Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Racism Revisited

For the last few weeks, I was eagerly reading three Sidney Sheldon books back to back. The last one named “Nothing Lasts Forever”. The title seems like some kind of Bond movie actually. The book itself has nothing to do with the contents of this post. It’s a thriller/murder mystery with lots of plots & subplots (as most Sidney books are). There were lots of medical terminologies which I was obviously unaware of since I haven’t touched the Biology book after giving my ICSE in 2003. So these terminologies puzzled me more than what ‘girl talk’ puzzles me! All right am wandering away from the original topic. Back to it … The book itself seemed pretty average & predictable but one paragraph in the book made me sit up & take notice. After reading this paragraph, I had decided what my next post in this blog would be. I am sure you would find this text really interesting. So here it goes...

"There are wonderful worlds in there," she told the young girl. "Read, and you'll learn where you came from and where you're going. I've got a feeling that you're going to be famous one day, baby. But you have to get an education first. This is America. You can become anybody you want to be. You may be black and poor, but so were some of our congresswomen, and movie stars, and scientists, and sports legends. One day we're going to have a black president. You can be anything you want to be. It's up to you." It was the beginning.

Yes it’s the beginning of my blog & also the beginning of “Change”. Unless you have already guessed, I’m of course talking about US Democratic Presidential nominee, Barrack Obama. But this is not just about Obama (wonder why the surname is so similar to ‘Osama’), this is about “Racism” in general. Obama is possibly one of those big figures (not Madame Tussauds’ wax figures), I mean figures as big as Martin Luther King. May be I’m exaggerating, but its true that he’s the first black Presidential Nominee, who is possibly slated to sweep the polls in November, 2008. He is now more popular than Oprah Winfrey (who incidentally supports his campaign) or even some basketball & baseball players. Obama has been under attack from so-called-purists who are against any “black” person becoming the Head of the State. Four decades have passed since Martin Luther King gave his famous “I have a dream” speech, but it seems like nothing has changed since then. I earnestly hope that Obama is not assissinated like Martin Luther King.

Racism is a rampant menace which has been there since ages. All nations, including the United Nations publicly say that they are against any kind of racial discrimination. Still if you do a search on the internet, you’ll find racial abuse happening each day. Believe it or not, its prevalent in India, & in you own home. Yes. You heard it right. This might seem a bit hard to digest fact but its true that our mothers would want a “beautiful, fair” bride for us. Isn’t it racism? We are practicing it in our own home. Do you protest? I guess not. We do not protest. Why? You possibly dont have a proper answer to that. Check out matrimonial ads in the Sunday newspaper & you'll know what I'm talking about. Some people even believe that black/dark/brown (coloured in short) men & women have lesser abilities to perform office work
. We all hear about racial abuses on Indians all over the world (especially Sikhs). But we never bother to lodge our protest against this menace. Recently Lewis Hamilton, a McLaren F1 Driver, was racially abused by spectators in Montmelo Circuit, Barcelona, Spain. This blog is my way of protesting against this blatant illogical show of chauvinism by some demented minds! We may be white, black or brown, but overall we are all human. Treat human beings in a way that it doesn’t question your humanity. I dont understand how a human being can forget this basic fact. Here is one forward mail which is worth reading :

This scene took place on a ****** Airways flight between
Johannesburg, South Africa & London.
A white woman, about 50 years old, was seated next to a black man. Very disturbed by this, she called the air hostess. "You obviously do not see it then?" she asked. "You placed me next to a black man. I did not agree to sit next to someone from such a repugnant group. Give me an alternative seat."
"Be calm please," the hostess replied.
"Almost all the places on this flight are taken. I will go to see if another place is available."

The hostess went away & then came back a few minutes later. "Madam, just as I thought, there are no other available seats in Economy Class.
I spoke to the captain & he informed me that there is also no seat in Business Class. All the same, we still have one place in First Class."
Before the woman could say anything, the hostess continued. "It is unusual for our company to permit someone from Economy Class to sit in First Class. However, given the circumstances, the captain feels that it would be scandalous to make someone sit next to someone so disgusting."
She turned to the black guy & said, "Therefore, Sir, if you would like to, please collect your hand luggage, a seat awaits you in First Class."

At that moment, the other passengers, who'd been shocked by what they had just witnessed, stood up & applauded.

This is a true story.

WELL DONE, ****** Airways.


This might be a forward mail, but it was more than that for me. I didn’t forget this mail although I received it a few years ago. I digged it out somehow @ 2am last night from my orkut message box. This post might not be an enjoyable read for you. It was never intented to be. Its just a reminder to the world that racism still exists . But if you really think Racism needs to be protested, do it. Leave a comment if you have anything to say regarding this topic or my blog.

~Lots of Love~

2 comments:

Paarul Bansal said...

WOW!!!Superb instance! I still doubt the veracity of the story in this forward mail, but i jus hope its true n if not, hope such incidents do occur!
The best part of the post is that, u have exposed the ugly face of racism, which we brazenly practice, sometimes without even realizing that we are committing the most abominable crime against humanity itself!!! Its not just the rest of the world that practices racism against the Sikhs, it happens at home too! Any silly joke is supposed to be damn hilarious, provided u have the word "sardar" in it!
And how else do i put this? :Deb, u r a brilliant observer! How do all these forward mails n stories from various books catch ur attention when rest of the world manages to easily miss it all!!!
In absolutely short n crisp words: you are a Prodigy!
thats all:)
-Pablo ;)

Unknown said...

sorry!!missed the first comment for the first time;I think I need to do some catching up soon!!

Anyway, coming to the point,racism is different everywhere;its basically a stereotype;all black people are criminals or all hispanics are drug addicts;in india it is all biharir are theif or all bengalis are lazy and play potics etc.........

its got more to do with people's mindset and social structure than with other reasons;as more and more people mix,the more tolerant they get........generally.

speaking of indian racism,the fairness rules is more of a gender discrimanation than racial;u must have noticed this thing;fairness of the women is demanded but for males its like"if you are fair,its good;if not then its ok".

but speaking seriously the thing that is happening is mostly ecnomical;people out their think inidans are taking their jobs and so they are angry;to vent their anger they try racist remarks;its same everywhere;


hope we can do better than our predecessors and leave a better world for our future generation.....