Are We The Most Racist Of Them All?

All over the world, desis always seem to be complaining and crying out about the racism that is inherent in the societies they inhabit and the vicious discrimination they face because of their colour and culture. In the West, it’s often about skin colour and in the Middle East, about your nationality and the language you speak. "We’re never treated on equal footing when it comes to applying for jobs," complains an unemployed fellow Indian in Dubai while a Pakistani friend in Belgium claims to be considered by the white population as a, "second-class citizen." A traditional woman clad in a shalwar-kameez or saree walking down the street in Louisville, Kentucky might relate tales of the funny looks and smirks she encountered. All quite possible I say, perhaps even probable.

What about us though - let’s talk about us... Are we innocent of such malicious practices? We’re not at all racist are we, in any way? Simply victims of discrimination based on ethnicity?

Au contraire. In my opinion, it’s us who are among the most racist of them all. If one were to define racism as discrimination against people based on their ascribed race and an assumption that people of different races differ in value, then we should count ourselves guilty as charged and hang our heads in shame. Our culture is the one culture more so than any other that affixes stereotypes for every single ethnic group in the world. We always have something nasty to say about the "goras," or, "kalas," or, "chaptas." It usually isn’t anything remotely flattering but they wouldn’t know now would they - since it’s always muttered in hushed whispers behind their back in languages that they have a 0.1% chance of comprehending. Has anyone ever noticed that we have the most sweeping generalisations and the harshest stereotypes pertaining to every single ethnic group? Pre-conceived notions about everyone else out there - from the Whites to the Blacks right down to the Chinese and the Russians. No one’s spared our wrath.

We’re so racist that we have the heaviest biases within our tiniest microcosms. Even within our own race and our own country, we’re so fond of discriminating based on community or colour of skin. Just take a peek at the matrimonial columns that feature in the Indian newspapers, they’re awash with ads for potential brides being touted as having, "fair complexion." Ever seen any that proclaim dark skin? At best, you’ll see, "pretty girl with wheatish complexion." Wheatish, of course, being the local euphemism for being not too dark, in a country where just being fair-skinned automatically translates into better marriage prospects and where get Consider the much talked about craze for fairness creams: Fair & Lovely, Emami Naturally Fair, Himalaya Herbal Cream.. the list is endless. Seems like the best business to get into in India today, everyone’s jumping on the bandwagon. The fairy-tale promotions for fairness creams on television often show a pretty, dusky girl opting for such-and-such fairness cream because she isn’t happy with her skin colour. Not getting enough attention. Uses the cream then, turns her white as a ghost and ta da! Cut to the girl walking around a college campus armed with a bouquet and blushing around a bunch of swooning guys going ga-ga and banging into lamposts.

Now what is this but pure racism?

In India, we have racial slurs that we use within the borders of our own country. To address our own people. For a long time, any South Indian (regardless of which part of South India he called home) was labelled a, "Kaala Madraasi," meaning black Madrasi. Hailing from Madras myself I’ve heard such abuse hurled at me by Punjabis and Sindhis who revel in their fair-skinned status back home. Racism at its most despicable. Even within our country, we have stereotypes of every single community. And we shamelessly discriminate based on these stereotypes. Each community views itself as inherently superior to the other. Isn’t it pure poetic justice then, I ask, that we get discriminated against when we leave the borders of our country?

According to the desi view of the world and the people that inhabit it, everyone else out there whether they’re just of a different community or a whole different race altogether, is somehow flawed in one way or another. We all seem to think we’re the only perfect ones out there. The truth is that we’re indoctrinated from a very early age with a sense of racial and cultural superiority - being poisoned with the belief that we’re more intelligent or morally upright than everyone else. As the actor Dennis Leary once famously pointed out, "Racism isn’t born folks, it’s taught." Very few of us realise it though. For most of us it’s just a subconscious reaction that’s a natural result of years and years of thinking that way. And being taught to think that way. This is 2006. A vast majority of the educated and cosmopolitan citizens of the world don’t think like that anymore, and aren’t racist at all. People aren’t so interested in your race or the amount of melanin in your skin anymore. It’s out of vogue you see. People are more concerned with your intellect, your personality and yes, your bank balance. People have moved on and they’ve found more interesting things to discriminate based upon. Not us though. No sir, whether Indian or Pakistani, Sri Lankan or Bangladeshi - no matter how educated or how cosmopolitan we become, we still segregate people based on race in a time when the only thing you should be segregating is your laundry. So many of us subconsciously choose our friends based on their ethnicities more than anything else. I’ve known people at university and in the workplace who’ll scout out the other Indians and Pakistanis who are a part of the same establishment. And that’s one of the very first things they do. They don’t feel as though they’ve settled down until they can sniff out someone who looks like them, if not think like them.

I’m one of them.

Even as a community or as a race, we always seem to be trying to compete with other nationalities and ethnicities. As a community, there’s always that weird sense of trying to match ourselves up to the Whites or the Chinese. Just to make sure we aren’t trailing too far behind. Letting out a chortle of glee when reading about the new Indian CEO who’s making waves at the helm of some major American corporation. It seems as though we’re just trying to convince ourselves of what we’ve always believed: "We can be just as good as, if not better than them." We have the disease of constantly having to reaffirm to ourselves that we’re on par with the rest of the world. Keep reminding ourselves and telling our children that C.V. Raman was India’s answer to Einstein; Sania Mirza our answer to Steffi Graf, Aishwarya Rai our answer to all those who think Indians aren’t lookers and Lakshmi Mittal the answer to those who think all Indians are downright poor.

Let’s face it - we’re one of the most clannish, stereotypical and judgmental races in the world when it comes to viewing the fellow inhabitants of our planet. We’re not only racist amongst ourselves but heavily critical of all other races - they’re not deemed to be as perfect as us. Let’s not blame other races for being racist toward us when we haven’t succeeded in putting out the fires in our own backyard as yet!