IS INDIA STILL A RACIST COUNTRY?

The drops of crystal water are spreading across the windowpane of a school bus which the protagonist of this storyboards every day to reach his school; at a tender age of learning something new and letting something go, teenagers often get misled sometimes by their peers, sometimes by their teachers and sometimes by their parents. Yes, you are guessing it right. The protagonist of this story is a little bit darker than the typical complexion of his schoolmates; the dark tan is as beautiful as a mountain planted with tropical trees and swirling flowers.

IS INDIA STILL A RACIST COUNTRY?

But alas, people in our country still decide beauty based on what their ancestors or the Britishers thought of them a few centuries ago, irrespective of how each complexion has its beauty to be admired. The protagonist of this story, as usual, was bullied often by names like Negro, Black Monkey, African, or something else, which everyday shatters the smile of the protagonist he carries every day in the hope of not getting bullied or getting equal respect as his other schoolmates receive, but that never happened he was tortured continuously even though he pleaded for help from his teachers and other friends. Still, no one came to his rescue. They used to laugh at how he was bullied every day. Students used to lock him in the bathroom for hours, punishing him for reciting an African forcefully. While resting on the bathroom floor weeping for hours, our flawed little protagonist can only see darkness everywhere.

This story is not the story of only this protagonist; this story shares its experience with thousands of kids all over the nation who were just born a little bit darker than the typical complexion. Why is this story so familiar in India? Why do people still keep bars on darker complexions while searching for a bride/bridegroom or fixing an impression about someone? Why don’t people understand how they are trapped in the cycle of misleading complexion selection even though we live in the 21st century?
Many for how our country is still racist; let us dive into different stories of how racism still exists in our country.

3 Examples on How racism still exists in our country?

COVID-19 and Indians who were called Chinese

Covid-19 swallowed our entire nation as it grew bigger and bigger, massacring many people in the past two years; since the beginning of this deadly virus, citizens of India and other countries believe that people of China are responsible for creating this virus by either consumption of infected bats or experimentally began an altered virus and spreading it into the world, we don’t know the reason yet.
So Chinese or people of china are blamed for spreading Covid-19, and fun fact since the Covid-19 started spreading its wings, the people of northeastern states who reside in different places of this nation were called with names like Chinese, Covid spreaders or even were abused harshly even though they were Indians who just looked a bit different than the other Indians.

Foreigners from the other nations.

A foreigner from another nation is like a stranger trying to enter an island without any survival manual. Foreigners from Asia, Africa do face a little bit of racism or sometimes even more under few circumstances; for example, their passport versification or any or prospective identification takes more time than an average Indian is accepted for, plus a foreigner is treated as an alien in our nation by few standbys and people who click pictures of these foreigners without their consent. In most local markets, the products are sold more than the actual price to foreigners only because they look different or new to the nation; I mean, does it matter if you look different under the terms of complexion. When an Indian or a southeast Asian visits a foreign country like America or Australia, they never treat us like aliens or give a different set of manuals for our survival. Why still does our nation hold back itself from the old stereotypes of racism? Why is a country of over 130 crore populations still trying to find differences while living with different races?.

Local Matrimonial sites

Matrimonial sites grew into a hub of exploration by the people of India in recent times, and searching for a bride or bridegroom based on their requirements is what they do on these online matrimonial sites. Now you might ask a question how racism linked to these matrimonial wedding sites is? How can someone directly or indirectly show racism through these sites? Let’s take a look at this.
Our country was divided into different castes like Brahmans, Kshatriyas, vaishyas, and Shudras. Shudras were considered darker complexion, but in reality, the caste has nothing to do with it. However, dozens of matrimonial sites still classify themselves based on providing someone from a specific caste and someone of a particular complexion. According to a recent study, there are almost 35 marital sites all over the nation that still consider the lower caste people as people of darker complexion and try to impress their clients by filtering the people who belong to that caste out of their sites, plus according to another survey almost 62 percentage of darker complexion men are rejected on these matrimonial sites only because they look
a little bit darker, but in reality, we all know that we belong to the same nation and we all are equal.

A country of people from various cultures, religions, traditions, mindsets can bring a little bit of conflict while dealing with such sensitive issues, but still, we all know that our country holds its record of being the most successful democratic country in the world with cooperation among different races, castes or communities then why do we need to look people differently if they look pale, dark, brown or black these are just colors of nature to be intertwined to create a beautiful picture. That picture can only be created if we all try to paint the canvas with colors of equality and respect. That is what makes a country more robust than ever.