Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been keeping up with Indian Idol fairly religiously. (You can catch up on all the episodes here, if you’re so inclined.) I don’t even understand Hindi all that well, but I love the music, the contestants are entertaining to watch, and the show doesn’t take itself nearly as seriously as American Idol does. Needless to say, I’m hooked.
I’m already placing my bets on one contestant in particular — Meiyang Chang. Unlike the other contestants I’ve seen (even those on American Idol), I actually feel moved by his voice. He’s that impressive. Not to mention that he’s also articulate, he writes well, and he looks good in fitted t-shirts. He’s quickly attracted a steady following.
Yet despite his appeal, the show is fairly obsessed with reminding us brown people that Chang is (gasp!) not quite one of “us.” Although Chang was born and raised in India, the Indian Idol website promotes him as the “contestant from China.” The show’s co-host first introduced him by stating, “His surname is Chinese, but his heart is Indian.” Even more embarrassing is this condescending exchange between the judges and Chang during the duet round, in which Anu Malik tells him, “You’ve just proven that music knows no language.” Thanks, Indian Idol, I had no idea that Chinese people could actually sing.
I can only imagine the sort of outrage that would follow in our community had the producers of American Idol promoted Sanjaya as “The Indian,” “The Contestant from India,” or “The Brown Guy Who’s Really an American at Heart.” But I have to give credit to Chang, though — in spite of the ignorant comments, he only smiles and nods, never protesting or showing frustration. Poor guy. And I thought I had it rough growing up in southern California.
Here’s a clip from the theater rounds:
According to this, ethnic Chinese make up 0.02% of the Indian population. That’s less than the percentage population of South Asians in the US, by the way.
I give much respect to the host. Ryan Seacrest would never kiss another guy on the cheek.
Seeker, I’ve had the pleasure of working w/ Javed Sa’ab many years ago. He’s a real gentleman, speaks lovely, unpretentious urdu and has a great collection of kurtas.
You see immigrants come to the US for the state provided comforts, more than the people (that’s a guess, though; you may disagree). And people look to India for her people, despite the state. I am okay with dissing (especially of the state), but when the dissing is misplaced and completely made up (and has the audacity of an escalating commitment) it only reveals who gets it who doesn’t (but thinks she does).
ANNA, please write more and do not pay any attention to haters and posers(and those who think they know everything despite their poor knowledge and preconceived notions).
Speaking of reality shows, there’s a desi girl finalist on Steven Spielberg’s “On THe Lot”. Her short piece on Indian gay comedian Vidur Kapur will air this Tuesday, June 5th, on FOX. We’ll have a chance to vote for it afterwards. There’s a blog about her here: http://ourvoicesinmedia.blogspot.com/
Sure try growing up Indian in Chinese singapore. Being called Abu neh neh,kelengkia starts pretty much in kindergarten.
Oh and racism here is institutionalized.Nobody talks about it least of all the press there is only one opinion, which is everything is perfect.Below is an example when a jackass slips up, there are many more just need to google.
“One evening, I drove to Little India and it was pitch dark but not because there was no light, but because there were too many Indians around.” -PAP(Ruling party since independence) Member of Parliment, Mr Choo Wee Khiang, made the remarks in Mandarin in a speech in parliament in 1992.
Indians make up about 7% of the population.
Anyways the story is about a dude who can really sing well and just happens to be chinese and judges on idol are not brightest people around. So stop making this into your own personal tale of growing up as a minority, I think a lot of people here can relate to it.
I suppose it doesn’t make too much of a difference that Meiyang calls his own future kids ‘chinki’?
http://buddhasoliloques.blogspot.com/2007/01/wonder-years.html
What kind of logic is that? Just because a lot of us have known discrimination, if someone wants to talk about his/her experience of being discriminated in India, they should not? Or that since it happens to brown Indians in Singapore, attention should not be brought to discrimination of minorities in India.
Maybe so, but that again does not mean you ignore that prevalent ignorance. The judges are definitely not more ignorant than the average man on the streets.
I taught English for a year in Taiwan – very non-pc as well. I really felt for the Indonesians and Phillipinos who were there mostly working as domestic servants or construction.
It was really an interesting in that — I have never been to a place where I got so many compliments, people would tell me all the time how pretty I was. I’d always get “I want your eyes and nose”. In my school my fellow teachers and students called me “beauty”. And at the same time, I’d often encounter, “oh beautiful” and then rubbing their skin on their arm and they would intimate that my skin color was no good. Funny….I felt I was ready for this b/c I got the same crap among non-pc Indians.
I was protected from a lot of outright racism b/c I was an American citizen and an English teacher…; I think it would have been very difficult, whatever anyone thought about my looks, if I wasn’t an American citizen and dark-skinned. Certainly I heard rude comments (maybe how some Americans make rude comments about working-class Latinos here) about the Phillipinos and Indonesians that came there to work mostly as domestic servants or construction.
Taiwan has a long way to go in immigrant rights.
Despite all this, of course I am sorry for any Chinese-Indian to face the same crap. Or Indian-Singaporeans or any minority that faces prejudice in any country. Runa’s statement:
Makes it difficult to express any “righteous indignation” for any subtle racism we face here.
is not what we should take away from the Chinese-Indian idol’s experience. I will definitely complain when someone is racist to me in the US, as anyone should. As my Chinese-American friends should, as anyone should.
My experiences traveling, have actually made me really grateful for the US’s own laws and long history of dealing with immigrants and racial minorities. Most countries in the world haven’t had to contend with that and what would seem as flagrant civil rights/hr violations for minorities in the US, go completely accepted in other parts of the world.
Thanks, hema! Does the % of South Asians in your figure include DBDs? (curiosity)
I’m seriously baffled by the huge amounts of hateration towards ANNA. 90% of the time it doesn’t even make sense in the context of the post/comment thread. I’m also curious as to how many times this happens with “fly by” commenters. Maybe there’s more of an impetus to be an asshole when you aren’t “accountable” to the group you’re posting with?
ANNA, I say do your thing!
Really? I think he would. But can you give the host props for something that is culturally different? Like, would you give an Italian host props for kissing a guy on the cheek?
Ryan Seacrest kissing a guy on the cheek? I’ve never seen him do anything remotely. as for Italian guy doing it, isn’t that just like shaking hands over there? I don’t know I’ve never been.
As for haterade on Anna, I haven’t been around long enough, but I think people just feel left out if they don’t have an opinion. Personally I don’t get all the discussion eitherway. She’s just a person.
On another note, what’s the purpose of Indian Idol? If you win, you get to have some no-talent guy with the last name Khan lipsynch over your lyrics?
razib:
I know that you’re more of an expert on race, genotype, etc., but what I really meant was that I don’t think of white skinned punjabis and dark-skinned tamils as being of different races (although I admit ignorance on that score)…or maybe it’s just a case of some “racial” types being more common in India than others. Again, I don’t know the actual breakdown of numbers.
I don’t either – and most people I know speak of different cultures or ethnicities but not races in India. Especially considering that most Indian families whether in Tamil or UP or kashmir, have a wide range of phenotypes, which include dark and light skin.
This is why I say that Indians preference for light skin, isn’t racism – b/c it’s not between “races” – at least the social construct of how race is perceived in the US. Hope I’m not threadjacking here – if so I’m sure someone will crack down on me – but what do others think?
Sorry to shatter your world, naiverealist, but OSN and I are not the same person. I honestly don’t care enough about you to “instigate” things with you. Seriously, get over yourself.
I’m so glad you posted this Naina. I actuall saw, purely by chance, the episode where Anu Malik made the stupid comment and I was fuming. Why can’t they just see him as an Indian? It’s like white people who are surprised that Korean adoptees raised in America can speak such good English or something. The guy is INDIAN. Seems like a nice guy, good singer. I hope he wins, it would be great PR for India, and it would help negate some of the racism I’m sure he’s experienced.
That was my point. For the first couple of years in India I was SHOCKED at how rude and un-pc the locals were in my hood. Shopkeepers referring to customers as “motu”, “kallu”, etc, etc,. Then it just dawned on me that this was their culture and they don’t mean it in a mean way, it’s more of a “teasing”.
That is one thing that westerners in India find very hard to deal with — the jokes and teasing at their own expense. Over here it would be a big NO NO to call someone you love “fatso”. In India it’s not. Alot of westerners get offended until they come to understand the dynamics of it all.
Whenever I get a “lal bandar”, they get a “kala bandar” right back coz two can play that game — some like to dish it out but can’t take it when it’s dished to them though, but most take it in stride – just like they expect me to.
Name calling by physical attributes is a strict No No at school and is used a classic example in school to teahc children the value of empathy (which is a different discussion – disabled people should not be made fun at but helped). Although as adults its used in sly and among peer groups, I find it incredible that shopkeepers would call customers Kala/Lal Bandar to their face – maybe you got too cosy and earned it.
I actually agree. I think of India’s preference more in the realm of beauty, rather than self worth. You may find “light skins” gracing all the magazines, however, will you necessarily find all of them owning most of the companies, disproportionately getting leniency in the judicial system, getting preference in job and housing markets, etc..?
Speak for yourself only please.
The immigrants I know who came to US came also for the social and cultural freedoms in addition to state provided comforts (by that I guess you mean good roads and highways, which, are provided by the people through taxes. I’ve yet to see the US “state” give me anything for free yet!)
By social and cultural freedoms I do not mean that Indians in India are not free to move about and what-not. In many ways they are way freer than US citizens in terms of some of the behaviour accepted there and what they are allowed to get away with in public spaces. But in US there is a respect for personal space and privacy which you don’t generally get in India, and which the lack of can drive some people crazy. Everyone seems to be in your business over there, even if you aren’t Indian.
I would say tourists and Indo-philes go to India more for her history and culture than for the individuals that currently make up the citizenship of that nation. Of course, it’s the people of India which create her culture, so in that aspect, I guess you could be right that people go there for the people. But it’s also the ways of the people that drive alot of tourists, religionists and Indo-philes out of India — especially women, in my experience.
The dance, music, art, architecture, literature, etc of India are all amazingly beautiful. However, it’s the attitudes and behaviours of the people that I had to wade through to get to all these things that drove me batty. Especially attitudes towards women. If India could change that one thing really fast, I’d be back there in a second. Since it can’t, I’m taking a long hiatus, appreciating it’s culture from a distance in my own private “space”, where I can breath and buy a kilo of bananas without someone staring and commenting about it.
PG, do you feel that living away from india has given you some sense of love for the people? i grew up in the states, so i don’t have the same experience as you, and while i do share some of your viewpoints, i think even that extra level of involvement has its benefits. in many ways, i feel that it explains why many relationships in india – parents-children, friends, siblings/cousins – are often far more deeper than their western equivalents. and the only reason i have to explain is the lack of space. here, we are for more individualized, which has its benefits, certainly, but sometimes something is lost. that’s one of the things that i look forward to whenever i visit india – the inquisitiveness. and one more thing – as conservative as indians can be, there is also a simultaneous sense of ‘chalta hai’ – anything goes. recently, there was an article about how a boeing aircraft was abandoned in the streets of a usy mumbai suburb – and while people were curious. not many were very bothered. shit like this happens only in india, and you have to appreciate that.
Naiverealist, I looked at your blog and you’re obviously a Hindu fundamentalist nutcase. We all know that you are the one trolling ANNA and the one who has an issue with women speaking their mind. My family actually left India to escape the people and came to America for both the people and better infrastructure. And no, you can’t stand dissing of the Indian state…b/c you are so weak and insecure that you start making dangerous insinuations when someone criticizes it. Oh good one, me and Naina are the same…yeah, in fact, me, Naina, ANNA, Camille, anyone with a female name – all the same! Ever heard of IP addresses, moron?
Vivek, I wish you a thousand anal probes at an Israeli airline’s “random” screening.
I think the problem on here is that you have a bunch of American-based desis who do experience racism from time to time, and want to talk about it. And then the right-wing nutjobs in India and elsewhere like naiverealist, Vivek, clueless, et al. come in and obviously don’t get it. Because they fear white men, and fear power – b/c they worship it and are very insecure themselves – and lash out when anyone – especially a woman – speaks her mind. They are the types on here who always lash out at anyone describing a racist, sexist, etc. experience – you know, how if a Sikh woman is beaten up, it’s really not the white skinheads’ fault, it’s the fault of the 9-11 hijackers. They’re the ones who are always ready to silence anyone who dares speak of oppression, b/c they’d rather sit around like naiverealist and post stupid shit about Jana Gana Mana and bhojpuri music.
Hey, you all got personal first by claiming I’m not who I say I am. Remind you of a recent clueless incident?
Again, hilarious that this much hatred towards women and minority voices is coming from a bunch of INdians. Really, wake up.
please disregard the tone of my last post, even though i did mean most of what i said. i was just pissed at the constant ignorance of trolls like naiverealist, etc.
um, okay racism might not be the best term, but light skin preference is rooted in the same psychology of racism. it’s not as if india has had no interaction with the outside world. british imperialism played a sizeable role, amongst other factors, in forming a preference for light skin vs dark skin in the minds of many indians. you see, social conditioning comes in many insidious forms – advertising, history, market forces, etc. which feed constant messages to the individual. the message being, basically, the lighter skin is more attractive and has a more legitimate claim to happiness than darker skin.
i think it affects women more than men, especially when it comes to marriage prospects and other social interactions…and a lot of it comes from other family members. but “colorism” is still rooted in the same psychology as racism, and i think racism is just as appropriate a word for it.
why? well, once you ask yourself that question – why do indians think light skin is more attractive – you get a lot of answers that are similar to why white beauty is still considered premium over black beauty in the united states. if you cut away at the layers, there are still notions that if you have dark skin, you have some immutable characteristics that you make you less of a worthy person than a light-skinned person. ever heard of the doll test in the united states? when little black girls were asked “who is the nice doll?” they almost uniformly chose the black doll. i wouldn’t be surprised if a similar test in india revealed that most people think the “nice” doll is the one with light skin.
OSN, I have tolerated a lot. You have called me many names, and I tried to hold myself back. I am not a Hindu fundamentalist nutcase. If you can cite one instance why I am what you think I am, I will try to see where you are coming from. I just don’t understand why I should be labeled a troll while you will continue with your verbiage freely thrown at me. Obviously this blog is private space.
Enough of time wasting.
Naiverealist, you’re the one who started out by claiming that OSN is not who she says she is. We don’t do that on this board. Then you insinuated that OSN and I are the same person and that we’re “out to get you.” That’s trollish behavior. This is your last warning.
Getting back to the topic in hand – one reason I think Anu Malik asked the stupid question “Are you really Chinese” is because may be he is exposed only to real Chinese and not Chinese Indians. Or he wanted to check if Chang is from Northeast – just an innocent question IMO.
There is flood of Chinese from China to India these days – in Bangalore itself there are dozens of hairdressing, makeup parlours run by Chinese (from China)
And someone mentioned earlier, any medium city in India had Chinese presence for decades – mostly as dentists and restaurant owners. And of course there are Tibet refugees and their descendants everywhere in India now. May be Anu Malik need to go out of his usual Bollywood hangouts – escorted concerts etc.
SMIntern: nice.
maybe he asked to verify citizenship status? i assume each of these contests is only open to legal citizens/residents of the country? otherwise why call it ‘indian’ or ‘american’ idol? though there is some other indian singing contest going on right now that has a group of contestants from pakistan, which i think is pretty cool…
First off, Nice post Naina.
I don’t know how things are in Kolkata(this is in Andhra), but my classmates from NorthEast were made fun of during undergrad. Admittedly these are not as simple as the kind of nicknames/slurs everyone goes through nor as hardcore as racial slurs brown skinned get from random ppl driving by the road in south, but nevertheless they are serious. Slurs about appearance, ethinicity and national loyalty are not funny.
naive, if you go back and really read my comments, it should be somewhat obvious that i was “labeling” you a hindu fundamentalist, etc. in an attempt to make you see how annoying and frustrating it is when people don’t let you speak for your self and define yourself (like meiyang chang). obviously you didn’t get that…hello, i was being intentionally over the top. do i really think you’re a hindu fundamentalist? i don’t know, but you do seem to exhibit a stubborness about admitting that there is racism directed towards chinese in india just like white talk show hosts will find any reason to deny there is racism in america. and your own blog is full of jingoistic nonsense.
anyway i truly hope you stop trolling this site and stop expressing your sexist frustration at female bloggers like anna, naina, etc.
re: my comment about race & culture. first, there were a few comments which implied that india was not multicultural or multiracial. but that’s false. yes, there is a broad indian culture and indian race which has more in common with other subsets of the set than with subsets of other sets. but, that is like saying that europe has a shared culture and a shared race. in the broadest sense that is true, but no one would elide the difference between a finn and a spaniard. there’s a lot of variation there. the context of comparison was with the united states, which does have many cultures and races. but i don’t think india and the USA are that different on this diversity metric. in regards to religion & language india is more diverse than the united states (and europe).
now, i will move quickly to the genetics. yes, someone who is of chinese ancestry is genetically different from someone who is south asian, and all south asians will generally cluster with each other as opposed to the chinese individual. the main exceptions would be the mongoloid tribal peoples of the northeast. but, many assamese and even bengalis would have something in common with the chinese person. in regards to this indian idol contestant i don’t have an objection toward surprise as to his familial provenance, but i often get the feeling that south asians have a self-image of themselves which deviates from reality. indian pop culture is filled with “white” looking individuals. there are such individuals within india, but proportionately they are a very small minority. the average indian is a very dark skinned person who isn’t reflected in their media. that’s fine, and that’s a different discussion.
but the attitude toward “mongoloid” people that crops up on these boards on occasion has rubbed me the wrong way precisely because south asians accept and lionize the lighter skinned and “sharp featured” range of their physical diversity so much. when there was a post about s. mitra kalita, a young brown american journalist, some commenters offered that she ‘didn’t look indian, she looks kind of mongoloid.’ wtf?!?! she ethnically assamese. that’s not uncommon in assam. in my own extended family i have relatives who look considerably more mongoloid than ms. kalita. but they’re bengali, it’s just a natural part of the range of appearance amongst many benaglis, especially from areas like chittagong and comilla where the hill tribes occasionally intermarried with the deltic farmers. not that benaglis aren’t ignorant when it comes to ‘chinese’ (by which they mean japanese, koreans and east asians in general). i’ve had to sit in rooms where relatives of mine make fun of chinese people when they themselves look pretty asian if you ask me. of course, their self-perception is that they look the white-washed pictures of “bengalis” in their school books.
so i guess my comments reflect my opinion that browns should deconstruct their identities a bit, and accept they’re a motley diverse bunch and that a “chinamen” isn’t really that much of a standout as a deviant in that context. some nations, like south korea, and very ethnically homogenous. it doesn’t surprise me that south korean banned mixed-race individuals from serving in the military until recently, they’re a monoracial and monolingual nation. but indian (or pakistan) is characterized by a lot of diversity, so perhaps i hold it to a higher standard. additionally, as a ‘foreign looking’ person in the united states i of course empathized reflexively with this individual. just human nature. finally, of course i don’t believe that enlightenment would necessarily be reciprocated. from what i can tell east asians find average (as opposed to bollywood white) browns to be hairy, smelly and black (overall, disgusting). that is not laudable, but it doesn’t mean that browns themselves shouldn’t strive to be above this sort of small-mindedness.
erm…my forefathers came from bactria so in effect that makes me a chinese jat – now that rocks the big one!
Low Levels of Genetic Divergence across Geographically and Linguistically Diverse Populations from India. lots of charts.
Apropos razib’s comments above, I have often wondered (just as a thought experiment) what would happen if nativist (as well as nationalists/statist) subsets from every country end up together in another planet. These people generally create a pretty high stakes (i.e. with very high payoffs) prisoners’ dilemma for the rest of us. Their collective attitudes create massive externalities for those of us who do not share their attitudes (a couple of years ago we did some interesting simulations using these two kinds of agents….)
OSN, Before calling us Indians racist and Hindu Fundamentalist and what not, take a good look at your own race. Indians are called dirty and discriminated against in Singapore by the Chinese-origin people. The same $hit goes on in Hong Kong. Point is we all live in glass houses and its wise not to throw stones.
87 is an example of what I was talking about. OSN has to suffer because Chinese racists in Singapore make fun of Indians…and then another brown Indian will have to face racism b/c some Chinese racist will claim the OSN faced racism from his/her “own ethnic group”….and so on and so on until some day someone like OSN (or any of us for that matter) start rationally identifying more strongly with an “in group”. In fact OSN’s comment about being “anti-fob” bothered me precisely because I was aware of this dynamic.
before commenting, it’s wise to learn to read. first of all, i never said all indians are racist – in fact, i pointed out that many were very nice. second, i used the hindu fundamentalist ploy to show naiverealist how bad it feels to be defined by others. that obviously went over your head.
i know that indians are discriminated against in singapore and hong kong. but it’s an idiotic assertion to then imply that i have no right to speak out against discrimination against chinese people in india. i was born in india, and that is alli know. it would be one thing if i was born and raised in singapore, regularly called indian people “sand niggers” and then one day cried about some indian kid calling me a chink. that would be hypocritical. but what you’re saying is like saying that black people in america have no right to complain about racism inflicted by white people because some black africans in uganda hate white people (that was a hypothetical, before you start foaming at the mouth). they have nothing to do with each other, two wrongs don’t make a right, etc etc.
you know, i used to speak out a lot about the discrimination brown people in america face at airports, being called terrorists, etc. but now i’m going to think twice after encountering some of the bloody idiots on this board. hey, i look east asian – it’s not my problem, right?
OSN,
Okay I think I need to clarify what I said and meant which was – makes it difficult to express righteous indignation – I never said that we should not complain about racism – just that personally it makes it difficult to feel righteous about it . To clarify, I always thought that the society I was in in India was tolerant. When I hear stuff like this , makes me sad.
I am so sorry to hear that in Pune – my hometown – you had to undergo what you did.
The overreaction is yours – when you say what you did about DBDs.
another empirical illustration of what I was talking about. Now before making any decision about another human being (albeit brown) OSN has to wonder, what kind of ‘agent’ is that person? Is s/he the racist “type” or not?
Wait until you see my next post — I’m just getting started!
you know, i used to speak out a lot about the discrimination brown people in america face at airports, being called terrorists, etc. but now i’m going to think twice after encountering some of the bloody idiots on this board. hey, i look east asian – it’s not my problem, right?
Hope you don’t let hate consume you OSN. Sorry about the crap you experienced in India, but there are racists everywhere. I can understand to a certain extent how you feel – until rationality and frankly the knowledge that we are all individuals come to the forefront.
I remember once flying Thai airways and I was disgusted how horribly the Thai crew treated the South Asians on board. Really pissed me off…I’d never experienced such overt racism in a business setting (thankfully) growing up in the US. I felt the Thai crew were kissing the white people’s asses. The Indians, they were oblivious to; And I hate to see any old person disrespected. An uncle who was sitting next to me, had been rebuked when inquiring for a change in the dish served. I looked at him in disbelief and was asked him, “is it always like this?” – He answered me, “oh, yes”.
Well just because I met some stupid racists who happened to be Thai doesn’t mean I’m going to descend into fuck them attitude.
Unfortunately the attitude you have OSN is only playing into the very Indian racists who belittled you. You continue the pattern.
Wow, this is really long thread…thanks for this post Naina. I saw the other story earlier on your other blog. He seems like a really cool dude and he has a really beautiful voice. :0)
PS, you’re right. I overreacted and was just speaking out of ire. I wouldn’t want to stoop to that level…
that’s horribe that you were mistreated by the thai airline…yes i too see a lot of hatred coming from other asians towards indians (like the hong kong politician who drained his pool b/c he thought it was ‘dirty water’ after an indian politician or diplomat swam in it). i just wanted to give my perspective, not negate the other one.
all over meiyang – he should be flattered 😛
OSN, I was hoping it was just anger getting at you and not how you would really be. 🙂
Copying tunes from “other” languages into bollywood, is probably what he means by “music knows no language”. He is notorious for lifting tunes from foreign albums and some even from south indian movies. He takes the cake for being the number # 1 in stealing music amongst bollywood music directors.
To add to # 95.. I believe that Anu Malik has the distinction of being the only music director to lift the same tune for songs in 2 different movies
To add to #96
If I remember right, he has lifed tunes from his own songs too.
97 should read lifted tunes from…
In any case, I remember watching one of his interviews, it was very much like the Vanilla Ice interview where he tried to point out how his song was original. Except Anu Malik said inspiration stuck in at an airport (Switzerland?) and he immediately wrote the tune down.
Then again this is not new, we (the Indian movie industry) have always copied stuff from the west. Man on fire, one the examples that stands out (if you have not seen it I highly recommend it) was remade as Ek Ajnabi in Hindi. The movie was awesome in English and sucked cajones in Hindi.
In a lot of contemporary ethnic studies, folks call this “colorism.” Lots of studies of this are happening re: African American communities in the U.S. right now. No offense, but I get the distinct impression that the preference for light skin predates the British. Not saying that the current racial hierarchy doesn’t exacerbate things (at least in the diaspora), but the “fair skin preference” has been prevalent in other regions, too, pre-colonization.
This is ridiculous on so many levels. Since when should ethnic communities be held collectively responsible for the actions of others? And since when does a wrong make it ok for others to continue to pursue racist actions as well? Maybe we should all back the hell up and think for a minute before writing this kind of hateful, ridiculous stuff. Did it rile you that OSN spoke towards the ignorance/racism in India? Before going into hyper autodefense, reflect, think about it, and then move on. If that means ensuring you don’t propagate that kind of hatred, then do that. That said, there is no need for flipping out the way folks have been flipping out on this thread!
OSN, I am sorry that folks have been grossly insensitive and — at times — stupid on this thread. I feel like it’s gotten set up as “people who don’t want to acknowledge racism (or whatever an appropriate term is) in India vs. OSN.” Thanks, though, for your perspective on this. It’s really been interesting, and in my opinion, relatively overlooked. Thanks, too, to Naina for bringing it to bear.
thanks camille. you know i’ve wondered many times why you don’t have your own public blog…?