Wati Longchar (Serampore)
Coming to the Indian context, many people have been experiencing racial discrimination for centuries. Indian society is based on the caste system and it is deeply rooted in the practice of pollution. Deenabandhu Manchala, a Dalit scholar, said that
“Having lived in Europe for more than a decade and in the US for the last six years, from my experience, I can say that India is one of the most racist societies in the world. India’s caste system is widely acknowledged as the world’s largest systemic violation of human rights, as it continues to deny dignity and justice to over 201 million Dalits – the most discriminated sections of the society. According to India’s National Crime Records Bureau’s 2018 Report, around 42,793 cases of assaults, 821 murders, and 2957 rapes involving Dalits were recorded. In other words, every day 117 Dalits were assaulted, two murdered, and eight women raped. Sadly, the conviction rate is barely 28%. Therefore, as a person from there, I was very sad but not shocked.”
The Dalits, who are outside of the caste structure, are considered to be the lowliest people and typically associated with the occupations which are regarded as ritually impure, such as those involving waste or carcasses. They are a people traditionally regarded as “untouchable.” Contact with them pollutes the high caste. Socialization and intermarriage are restricted from the higher caste. During the Covid-19, the high caste refused to stay together with Dalits in the quarantine centers. Some high caste even refused to eat food cooked by the Dalits. In the past, the Dalits were also not allowed to read the scripture. The caste system is also religiously sanctioned; it prescribes the occupation of each caste. Change of function is forbidden in principle to all castes. The Dalits are not allowed to enter the temples as their presence would pollute the sacred places and higher castes. “The Vedas learning was out of bounds for the Dalits, the hearing of which was to be punished with pouring molten lead into the ears and the reciting of which to be punished by cutting off the tongue.” Therefore, the caste system is worse, or the same as racism in the Indian context.
Racial attacks in India Cities
In the context of caste-ridden society like India, Adivasi/tribals are looked down upon as inferior and discriminated in many fronts. Many incidents of racial discrimination have been reported against the North easterners in many cities, especially in the metro cities. Seeing their mongoloid physical features, the mainlanders called them “corona”, “chinky”, “momo”. This is nothing but hate speech. Some were asked to vacate their rented residence by the landlords, some were not allowed to enter grocery shops, some were denied boarding of public buses, and many were asked to leave the neighbourhood. Much online harassment, filthy language, and abusive comments have been reported. Thus, many people continue to live in fear of being abused and attacked. In some cases, with the promise of recruiting in the modelling industry and lucrative jobs, many young girls and children have been lured into the sex industry and some alleged to have been trafficked to foreign countries. Racism, objectification, commodification of humans go hand and hand. There is no respect for humanity.
Internalization of Racism
Internalization of the inferiority of the Blacks and Asians, while the Whites as superior are very strong in our society today. I had the privilege of facilitating Training in Mission (TIM), a youth empowerment program of the Council for World Mission (CWM), both in India and Taiwan. Student attendance is mostly from Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean countries. Once I asked them to define “beauty” and their answers were – fair, slim, long hair, long leg, good breast, pointed nose, etc. I told them that they had excluded half of humanity – the black. Once I also posed a question “Slaves were taken out from Africa”, “True or False”? All TIM students including those from Africa said, “True”. Then, I reversed the quote, “Good and innocent people were forcefully kidnapped from Africa and made into slaves by the white colonizer.” They said the reverse one is right. We have several books entitled From Darkness to Light or From False Religion to True Religion, which depict the internalization of the racial inferiority of African, Asian, Dalit, and indigenous people. Racial superiority and inferiority mind-set have taken deep root in our way of thinking and perception. It is hard to come out from a racial mind-set. Racism thus denies justice and perpetuates violence.
Politicization of Racism
The issue of racism/casteism is intentionally promoted by political parties for their vested interest. We see the right-wing populist politicians capturing power in the USA, Eastern Europe, the Philippines, Russia, India, China, and some countries in Africa and Latin America. All of them advocate the ideologies of hyper-nationalism, cultural and religious conservatism. All those populist political leaders advocate the ideology of protectionism – our country, race, culture, and religion are superior. They even go to the extent of branding other communities/nations as terrorists, killers, criminals, drug pushers, and also demonize other religions, particularly Islam. We often hear “India and Nepal are Hindu countries”; “Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Iran are Islamic countries”; “Thailand, Myanmar are Buddhist countries”. The “others” are branded as foreign religions and the adherents of other faiths are considered second-class citizens. We hear the populist leaders speaking racist, sexist and exclusivist language. In India, some politicians have said, “Christians should go back to the West”, and the cow has been made more valuable than a human. The populist politicians try to project that people are poor because of immigration, corruption, and the wrong policy of the government. People are jobless because the immigrants have taken over the jobs, denying the rights of locals. The populist right-wing political leaders project themselves as the “Messiah”. Exploiting and abusing the religious sentiment of the “others”, they project themselves as saviours who will fix all the problems of society. There is a deliberate denial of diversity, freedom of speech, violation of human rights, and manipulation of truth based on race, colour, religion, and caste (and even based on regions). It is a threat to future humanity.
Racism and the Bible
In Paul’s theology, the gospel of Jesus transcends all racial barriers. He said, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Gal. 3:28) All are the same and they all must be protected and respected. We need to realize that those who attack people based on colour/race are striking against God who created all human beings in the image of God. There is a divine presence in each person. They are created by God and that demands respect for their dignity and integrity regardless of colour, ethnicity, national origin, or social status. Following Jesus should transcend our narrow perception of nationalism, regionalism, racism, and protectionism. God loves diversity; it is a blessing to humanity. In diversity, we discover God’s richness. Exclusive attitude towards other races is dangerous. It will lead to violence. Such an attitude and action will make our world a place of hatred and mistrust. Recognition of God’s active presence in all life, and respecting and upholding the value of respect, openness, solidarity, caring, and loving for others are the foundation of peaceful coexistence.
