Kudos to Swati Sawant, the fierce Dalit immigrant lawyer, who organized legal teams & highlighted this case.
Caste discrimination and exploitation of labor are inherently linked
And a poor understanding of caste in the US leaves more Dalit workers vulnerbale to exploitation.
“They were forbidden to talk to visitors...their pay was docked for minor violations, such as being seen without a helmet”
“They were asked to sign several documents,often in English, & instructed to tell US embassy staffers that they were skilled carvers or decorative painters”
As someone who spent decades tormented by this word, a Savarna actress casually describing being ‘ugly’/‘unclean’/‘unpresentable’ by calling it Bhangi is not surprising.
Neither is the reaction of those who don’t seem to find any issue with using the name of a caste as a slur.
It’s a reflection of the deep tentacles of the caste system that so endemically normalizes a caste being seen as lower that it is turned into a synonym for dirty.
It shows the complete acceptance of the idea that Bhangis, one of the lowest paid people are inherently unclean.
It is this fully established understanding that allows the actress @moonstar4u to mean exactly what she did when she said Bhangi
to be understood in the exact way she intended
and then turn around to say that it was ‘misinterpreted’.
But it’s crucial to remember, even in a pandemic casteism never takes a break.
The IIT Kharagpur prof who berated an entire class of SC/ST/OBC + PwD students as ‘bloody bastards’ was apparently Covid+.
But that didn’t stop her.
She continued to use her hyper nationalism (not ‘standing up for the national anthem’) to lash out on ‘quota’ students in her English class, where she gets to determine whether they even make it to any of the IITs next year.
This is how casteism opeates in university spaces
It’s not just the usage of casteist slurs or telling students they don’t belong
It’s also constant harassment of those who avail reservation by UC profs to remind them of their ‘place’ in the system.
It’s calling them + their parents ‘bloody bastards’ in an English class.
Since calling out HAF for their motion in the Cisco case, a lot of seemingly Hindu Americans are ‘enraged’ about Dalits pointing out the obvious caste discrimination that happens to us.
Aside from the abuse, bullying & trolling, the worst are those trying to obfuscate the issue.
The ones who know how to skillfully shut down any call outs for casteism by waving their flag of religious freedom
Something that understandably scares most non-Indian Americans into silence
In the name of preserving religious sanctity they want to gag even the mention of caste
Like they did in 2016 in the California textbook case, where HAF argued that mentions of caste should be removed. And succeeded.
This idea of obfuscating caste by citing religious freedom is that is highly strategic, well thought & not an accident.
Despite obvious signs,many Indians still don’t believe that caste discrimination in the US is a lived reality for Dalits.
Wonder what they’d say to the Dalit couple who had ‘achoot’ - a slur for untouchable, scratched on their car while living in an Indian community in New York?
Reading @Isabelwilkerson’s Caste was an education in the racial heiarchy of the US. Her lucid writing & brilliance shines so powerfully that I often had to stop just to catch my breath.
But the book largely overlooks the current impact of a system that inspires its argument.
Wilkerson’s Caste not only makes visible the plainly manifest yet stubbornly obscured reality of racial suppression of African Americans but also supplies other people of color with a vocabulary to understand their place in the lattice of racial and social order in the US.
When researching Coming Out as Dalit, I often struggled to understand how exactly did 'upper' castes subterfuge caste discrimination as nonexistent not only in our society but internationally.
After spending 3 hours with @surajyengde's EXCELLENT treatise, I finally know. 1/n
They did that by dominating almost ALL positions of power and foreign policy, effectively eliminating Ambedkar, & nitpicking on the differences between Caste & Race to exclude it from international attention.
Why solidarity b/w Dalit Panthers & Black Panthers? This! 2/n
As we stand today in a crucial moment of America recokning (once again) of its racist origins, it's vital for Dalit and Black solidarity to take shape.
We NEED to counter the decades-long propoganda (which even Indians believe) that Caste is somehow not as savage as race 3/n
3. Dalit murders — for entering temples, for falling in love,for a mustache, for existing — are so routine & ‘expected’ that our deaths are the norm, not the exception.
4. The idea that mainstream = upper class, ‘upper’ caste lives is innate. So our deaths are forever the other.
It’s also easier for UCs to side with #BLM while ignoring Dalit, Adivasi, Muslim, working class lives is coz Black folks have been doing the difficult work of fighting for their right to be worthy for years.
Now the rest can just ride on the coattails of that ‘cool’ woke vibes.
That using a caste name as a slur is not ok should be common sense. But for casteist bigots who need schooling...
It reduces the humanity of a whole section of people to a curse, creating a false idea that it's valid to 'abuse' a Chandaal or a Bhangi -- verbally & physically
Every time someone says 'You look like a Bhangi' when calling lack of hygiene or 'Don't be a chamaar' for 'ill-manners,' validates & reinforces the 'lowerness' of Dalits, directly leading to their oppression including violence. It also makes Dalits (kids) feel invalid/unworthy.
While the rest (most) of the world is figuring out how to combat the deadly virus and get through it as safely and quickly possible to mitigate the effects of a near-guaranteed global recession.
But in India
The Pandemic is Weaponized.
Here's how
1/n
Communalized:
Use selective testing & sampling bias. Hyper-focus on one incident + direct a dog-walked genocidal media to synonymize Muslims with the virus (days after murderous anti-Muslim riots in the capital.
Create trumped-up charges, jail Dalit academics standing between u, a meatier Dalit vote & turning Ambedkar into an RSS mouthpiece. To inevitably wither from COVID in stuffy prison cells.
As we celebrate #AmbedkarJayanti it's crucial to remember that amidst the caste bias, neglect & apathy
The moth-eaten books, forgotten lectures & glossed-over legacy tucked into 20 words in textbooks
Dalits kept his spirit alive
Scorned by savarnas for crowding roads, derided by academics for 'hero worship', for many Dalits born into a religion that deemed them filthy& untouchable, Ambedkar is closest to a mythical figure
A singular leader who fought for rights that changed the course for generations.
If his life story, his ambition, his drive to study for 20 hours a day are folklore for some of us, that's because that's the only myth where instead of humiliated outcastes or crafty thieves, we were represented as equals, and as the centre of our own stories.
Rioters, fundamentalists, foot soldiers played music, chanted ‘Jai Sri Ram’ and cheered in glee, while proudly claiming to having given ‘freedom to a Muslim man’ — objectively by beating him mercilessly.
@NewYorker@IChotiner Ch: But what is the knee-jerk liberal reaction to being upset by right-wing movements—
Co: No, no, there is nothing wrong with being upset at all. But to make the perfect enemy of the good, to write this man off, to write Modi off, I am not ready to do that. >>>
@NewYorker@IChotiner Co: I think he is changing India in some very important and positive ways.
Ch: Such as?
Co: He is modernizing it. He’s taking the country forward.
I wrote this after #RohithVemula's death. It's not entirely surprising that it remains as relevant today after Dr #PayalTadvi's institutional murder when people are still asking if caste really exists in India.
1. Be aware of your confirmation bias
If you've never experienced caste-based discrimination first hand, you'll simply tend to assume that it doesn't exist. Because that's not your lived experience. But for millions of Dalits, it is their everyday reality. So listen to them. 1/9
2. Learn the history
Try to educate yourself about the exact nature of the caste-based oppressions that are being discussed, because our textbooks don't tell us enough. Figure out for yourself why the reservation and the quota system were needed in the first place. 2/9
This #AmbedkarJayanti I urge everyone to read Ambedkar. Especially if you are Dalit & still searching for your identity/place in the world. Nothing will fill you w/ more pride, confidence & a total zeal to take on the world than reading how he talks about our place in the world.
As Dalits, it's not always easy to access Ambedkar. Esp when it risks revealing the identity we've carefully hidden from the world + when reading/displaying/associating w/Ambedkar can come w/ rejection, discrimination and even violence. #AmbedkarJayanti
If you're Dalit & have never read Ambedkar don't do it simply coz he was a 'Dalit leader' (he was an Indian statesman who was Dalit & led everyone)
Or coz everyone is telling you how imp he is (facts)
Do it coz no one else will tell you that you are not lesser than anyone else
Been laying low on the violent attacks on Dalits peacefully gathered at #BhimaKoregaon that resulted in extensive damage to Dalit property & the death of a young man. Dalit history has prepared us for this exact outcome several times, be it Mahar Satyagrah or Nagpur Temple Entry
Each time Dalit assert themselves or show pride in their history, UCs retaliate with violence.
The only difference this time, Dalits decided to collectively exhibit just what could result if the abuse of 25% of country's population is constantly ignored.
If #MumbaiBandh and the 'inconvenience' of thousands of people is what it takes for UCs and mainstream media to pay attention to Dalit violence and abuse, then perhaps that's how last resorts look like.
