When I came out as Dalit in Jan 2016, it was in response to the institutional murder of Rohith Vemula, a moment that changed the lives of so many younger Dalit folks including myself. It was a turning point in Dalit history that gave many of us the courage to reject our shame 1/9





Like a massive section of the community I had not read Sumit Baudh's 07 piece where he talks about not knowing his caste & 'coming out as Dalit' to their roommate at 18, until last week. I reached out them as soon as I did & initiated a text conversation that lasted days 2/9

Most people criticizing me were waiting to find something to latch on to. A tweet I wrote in defense against a troll acc is suddenly proof that I’m erasing the contribution of those that came before me? When I’ve spent YEARS doing just the opposite! Read any interview I’ve given.

https://twitter.com/alokranjan95/status/1692633593338880441

As a Dalit woman who came to this movement on my own but was able to build something powerful that Dalits like myself who didn’t have access to Ambedkar could identify with, how apologetic do y’all expect me to be for my work? The real issue? Me taking my credit as a woman.

So let me get this right...Dalit Muslims & Christians should not get Reservation b/c their leaders surrendered their rights to do so in the 30s/40s & if we do this for them, then "everyone" will ask for Reservation?

Is that it? The opposition to this is based on a historic blip? Should we not take stock of the present & call a spade just that to recognize how brutally Dalit Muslims & Christians are treated within their own communities?

The ones killed for transporting beef, those who're shunned into separate churches & historically denied opportunities?

The Dalit child who was murdered by his caste superior teacher in Rajasthan wasn't killed just for drinking water, he was killed for polluting the water that belonged to the 'upper' caste teacher with his thirst. Growing up Dalit anywhere isn't easy, but in Rajasthan it can be especially toxic.

Standing in complete solidarity with Thenmozhi Soundarajan for speaking against the bigotry at Google in canceling her talk.

Since the Cisco lawsuit in 2020, caste in US has become a visible human rights issue, now impossible to ignore in tech, academia & beyond. 1/n @dalitdiva

https://twitter.com/dalitdiva/status/1534675258313101312

More than 90% of Indian Americans are upper caste.

For decades they have silenced any conversations on caste, while simultaneously claiming a model minority status.

Caste is now finally in the spotlight, thanks to the unending efforts of Dalits/ Ambedkarite orgs in the US. 2/n

It’s time to address this hateful, vile & toxic narrative that keeps making rounds every time I get active on social media.

Let’s start with facts:

- I grew up in small town Rajasthan, often in extreme poverty, in a Bhangi family, discriminated at times even by ‘lower’ castes

https://twitter.com/Gaikwadshogun/status/1448178913247518723

- Rajasthan,among the worst on gender & caste disc., didn’t offer any space for Bhangis to breathe, let alone reclaim our identities or Ambedkar.

- I grew up hiding my caste & feeling shame about it — a choice some can afford to sneer at but one that was crucial for our survival

I couldn’t attend the @sahityaakademi award ceremony for Coming Out as Dalit winning the Yuva Puruskar in English.

But to my delight, incredible Manasa Yendluri, a Dalit woman writer who also won the award for her short story collection in Telegu, agreed to read my speech. 1/4 While I’m obviously disappointed to not be able to attend in person and collect the award for possibly the first Dalit writing in English handed out by Akademi, I’m extremely honored and proud that another Dalit woman is able to convey my ideas.

2/4

A Hindu sect with close ties to the ruling party got Dalit labor workers on false pretenses to the US to build a temple

Only to pay them $1/day, seize their passports & keep them locked up in inhuman conditions.

Is this the Hinduphobia they speak of?

nytimes.com/2021/05/11/nyr… 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.

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.

This is a harrowing time for the entire country.

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

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

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?

https://twitter.com/nycitylens/status/1367285280294715398

Or to the Sikh gurudwara in a Queens neighborhood who has faced multiple ‘VIOLENT’ attacks for displaying a photo of none other than Dr Ambedkar.

How is this response any different from the discrimination that we as Dalits suffer from ‘upper’ caste communities?

Imagine being a Dalit woman today.

You’re still mourning the brutal lesson in caste supremacy from 2006 Khairlanji, when a girl, her mother were paraded naked, raped & murdered.

And you hear another Dalit teen succumbed to the same brutality by ‘upper’ caste men, the same day. You know police refused to file a report both times.

The Media ignored, until Dalits agitated, forced them to listen.

Then organized panels inviting upper caste women to discuss how ‘rape is a social evil’.

People registered shock, wondered how this happened, then moved on.

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.

https://twitter.com/ForeignPolicy/status/1306676891399659523

My review for @ForeignPolicy

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

Here’s why:

1. Dalit issues are not ‘mainstream’ enough for folks to care about. Our issues are too distant, too other to deserve attention.

2. The ‘few handles’ who speak about them are margiznalized as ‘Dalit writers’ who sole task is to do the emotional labor of outrage.

https://twitter.com/ich_been_Klown/status/1270431645749960704

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.

‘Comic’ #AtulKhatri called #RangoliChandel a ‘Chandaal’ for her genocide inducing tweet

With a history of using Dalit caste names as slurs, he is:

1. Equating a proto-fascist bigot w/ an entire community of oppressed ppl

2. Creating more caste-hatred for Chandaals than exists

https://twitter.com/kupmanduka/status/1250878009608790017

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

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.

Rinse, repeat. Definitely ignore this.

news18.com/news/india/def…

"It's because he was, that's why we are"

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.

The diabolical swiftness of anti- Muslim pogrom proved this.

The govt behaves with assumed impunity that no one outside India will notice.

But thanks to the courageous journalism & the footage, images, videos that we could circulate, this time the world is not ignoring. 1/n The Atlantic said unequivocally -- What Happened in Delhi was a Pogrom

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/… 2/n

In a series of dark days, yesterday was among the darkest.

As world’s eyes are on India, those of us outside NEED to amplify narratives that highlight this👇🏽

Not the Taj, not Obama’s Gandhi Ashram entry, but THIS bald, stark Hindu hate that’s baying for the blood of our people. Journalists were told not to cover the brutality because ‘finally the Hindu had risen’.

Those didn’t comply were asked to ‘prove’ they weren’t Muslim — by insisting to pull their pants down.

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/are…