Strawbearry Stabwound

I’m a child of indian immigrants in the west and I thought I understood casteism because we definitely brought that shit over with us to the new country, but I don’t think I really understood it until my dad was talking about his childhood.

we were talking about his childhood in the first place because he’s having some issues with his brothers right now (he’s the youngest kid and his brothers can’t accept that he’s a grown man that makes his own decisions (he’s 60)) and he was talking about how they used to be so close and their childhood was so good and blessed but then he was like ‘but maybe it was always rotten, maybe there was always this seed of judgement in us’

he was talking about how they, an upper mid caste family in a tiny farming village, would hire low caste workers to help out during the harvest. as part of their wages, they would get meals from the family. but because they were low caste, they weren’t allowed to use the same plates and cutlery as my family. it was thought that them using the dishes would permanently contaminate them. they weren’t even allowed to keep their own ‘contaminated’ plates in the house. instead, they would take their meals on banana leaf plates. and I was like ‘ok that’s fucked up but banana leaf plates are commonly used by all castes’

then my dad explained ‘if we were to give them sambar, they would dig a small hole in the ground and line it with leaves, and we would ladle the sambar into that. if they wanted water, we would ladle handfuls of it into their hands and they would drink it all and silently ask for the next ladle. this was part of my daily chores as a child, to feed grown men in such a degrading way. something about it felt wrong to me, but I was a child who couldn’t understand why.’

I was already shocked at that but then he continued ‘once, there were no banana leaves, so I went to give him the plate I was holding. the man wouldn’t even take it from me, knowing how the rest of my family would react. when he accidentally brushed against it, I was surprised and dropped the plate. he then picked up the plate and built a small fire from the branches nearby and threw the plate in. these were steel plates, so they could survive that. he then used a different leaf to pick up the plate once it had cooled enough to give it back to me. not once had I even spoken or asked him to do this, but he knew that the plate needed to be purified before it entered our house. I think I was eight years old.’

I think this was coming up for him because he was already realizing that his family weren’t always good people based on their interactions with him and this made him see their actions through a new light. my dad left the village and eventually the country fairly young so I think he hadn’t interrogated his fond childhood memories like that. honestly, it made me think less of my family.

I’ve heard some people compare castes to different sects of christianity and I don’t think that’s a good comparison. that’s bias based on thinking you’re the best. casteism is having a hierarchy and knowing exactly where you stand in that hierarchy and knowing that you can’t change that no matter what. that you are dirty and that you were born dirty and that you will never be clean.

And, as always, I think posting/sharing more of what you want to see rather than posting what you don’t want to see is a stronger tool for implementing change.

My final gripe with this post is that Remmick is not just some White Guy, but an Irishman and the Irish have a significant history of discrimination in the US. This was an important point to the plot of the movie and I find it incredible that this is overlooked when talking about the character especially if your intention is to make a point against racism.

"If I say they're looking into this too deeply or are overreacting, surely they'll believe me!"

But every time? "The most interesting character" to fandom and a large portion of an audience? Is white. A man. Or a white man. Doesn't matter the story. How long they're there.

They get the most interesting traits. The most charitable and invested interpretations. They get the most content. Every time somehow! Isn't that strange?

And when you notice this? The people who do this swear it's a coincidence. To save face! Instead being honest.

How is my enemy more honest about the harm they do me and the hatred they hold for me than the people who claim to be on my side?

I'm seeing viral videos and studies of those you say you're different from where they outright state they're racist!

But you as a supposed an ally can't!

It's maddening. You don't want to work on that. You just want us to shut up like they do.

Stop writing essays and be honest. You have biases you're clearly okay with. End of.

If I wanted to see a performance, I'd pop in a film or go to Broadway.