal with open abuse and ridicule on the streets, in the university, everywhere. So much of anti-Dalit discrimination is on the basis of skin colour. It is the dark-skinned who face the brunt of the most obvious abuse. Fair-skinned Dalits are accused of not being Dalit, of faking it. We are one of the few obnoxious countries who openly advertise fairness creams and top film stars endorse these products. These should be banned by the law and they are not. Do we really have the gall to claim that we are not a racist country?
Mr. Yengkhom's point about the law, on which he ends, perhaps needs to be rethought. It does not seem viable to think in terms of extralegal solutions to the race problem. It is only through the law that norms can be enforced precisely because of the insidious and everyday nature of racism. That cannot be countered in terms of the everyday because that sort of countering demands a sensitive public and collective effort which is far from the reality in our spaces. Law is the only form of public humiliation to which we can take recourse to bell the cat on the question of racism.
Mr. Yengkhom's article unfortunately reasserts an Us and Them equation when dealing with racism. The fact is that Northeasterners from all eight States are racist themselves. Recently, an Arunachali student was explaining to me the name for a waiter from her tribe. It had an appellation attached to it that had to do with his darker skin which is what he was constantly reminded of through it being attached to his name. The caste Hindu Assamese have a rough coir mat on which they wipe their feet they call the Naga mat because that's what they think of the Nagas. The Meiteis of Manipur have a term, ‘mayang', for mainland Indians and it is a term of derision and abuse. They are viciously racist about the non-Hindu tribes (Naga and several others) in the State. The examples can be multiplied. The point is simply this: we cannot afford to only point the racist finger at others. Several fingers are pointing back at us.
It is understandable that Mr. Yengkhom is making a point about institutionalised racism. But he is wrong to think it is difficult to prove. On the contrary, it is in this country rather too easy to prove because Indians are obnoxious enough not to even want to hide it. It is very clear to see both the institutionalised and the everyday forms of it: the racial profiling and the sneer, the look, the tone. What is missing is a strict set of laws to immediately book such behaviour even if it is from the state.
Racism is not an invisible wound at all. It is one of the most visible wounds on the face of India. Mr. Yengkhom's own examples bear this out whether it is the codes on dress and food sought to be enforced by the Delhi police in 2007 or the panic around the Tibetans. We do not have strict laws on race as we do on anti-Dalit discrimination in the form of the anti-Dalit Atrocities Act for example, and that is what we need around race and sexuality and other forms of very evident but unacknowledged discrimination. There is no need to make these forms of discrimination present; they are very evidently present.
We have a long history of proving our racism (remember Indian audiences objecting to Peter Brooks' dramatic version of Mahabharata having a black Kunti?) and there is obvious racism around us every day and every moment of our lives. Only the law can prevent this. It is akin to the political correctness codes in the U.S. Only the right wing object to these codes. They ensure civil behaviour in society. We do not need to know what obnoxious thoughts people think about us. We are happy to have them stay in the heads of those people. That's all. As for the institutional struggle in cases of outrageous and extreme violence, once again, it is only the law that can save us.
The currently fashionable rejection of the law can only come with fully politicised subjects who have support mechanisms outside of the law. For most of us, this is a luxury we cannot afford.
(Ashley Tellis is a gay rights and civil rights activist based in New Delhi.)
Keywords: racism in India
I fully agree with the author , but I want to point out one more aspect to this wide spread racism and racist mindset in our country , where a government is opting for laws to curb colour based and language based , cast based racism at the very same time it is increasing reservations with actually nullifies the effect of anti-racist strategies in the law . Does this not further divide the society rather than blending it into a secular and equal state. Why won't someone resort to racism when an equally qualified person (sometimes not even equally, no racism this is bitter truth) gets a better opportunity or some perks of the cast-ist and racist approach of our government??
This debate is interesting and seems got more intense on The Hindu as two different views have pop-up. To me, the racism arise when people, in-general, perceive others (outsiders) being more talented and apparently feels that they are taking their fair-share of rights (which could be in terms of jobs, or just because of some political reasons), then they started to hate them, and start to make stories about them. In the longer run, those stories becomes fable and later on becomes reality in the minds. Thus, this preconceived notion or to be more precise "Stereotyping a personality" (on the basis of any reason) leads to several problems which is what we call as Racism. Therefore, its remedy should also be more social, and collective. That means, have to educate people of the society at large about other communities. And, I believe here the cross cultural and cross state educational tours and cultural exchange could make a really better scene.
It is really ridiculous to point speck at someone's eye when we have beam in our eyes. I have seen inhuman treatment to the people from the so called mainland in North East and the abusive and derogatory words we used on them. But when something happen to the northeastern people outside the NE we raise hue and cry. Crying foul that we are being discriminated by mainland people. Let's retrospect how many non-NE people have been killed mercilessly in our region? How many of them have we abuse them? How many of them have been beaten up without mercy? On top of that there is discrimination among ourselves - we considered less important those not belonging to our tribe. Naga-ism, Kuki-ism, Boro-ism, Assamese-ism, Mizo-ism etc. We hate one another and we want to be treated with love by others. Let's change ourselves first and speak of change to others.
I agree to some points with the activist not all. It is like if one type of people or few africans are involved in any crime, all africans are blamed. Same in all cases. I am insulted, humiliated all the time and reminded that i am from mumbai and my parents are there by the dominant language community.
I often see matrimonial advertisements in Indian newspapers which read: 'Wanted fair, beautiful/handsome ......' Is that racism or colourism?
I feel really that a writer wasted her creative skills on writing about the issue of racism in a country like India because people out here can only pretend to be broad minded who cannot think above superficial elements like skin-color etc. People would read it as a part of an obligation but it will not really prick anyone's conscience.Fair skin obsession cannot end here,people build up stereotypes and love sticking to them, but I would appreciate western countries for that matter as there a person's inner abilities matter more than anything else.In India,north Indians generally think that all south Indians are dark and fair skinned south Indians astonish them.Bringing out a law in regard to this may not help finish people should understand that its humanity and values that unite us and not the skin color.Our Miss Universe Leila Lopes has got a dark skin shade and it has definitely stopped her from winning the most prestigious beauty contest.
Well Racism is a day today affair. A bitter truth is that my husband hided her mother's picture from me till the time our marriage did not get fixed.. he was afriad of losing me cause my MIL is black. But today she is the lady whom i respect and love a lot.. Racism develops from mind not from heart.. I agree with author that these fairness ads only should be banned but also should be fined.these ads are not only spreading a wrong massage in public but they are insulting the creator GOD who's paintings are without any error. Racism is not a today's era topic but its coming from the Ramanyana and Mahabharata yug. Stopping a racism is not easy but atleast we can put some effort by making a strict law.
@Ganapathy - Yes, Tamilians are very peaceful people. They do not beat up malayalis or kannadigas in Tamil Nadu if there is a problem with a dam or water.
The author should get his facts right. The reference to Naga mat is unconnected to the assamese being racist about nagas. To give a different example, the assamese love Naga shawls, its nomenclature not being connected to racism. There is a lot of inter-tribe and ethnic divisions and violence in the north-east, but to bring this up to justify or balance out North Indian racist and chauvinistic attitudes smacks of the author's ignorance about the depth of the issue, or the fact that majoritarian abuse is much more serious and institutionalised.
I agree with the writer, there is so much racism and people don't even recognize it, and say India is great in culture, and so, so forth. It was great once, not now. I don't understand this obsession with white color. I don't even get it when Krishna the God has a dark colored skin (as they say it), and in most of the sitcoms or movies, he is portrayed with blue color skin (another racism). People are so obsessed with the white skin, and you can even notice this in ads (as the writer points out), where movie stars, cricket players are too vying for it.
Its sad to see many people simply deviating from the main issue here. The issue is that people from NE are made to feel like they are living in a foreign country. The fact is that the military has a free hand in the NE states with no accountability and it is a fact that many legitimate atrocities committed on NE people hardly ever gets registered by the police in mainland India. We are so called "Citizens of India" but we do not live a dignified life in India. It is not a case of us being foreigners like the case of Africans neither is it a case of abuse of migrant workers in NE as claimed by some commentators.Most of the people who migrate to mainland India from NE are from the student community and many work in jobs which require high educational qualification. The fact is India is dominated by Aryans and Dravidian. I don't suppose anyone has ever seen a Mongolian doing 'Namaste' in any of the 'Shining India' ads.
More than 86% of NE people face discrimination or racism in India. ASHLEY TELLIS needs some real research or is being racist.
Unfortunately, I am racist too..I am not proud of it and I do not know how it came upon me. However, when I see an African, I get feelings of the likes of doubt, fear etc. I have not been harmed by any African and in fact once I talk to them the fear vanishes.. I think this is a result of my upbringing and education and now, consciously I am getting over with this! Children, right from the very beginning need to have an environment where they do not discriminate based on color..I guess we need Amir Khan to bring this up for the rest of the population to be aware of it!
Completely disagree with the author on one point. The law, by itself, cannot resolve this issue, and, as long as there are no seriously violent repercussions, it is much better to have peoples attitudes in the open than festering in their heads. Suppressing such feelings could lead to explosive violence in the future It's far better to discuss these things in the open. I am glad the Hindu is proving to be a medium for this.
All of you here, please relax. India is NOT racist. It's one thing to come across such isolated incidents , completely another to call ourselves racist. Most people here do not even seem to know what racism is. Someone making fun of your hindi is not a racist. And someone here has said dislike for the political class is racism. Every issue is being paraded as racism, that is obnoxious. Please stop it. We are a large country and our curriculum does not do justice to it. An inclusive curriculum that reflects the rich contributions of all regions in the country will go a long way in effectively addressing any discriminatory behavior
Dear Ashley Tellis
Well written but beautiful English does not mean that you are right. Please I hope you think that you are well qualified. This is the problem in our society. Those who speak good English and criticize in any topic can not be said that it is good. There may be some positive points. However, in the issue you need to study more deep on it. Having some small amount of friends from Northeast, you can not say that you are well known about Northeast India. Next time before you write about this, please rethink what type of people from NE. Who are they? You know who are Meiteis, Naga, Bodo, Assamese and so on. That is not enough for your small brain. I would like ask this question is how long did you stay in NE? How many friends do you from NE. It is surprising how do you write/comment about the NE knowing nothing about NE. Try to understand about a single state of NE and you will a little idea about the whole NE. Please improve your writing next time
Shakespeare said,"There is nothing wrong in the world,it is the thinking which makes it so"It is we who have to change our mind set about racism and cast ism.Rules and regulations enforced on us can control our body and action but can not win our hearts and minds.Living in Botswana (Africa)for long time our feelings about dark complexion has vanished and we have mixed up with local population as one of them.Surprisingly when we are out of our country we forget racism and cast ism but on our return to India we take U turn again.On a positive note,situation is of course changing but at a snail pace.
It is a noted fact that when a person or a student from north east is
seen in roads or college they are often considered as citizens of
other countries such as china,tibet,vietnam.
Yengkhom clearly described the larger perspective of racism that
exists for the students and people of north east in different parts of
our country.Its absolutely absurd the way in which ashley has
described the people of northeast themselves as racist.
A law similar to the sc/st attrocity case is neccesary to prevent the
racism that our fellow brothers and sisters face in society
We the country that celebrates its diversity, cannot think of living together in peace, its not just based on religion, but language, culture, every possible thing. A North Indian faces regular jibes in the South, and South Indian ends up hearing equally repressing comments in the North. A Tamil gets beaten up in Karnataka because his state is asking for its fair share of water and Tamils reciprocate by beating up their fellow residents of even faintly Kannada lineage. Malayalis beat up Tamil pilgrims to Sabarimala because the two states don't see eye-to-eye on an ancient dam. I still remember a ringing comment in an argument between an auto driver and a car driver in Mumbai, who were involved in a minor accident, the auto driver threatens the car driver, and the educated dapper looking car driver/owner responds in expletive laden Hindi,"do you think am a filthy Mumbaiite, am from Delhi, I'll shut you out". We Indians are inherently racist, its in our blood.. unfortunately.
When does one qualify to be colour unprejudiced ? For the sake of argument, let's take an example.
-A fair (colored) individual 'does not think' in the lines of color being a distinctive factor in perceiving the personality of another person (fair/dark complexioned). This guy passes the test.
-A dark complexioned individual 'does not think' in the lines of color being a distinctive factor in perceiving the personality of another person (fair/dark complexioned). This guy also passes the test.
-A fair (coloured) individual 'thinks' in the lines of color being a distinctive factor in perceiving the personality of another person (fair/dark complexioned). This guy FAILS the test.
--A dark complexioned individual 'thinks' in the lines of color being a distinctive factor in perceiving the personality of another person (fair/dark complexioned). This guy also FAILS the test.
A dark skinned man's acknowledgement of colour prejudice implies that he too is color prejudiced.
"On the contrary, it is in this country rather too easy to prove because Indians are obnoxious enough not to even want to hide it."
I don't think there are many countries in the world where one could have written this and had it published. not that there isn't an issue with discrimination, but it has nothing to do with skin colour or origin. Most people in India are too used to living in the place where they are born. Increased mobility within the country is changing the country and challenging old ideas of community - for the better.
In the article 'racism' is being derived purely by the names used to
identify people. Let's not forget that every issue has a social,
economical and psychic contexts. Also let's not forget that as the human
societies evolved language also must have evolved. Hence there must have
been limited choice of descriptive words or names. It must have been
convenient for the people of the yesteryears to apply certain thumb
rules like occupation, place of dwelling to describe each other.
The fact that there is no discrimination on the basis of caste, creed or religeon in the North East is hard to digest for a Delhiite or for that matter anyone from the mainland. Another fact that Assam had the maximum no of people born utside the state in the 1970 census - meaning mainlanders flocking to earn a living in a hospitable environment (which sadly they do not get in their own home states). Another fact which might cause dispepsia - Assam (ie all NE states barring Manipur & Tripura) had a per capita higher than the national average in 1947 but this fell below the national average within 15 years of so-called independence. The Indian state vivisected Assam into 5 different states but what has been the result ? 65 years of living within the Indian dominion has been catastrophic for the region.
While talking about discrimination against people from Northeast India and Africa,
please do not forget the Bihari migrants. I am yet to go to a city in India where I am not discriminated against as a 'Bihari'. Unfortunately, I don't even speak any Bihari language - Maithil or Bhojpuri - so people in Bihar feel free to discriminate against me as well.
I really regret my decision to come back to this country from the US. I
thought I could bring about some change by focusing people's attention on Science and innovation. However, Indians only want to be entertained by making others suffer and enjoying their suffering.
The desire to subdue another man, tribe, clan, caste and nation stems from the human mind that is fearful, lacking but stronger. We don’t respect each other out of love but fright. Once I know you are a push-over I don’t even care. It is your turn to recognise and respect me.
All of us are raised in a class structure that is deep rooted in us. The divisive aspect is alive in us. Any thought, word or action to alter this discriminating character shall only reinforce the quality.
The law, 3 month imprisonment, capital punishment can not eradicate racism.
Is there a way out?
Yes but you have to find it.
Prejudices are learned at one's infant state and remain indelible throughout the person's life. All one can do is to understand the disability and learn to modify the behavior to improve oneself. Even when the individual had controlled such core beliefs and driven behavior that follows, at certain heated moments in interaction, the core belief can surface and embarrass the individual. Needless to say, they are some of the awkward moments in one's life. One can only apologize after the event and move on hoping that such a shameful events do not return soon! Racism has been such a strong discriminatory emotion in all our lives!
Add to your observations, how North Indians view South Indians (dark,
black etc.) and how in the South people with lighter shades of dark skin
view those with darker shades of dark skin (mind you these are just
subtle shades!)...What about film songs? Most of them depict dark
skinned people (read women) as inferior. Yes, we're a racist country.
But we seldom like to look in the mirror and admit it.
Please allow me to point out one more dimensions to this already
complex multidimensional problem. The language!
Be it in India or abroad, the Indians or desis as known abroad, are
biased towards language based racism. So even though there may be
different cast or colored-shade of people, we then further divide
ourselves based on language or statehood.
There is a joke in IT field, apart from mentioning/boasting the
languages (computer language) known in resume, one should also mention
the knowledge of spoken language (if his/her name does not make it
obvious).
I've said this before and I'll say it again. It would be dangerously simplistic and counterproductive to paint our phobic and hateful discriminatory attitudes with the brush of "racism". India's is a far more complex story and giving one kind of prejudice an exaggerated platform will only cause abject neglect of all else. We really should not have to learn any lessons from any nation where racism was legally sanctioned not too long ago. Let's find out own apt solutions to our problems.
Another kind of racism gaining momentum in the country with the help of
media is against politicians, govt institutions and judiciary. People
tend to judge the entire community or group based on the incidents
happened in the past. I think media should grow to next level, and play
a big role in eradicating the evil than the individuals or community.
I fully agree with the Author on us portraying Africans in poor colour. Also, promoting "fairness cream" is something that should be banned - because it is outright racist. Why should someone change the colour of their skin to gain acceptability. Such an advert would have created an uproar in the U.S.
If someone ridicules our English accent in the West, the entire media would go ballistic - criticising the West for their "racism" - but we think nothing about ridiculing a South Indian's Hindi accent.
There are all sorts of "jokes" at the expense of Biharis, Sikhs etc.
Yes, there is a lot of racism here ; what compounds it , that no one seems to care.
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