Racism against Indians is actually a little insane when you consider how widespread it is even among liberals and leftists . Even people who consider themselves to be progressive will laugh at call center or tech support jokes. All scammers are inherently indian. Itโs okay to laugh at jokes making fun of Indians for their feelings towards animals or how they drive. India is inherently backwards and dirty so itโs okay to make jokes about getting food poisoning from even looking at indian food
We cannot even talk about racism towards us without someone jumping in and going โwell this other group has it worseโ SHUT up. Genuinely shut up. This isnโt a competition. Itโs like we donโt even exist.
โIโm not into Indian girls, but you look [other ethnicity]โ youโre into Indian girls.
โOmg I love Indian foodโ and itโs just butter chicken or chicken tikka masala.
โChandelier earringsโ you mean my jhumkas?
โI love avatar/atlaโ you donโt know what the concept of an avatar even is.
โYour slums are dirtyโ tell that to the unusually low Covid rates in those slums.
โIndians donโt experience colourismโ that is certainly an echo chamber chronically online take.
Exams during our festival season while every other religion gets their days off. Told to speak English when many of us in the diaspora already do (thanks colonialism!). Made to take English exams or considered international students on the basis of our names. Overlooked in job applications. Blamed for climate change. Blamed for lack of jobs. Blamed for crashing economy. Blamed for terrorism (more issues there). Random TSA checks. Random hate crimes. Stolen culture. Stolen property.
Uncredited for simple things everyone does nowadays. Coconut oil, miswak, mehndi, indigo, the number 0, banking cheques, chess, yoga, chakras, third eye, evil eye, turmeric, clean girl aesthetic, lost wax casting, bindis, kohl, dupattas, bangles, courtyards in houses, paisley, the very concept of rebirth and reincarnation. I could go on.
The racism towards Indians is so entrenched in every single western culture that nobody bothers to look twice when India suffers a heat wave. You all love Greece and Rome but did you know they directly benefitted from trade with the Indian subcontinent? Did you know Indians were taken as indentured labourers too? Did you know we were slaves too? And Iโm speaking for South Asia as a whole here, did you know many of us are still slaves?
Weโre not asking you to elevate us. Weโre telling you to acknowledge us, and to do so without putting us in competition with any other racialized group.
