Just now I read that the actress Priyanka Chopra tweeted her support for the Black Lives Matter movement, and many, especially Indian men, branded her a hypocrite because she endorsed fairness creams in the past. So what?! Do you think no other culture does it? The Chinese, the Koreans, the Middle Easterners, the blacks, the whites, — they all do it. Chemical peels, cover ups, creams, and whatnot. Most of the time it is to get an even tone, whether you are fair or dark. No one wants to have patchy, blotchy, hyper or hypo pigmented skin. ( although if you, an Indian woman, go to certain dermatology offices here, there is a chance that your skin problem may be looked at through racist eyes, not by a doctor, maybe, but by his or her minions - as if you are meant to have that problem, as if it was not a problem, but something as it should be, as if only she or people like her deserve to have “ problems” corrected. Implication - “are you trying to be white? As if you ever will be!”) And then there is the hair. There is the teeth, the chin, nose, the eyes... oh the lips! the list goes on. For whatever reason, people get this idea of beauty. Even Elizabeth Taylor got a nose job! And a chin job, and numerous other jobs. It is not that we run after just fairness, we run after youth too, by the way, otherwise why do we dye our hair? Vanity, thy name is human. And then there is the tanning craze. They are not necessarily adapting to “white cultural standards”. But the criticism by these Indians are that, in these times.
Internalized racism
Many of these people, who try to change their appearance, rightly condemn this particular blatant racist act. Do you call them hypocrites? So why call Priyanka one? Makes one wonder - is it racism? Sexism? Or plain envy? Actually I figure that it is internalized racism on the part of the Indian male or female to just assume that any dermatological treatment to enhance on the part of an Indian is naturally their wanting to be white.These assumptions do not have a simple basis, obviously. The only benefit of this kind of oversimplification and jumping to conclusion is for the person who does this - to convince themselves that they are anti racist and enlightened.
No one laments, “Woe is me! I am not white!”
The other side, especially the earlier side, when we had our caste system at its strongest, where we worship white, fair, light skin tone. The same Indian man who called Priyanka a hypocrite will only marry a fair skinned girl! Now that is problematic. I am not blaming anyone here who wants to be straight haired, blonde, blue eyed and tall and willowy. When a girl grows up in a society where fairness is the ideal, the perfect, the true standards of beauty and success and power, it is natural to want to be like that. And if she grows up in a society where the dominant majority are white, and if she is on the receiving end of slights and name calling and discriminatory behaviors, the problem gets an altogether different aura. In India, it was the lighter skin tones of some upper caste individuals and newcomers. Although the blending has been going on for thousands of years, and nome among the current population is “pure” upper or lower caste, there are still vestiges of this notion here and there. The colonial powers added to this nonsense, but in this time and age I do not think there are that many in India who still hold on to whiteness as perfect or the ideal. I don’t think anyone sits there lamenting and beating their chests, crying “ woe is me! I am not white!” (Maybe in the Northern part, there is! I am not sure) Most of them are not even aware of the existence of white people! Anyway, if there is this idea in some people’s minds, naturally, but obviously mistakenly, some of them will look upon themselves as somehow inferior, ugly and different or inadequate in a bad way. Even less human. And the trouble gets bigger, when the white or any other person from a dominant majority starts to think s/he is somehow better and perfect than that person with the darker skin. That s/he is the only one who deserves all the good things in life.
The construct
Mind you, even in that dominant white group, not everyone has straight golden hair and blue eyes! But many of them pretend that they are all that. And here enters the sprays, bleach, the peroxide, the colored lenses for eyes, and of course, surgery. Many whites’ “typical Caucasian” features are constructs. Just like the North Indian who pretends to be something better than the South Indian. Who thinks he is white! And mocks his fellow country man based on skin tone. Which again is the same as some of his own family members! With all the henna and the bleach, they still remain brown. Come to think of it, it is ironic that the North Indian Priyanka finds herself in this pickle!
Now let us look closely at some of the deep rooted reasons behind this inordinate worship of whiteness, be it on the part of Indians or any other black and brown race. As said before, caste system and slavery found a perfect partner in crime in colonialism. Plain, old greed for wealth and power took a more devious and dangerous turn when they started using skin tone to initiate and perpetuate oppression. And racism was nurtured and it flourished. If we look at history, any older culture who have been dominated by a newcomer group goes through this. I remember the panic and frustration and total disbelief of certain white people when a group of archaeologists and scientists said that the ancient European was dark skinned. Or that the ancestors of all people are in Africa. They wanted to believe that they had dropped down from the skies!Much like the so called upper castes of India. Actually once I listened spellbound to a half white half North Indian declaring that all North Indians were high caste and South Indians were low caste! So much for superior intelligence that was once touted to be the monopoly of the Westerner.
And I did not see any Indian take umbrage when that great humanitarian George Clooney talked casually about a pathetic occurrence in a rich country as “something that would happen in aThird World country”. That is assumption, racism and hypocrisy all rolled into one handsome white celebrity. Or when another philanthropic celeb says “showing that even the tall, blonde foreign lady wanted to use it" when she is describing her philanthropic work in a certain Third World country ( this is from an article in Vogue), no one seemed to be aware of the disturbing sense of racial superiority on the part of this lady. She might as well have added “Aryan”!Which by the way is an Indian word, which means "noble", not racist. And to the ones who think and say smugly that they will shine like jewels in India among all those dark people, it may be a wrong shine. As in the case of the above mentioned blonde saviour. Those poor Third World women are too busy putting the next meal on their tables, living their mundane or not mundane day to day lives, not think of , let alone adore your skin color. They may see you as strange, as alien, so far removed from their own realities, not necessarily as a paragon of beauty. And as for the adulation by many of the male set, there is that colonial/caste worship of whiteness, but to many, sadly, white females are easy. Sorry.Very wrong, I agree.
And as for us Indians, we are in the shadow lands. Especially in a western country. We could be perceived as either black or brown or Latino or Asian or even white (like the North Indian who condescendingly lets you know that you don’t look like a South Indian! As if it is a compliment! )or no one, depending on the beholder. We could be invisible to many. Our children have to do ten times better than the white in order to get ahead. No problem, we think and hope that it would make us all better human beings, build character. Heck, we don’t even have our own nationality. They call native Americans by our name. That is fine too, because many of us have a little bit of native American in us too. A teeny tiny bit. And because we are in the shadow lands, we have to fear too. Our young men have been murdered by white men who have walked free afterwards. The other side is that if it had been a black or brown perpetrator he would still be in jail, or dead. I have been afraid when my son goes for a run outside. We do not talk about it outside our “safe” walls, out of politeness? Fear? whatever it is, we do not want to make waves, so anyone can get away with saying or doing anything when it comes to us. We are aliens. Just like we women back home keep quiet and out of sight, under the radar. We behave like good little kids before nuns. We say things the dominant majority likes to hear, we keep quiet when they want us to, and we try to keep out of the way, keep our heads down. We pretend we didn't get their racist comment. Most of the time we are embarrassed for them.
The layers of racism are visible in all walks of life. One instance is the medical field. While it could be blamed on the subtle and not so subtle takeover by power mad corporate culture, racism may be another factor. I suspect that the slow stripping of the powers of physicians and surgeons in both private and public sector is related to this. Indians, do you know what doctors are called here? Providers! It is all well and good that the administrative group wants to blur the distinction between doctors, nurses, physician assistants and nurse practitioners. But then why should the doctors go through all that trouble to get into med school, spend years studying hard, and long, jumping through numerous loopholes, over high hurdles, getting the training , incurring massive debts, foregoing all social life,if there is no distinction among the different groups? And why not call the CEO and all the assistants and clerks Managers? Well, there are many Asian and Indian doctors in this country, and the majority of the doctors in the government hospitals and clinics are from these groups. And that could be one significant reason that this stripping of power, putting them in their place, this is all they should get mentality on the part of the higher ups is taking place. But that is another story. And we still accommodate, oblige.
Now we see “Karens” cropping up everywhere in the news. The very obvious, conspicuous racist. That to me, even though, is just like some caricature, is also very real. But that is just one kind. There are layers and layers and degrees of racism, most of which we ourselves are unaware. Sticking a placard in your front yard about “hate does not have a place here” or holding up a Black Lives Matter sign or grinning at a person of color does not make one not a racist. I have experienced toxic hatred from such apparently humane persons. Again, it is complex— exaggerated feelings of entitlement, envy, begrudging Others’ perceived good fortune/easy life, ignorance, basic bad nature are just some add ons to racism. The bottomline being “ all are equal, some are more equal”.
None of that stands out now in the light of what the mothers of young black men here go through on a daily basis. To not feel safe in the hands of those who are supposed to protect— just because of your skin color. That pain and fear and anger — that makes one stop and think and feel. We are familiar with this in India too. So this is to Indians. Don’t waste time branding your celebrities this and that when they use their well earned platform to protest great injustice when they see it. Instead look around you, do you see a young man from the so called low caste being stepped on by our law for no reason other than his caste? Getting sacrificed when the dominant group decides, be it in politics or war. They are fodder. Then they are forgotten.
Having said all that, I still admire and respect this country. Especially, its advances in every area of our lives, its women who paved a freer way for the new generation, its way of life. I still look up to it in many ways, and have great expectations for it. That a woman can walk alone anywhere or has the option to, and not be judged — that is one of the main reasons I feel great calling this country my home.
For a great country, being aware of the evil , shameful and totally wrong practices and attitudes and ideas of racial discrimination is urgent and important. Racism is a blight on its noble brow. Also important is the awareness of the past, humility, forgiveness, reparation and reconciliation to all those who were affected, be they native American and/or black. Those are not weaknesses, that is the sign if greatness, of sanity. Exclusion and division is always hurtful and end up destroying civilizations. That is one reason I admire Obama and Carter.I know there are many in any dominant group who mean well, who want to do good, who are empathetic and evolved. So here’s to hoping for a real new world filled with love and ideals of global and national brotherhood/sisterhood.
PS: To me, it makes no sense at all to blame Russia or China or anybody else for all the election troubles here, Democrat or Republican, I think it is the whites, the majority here, who are responsible for electing their leaders. They elected Obama, and then they elected Trump as a backlash against Obama. And then they got embarrassed. They were uncomfortable at seeing themselves , albeit, an over the top version, in Trump. Both the Presidents were and are Americans, fyi. Then they elected Biden. Just my opinion.
Whoever itiit ks, I wish all the best for this great nation.
Asha Bernard
