The deadly color of racism

By Shubhashree Mishra

“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” – Audre Lorde

In today’s world, where Gen Z (mainly Gen Z) has been pushing for equality and harmony, there is still an abundance of those who do not support the idea. Our differences, in color, gender, sexuality, or religion, still continue to separate us.

Racism, the belief that some races are better than others, still lives on in the minds of many. It is evident from the many incidents where people of color (POC) have been subjected to discrimination just because of the color of their skin.

The Black Lives Matter campaign, which grew in the US after the death of George Floyd by a police officer in 2020 brought the discrimination faced by black people to light. It shook the world, for it highlighted an issue that most people did not bother to realize existed. Discrimination on the basis of color.

A live-action remake of Disney's 1989 movie "The Little Mermaid" is set for release on May 26, 2023. Ariel, the main character of the movie, is being played by black actress and singer Halle Bailey. Just after the cast was announced, the #NotMyAriel started trending on Twitter, because Ariel, a mermaid, could not be black. ‘How could they make a fictional sea creature black!? Should’ve gotten an actual mermaid instead. How atrocious!’.

Many times, movies are whitewashed, with white characters playing non-white roles. Yet, no one seems to mind. However, that one time a black person plays a fictional white character, everyone is outraged. What a SuRpRiSe!

But there’s something called internalized racism too. It’s when people of color unconsciously believe that a racial hierarchy exists, and white people are ranked above people of color in that hierarchy. This is especially common in India, with Bollywood movies pushing their propaganda of white-skinned people being better than others and the variety of fairness creams you can find here. ‘Scrub turmeric on your face.’ ‘Wash your face with milk’, and more foolish nonsense. Everyone has their own advice (nuske), further propelling the idea that white is good and dark is bad, which is simply not true.

It’s painfully obvious when you read marriage advertisements, which are like ‘pizza orders’, and have custom requirements, with the most common description being ‘fair skin’, because, of course, having a nice personality and being a good person is definitely not as important as having fair skin. You could be a criminal for all we care, you just need to be fair. This is the message these marriage advertisements send out.

Additionally, fair skin is equated with being beautiful, which is (again) not true. I know I am beautiful (and you all are too), even though I am dark, and no one can tell me otherwise, because I know it’s not true.

Discrimination has been quite prominent ever since the birth of humanity. For example, when Christianity had just become a religion, and Jews were the majority in Europe, most Jews bore prejudice against Christians. This made both Christians and Jews harbor ill-will towards each other. With the advent of Christianity, much of that ill-will remained, and gradually took the form of anti-semitism. This feeling of hate grew and eventually led to the persecution of Jews in the Second World War.

During the Second World War, nearly six million Jews were killed by the Nazis. This genocide came to be known as the ’Holocaust’, which means ‘burnt offering’. At first, the main goal of the Nazis was to remove the Jews from Germany. The Nazis took away their belongings, then their livelihoods, and then their citizenship, to compel them to leave Germany. Then, in 1938, Jewish houses and shops were destroyed and thousands of people were imprisoned in concentration camps. All because of the prejudice they bore against the Jews, which had turned into hate and festered in their hearts. This prejudice can be seen in the discrimination POC face today as well.

Racism can be seen everywhere, not just in Bollywood and Hollywood movies. It exists, and that fact needs to be acknowledged. We must work towards changing our mindset, realizing that our world isn’t perfect just because we haven’t faced issues others have faced, and that making a world a better place needs work, not just words.