Thursdays in Black: A Contemplation on the Menace of Racism
Yet
another Thursday has breached the week. “Thursdays in Black” is a campaign of solidarity
and advocacy against all forms of sexual and gender based violence. The precise
history could be accessed in the link below.
Violence
on the grounds of sex and gender are proliferating all over the world. India in
no way could shy away from this ignominy. It’s a matter
of indignation to see women being crushed to pulp in a nation which deifies women. All the more India is homophobic too. We normally
tend to think that homosexuality is against Indian culture. Ruth Vanita through
her book “Same-sex Love in India” nullifies this argument and corroborates the
fact that homosexuality was indeed practiced in India. No domain could be left
scot free; Society, church and academia continue to perpetuate and legitimize
gender based violence both in overt and covert forms. For such a time as this
it becomes imperative to educate the masses about the gravity of these perils.
“Thursdays
in black” should be revived in India which has turned out to be a dungeon of
threat for women and people of fluid sexual orientations. This is the ripe time
for this campaign to gain prominence when the Thomson Reuters Foundation
released its results Tuesday of a survey of 550 experts on women's issues,
finding India to be the most dangerous nation for sexual violence against
women, as well as human trafficking for domestic work, forced labor, forced
marriage and sexual slavery, among other reasons. It was also the most
dangerous country in the world for cultural traditions that impact women, the
survey found, citing acid attacks, female genital mutilation, child
marriage and physical abuse. The foundation also stated;
World
leaders vowed three years ago to eliminate all forms of violence and
discrimination against women and girls by 2030, allowing them to live freely
and safely to participate equally in political, economic and public life. But
despite this pledge it is estimated that one in three women globally experience
physical or sexual violence during their lifetime.
As
I adorn black today, I intend to write about the ostensive racism prevalent in
India because the colour black continues to grapple with vice of Racism.
Why
this obsession with skin colour? Would you believe if I were to say that India
is a racist country? Look at the commercial advertisements, review the
excessive sale of cosmetics for fairness in India, observe the casting of
actors in movies (especially the complexion of heroes and villains), take a
look at the matrimonial ads; in these we would see the tentacles of the ugliest
form of racism protruding. It often wonders me
how racial we are even while naming the ‘beauty’ products – ‘Fair &
Lovely’. This gives the message that only that which is fair is lovely. Who
decides the yardsticks of fairness and beauty in this country? Is beauty
ascribed to skin colour? Casteism is invariably present in this nation and now
racism is also at its rise. Shame on anyone who tries to define beauty on the
premise of skin colour. Women are the most vulnerable victims to the pervasive
racism in this country. Mudra Mukesh an academician, lecturer and researcher
disturbingly writes;
In the
mainstream, women are perceived as a collection of perfect hair, breasts, a
tiny waist and the right skin colour and nothing more, and this is what is
represented on TV and in the movies as well. Every time someone has
to ask about a bride and groom who are getting betrothed, the question
pertaining to the man usually is “What does the boy do?”, and the comment
regarding the girl is “Oh, she is very pretty!” So when a woman’s existence and
self-worth is linked to her beauty (which must align with the ideal of beauty
as constructed by the society), there will be instances where parlour aunties
would want to rid you of all your “ugliness” to render you more attractive.
If
we find the aforementioned fact to be way too revealing we are yet to know how
disgraceful this nation is turning out to be. RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh)
in outrageous and dishonouring acts by following the Vedic preaching and
post-World War II experiments in Germany, is in the attempt of producing
customized babies. RSS propagates that true Indians i.e. ‘uttam santatis’
should be of fair complexion and tall. This demonic racist interpretations of
the RSS should be vehemently condemned. Tarun Vijay, an RSS protagonist
disgracefully opines, “North Indians are White
(Aryans) whereas South Indians are Black (Dravidians) thus belonging to two
different races. The Aryans of the North are doing a favour to Black South
Indians by allowing the latter to stay with the former”.
India’s
social fabric is very complex. Patriarchy, casteism,
economic-religion-ethnic-linguitsic-cultural differences are to name a few. Now
the nation does not have the strength to tolerate racism as well. A Facebook
photo series, entitled ‘Dark is Divine’, by photographer Naresh Nil is
subverting the unrelenting obsession with fairness by portraying gods and
goddesses as dark-skinned.
In
a 2015 paper, entitled ‘India and Colourism: The Finer Nuances’, published in
the Washington University Global Studies Law Review, the author Neha Mishra
writes;
Most
Indians show apparent ignorance about the practice of exclusion and
discrimination based on the skin tone of a person although it is a deep-rooted
problematic practice embraced by both the oppressor and the victim. This single
practice has become so widespread in India, more so in the past four decades,
that it has taken shape along the same lines as “colourism” of the Western
world. However, the manifestation of the colour discrimination in India differs
as it hides behind various other variables…. Caste, class, religion, region,
gender and economics are a few of these variables.
Christians
are not far away in nourishing this obsession of fairness. Turn to the
photographs of Jesus you possess. How could a middle-eastern Jew look like an
American? The Christian fascination for
fairness becomes explicit in the adoption and glorification of a westernized
image of Jesus. Forensic Anthropology, a new scientific method
helps us solve this dilemma. Using methods similar to those police have
developed to solve crimes, British scientists, assisted by Israeli
archaeologists, have re-created the most accurate image of the most famous face
in human history - Jesus.
There
should also be an attempt by the Church to reimagine and reinterpret the
conventional rudimentary doctrines of Christianity vis-à-vis the maelstrom of
sexual abuse. For instance could we think of redefining crucifixion of Jesus as
the sexual abuse of our Saviour? Katies Edwards and David Tombs in one of their
exemplary articles entitled, “#HimToo – why Jesus should be recognised as a
victim of sexual violence” remarks;
Sexual
abuse doesn’t form part of the narrative of masculinity inherent in
representations of Jesus. Naked women, however, are immediately identified as
sexual objects. Seeing a woman being forcibly stripped, then, might be more
recognisable as sexual abuse than the stripping of Jesus in the Gospels of
Matthew and Mark. If Christ was a female figure we wouldn’t hesitate to
recognise her ordeal as sexual abuse.
Reimagining the crucifixion of Christ as his sexual abuse would give Church the impetus to appropriate
the intensity of the crime and to discern the magnitude of the jeopardy.
We
ought to impart the message that there is absolutely no space for racism in
this country because we vouch not only to accept but also celebrate the
distinct colours of the skins of each citizen of this nation. It is a time
to embrace and celebrate differences of any sort. Counter
the elements of racism - no matter however trivial they are – and oppose them
tooth and nail. Let us make our nation colourful by forsaking our
obsession towards fairness and celebrate the distinct skin colours of our
friends.
I
conclude with a true incident which we cannot afford to forget
In
2016 P. S. Jaya, an artist living in Tripunithura, Kochi, painted herself black
every day when she stepped out of her house. She walked the streets, boarded
buses, went to teach art and painting at a private institute, met friends and
family, hung out at restaurants – all the while coloured in a dark coloured
skin. This was her protest against racism and its associated prejudices. This social experiment of Jaya should
reverberate in each of our minds so that we never bear the ignominious yoke of
racism.
Prayers
Dn.
Basil Paul
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