Indian Americans Open up About How They Feel About BLACKS and Blackness

I find it really hypocritical how Indians and South Asians will talk about prejudice they experience by white people and then turn around and take that same discriminatory energy and use

it against black people. I know it happens. I grew up hearing it. So, let's

happens. I grew up hearing it. So, let's

talk about how you are so eager to fit in that you would rather appease those who oppressed you than support other oppressed groups. You know what that

oppressed groups. You know what that smells like? Desperation for acceptance.

smells like? Desperation for acceptance.

And the sad part is, no matter what you do, no matter how hard you work to blend in, you will still be seen as an other.

I made a video a few days back and the basic premise of that video was that I had an issue with my community, the Indians, being racist towards the African-American community.

Now, obviously I anticipated some negative comments and there were a few and most of them aren't even worth talking about because it was some variety of whataboutery. There was one that surprised me though and it was this

idea that I was pandering to the Black American community.

So, since that question was from a South Asian, I'd like to answer that by telling you the history of South Asians in the United States.

So, the whole thing starts in the late 1800s. There were Sikh laborers and

1800s. There were Sikh laborers and farmers who ended up coming through Canada, ended up on the West Coast. They

worked on the railroads, they worked on lumber mills and eventually ended up in agriculture and they ended up in California.

Now, because of the laws of the land at that time, Asians were not allowed to buy or hold any property. So, the Sikh men found a workaround by marrying Mexican women who were citizens or who

could be citizens. So, in the early 1900s, there were these Sikh-Mexican communities in California which is amazing to me and I'm going to learn everything about them whenever I

whenever I get a chance. But, right here I'd like to pause the story for a second. Um

second. Um a special shout out to the Sikh community. For those of you that don't

community. For those of you that don't know, they're the warriors of our society. They're always the first in and

society. They're always the first in and apparently now you can add to their accomplishments that they were the first Indian men to step to Latinas. So, thank

you for that. Moving on, let's fast forward to 1917. 1917 is what's what begins the start of the era of legal erasure or what is also called as the

era of exclusion. I've been called both things. So, it starts in 1917 with the

things. So, it starts in 1917 with the Barred Zone Act. So, what the US did was they created what was called the Asiatic Barred Zone. This encompassed an area

Barred Zone. This encompassed an area including a lot of Asia and part of the Pacific Islands where the United States would not take any more immigrants from.

So, immigration at that point was zero.

So, what happened to the South Asians in America? Well, I said legal exclusion,

America? Well, I said legal exclusion, right? So, for that we have to fast

right? So, for that we have to fast forward to 1923. In 1923, there was a gentleman gentleman named Bhagat Singh Thind. He applied to become a US citizen

Thind. He applied to become a US citizen and this case went all the way up to the Supreme Court.

So, in the His argument was since he was high caste, he was Aryan, so therefore he should be considered white and therefore he should be able to apply for citizenship. Supreme Court came back and

citizenship. Supreme Court came back and said, "Though scientifically you are a Caucasian, in the eyes of the common man, you would not be considered white.

So, therefore you have no rights." So,

what they did was they actually went back and if there were any rights that South Asians had at that time, they stripped them of those rights. All

right? And this is the situation that in existed till 1947.

Okay? Basically no Indians coming in and the Indians who were here had no rights.

So, let's get to 1946. So, in 1946, the US overturns the total ban on Indians. They

allow 100 Indians per year starting in 1947.

Why why the What was the reason for this magnanimous change by the United States?

Well, it was the middle of World War II and there were Indian soldiers dying.

So, it was it it was diplomatically embarrassing that soldiers dying for your cause would not be allowed to enter your country. All right? So,

your country. All right? So,

so from that point onwards, from 1947 onwards, 100 Indians were allowed every year until 1965. So, in 1965 was the Immigration and Nationality Act which changed all the rules of immigration for

everybody and from that point onwards, immigration was normalized. Now, for

those of you who study American history, that number 1965 should be pretty instructive because in 1964 was when the Civil Rights Act was passed.

All right? So,

that's my argument.

We didn't Okay, wait. Let me take that back. All

Okay, wait. Let me take that back. All

of our accomplishments, everything we've accomplished, none of that even gets off the ground without the sacrifice of Black Americans.

And for that reason, I think at the very least we can just not be racist towards them because we're here and we're able to do this

because of their sacrifice.

So, if you think that's pandering, you're entitled to your opinion.

I don't care. Besides Kamala Harris, I don't I don't know many other like black and Indian people.

I think there's a lot of racism within Indian culture against the black community.

Yeah.

Now people are getting empowered. They

look, Mom, if you want to be a part of my life, you're going to have to deal with this. And Mom is like, "Oh my god,

with this. And Mom is like, "Oh my god, I don't want to lose my kid. Okay. Okay.

[laughter] Okay, let's go to E40 concert." You

know, like I will learn your culture. If

we were really to be honest with ourselves about this issue of immigrants in America, then we can all agree that immigrants, especially coming

to America, have to carry with them an inferiority complex.

And I'm going to try and expose that in this discussion.

Uh the biggest lie, first of all, sold to immigrants in America is this, that you can get close enough to whiteness

and somehow be protected or be safe or become accepted. And ironically, it's

become accepted. And ironically, it's taking like it it took you know, to expose that illusion in real time for people to see.

Because now people are starting to realize that proximity to whiteness isn't protection. It is just a temporary

isn't protection. It is just a temporary pass.

And then suddenly, you know, it fades away. For many years,

away. For many years, many immigrants arrive in America with one silent strategy. And this is where,

you know, this inferiority complex begins to get exposed. Separate yourself

colored people and especially black people and you will rise faster, you know? And let's be honest, this is isn't

know? And let's be honest, this is isn't just a random behavior.

It's imported. They come with it from wherever they come from and I'm especially talking about um immigrants that are black or, you know,

people of color generally.

They have with them they carry with them colonial conditioning, colorisms and the caste system thing. And when we talk about the caste system, something really

rings clear within the minds of many people, you know, Indian people and I mean the Southeast Asian communities where lighter skin has for long been

tied to a higher status and darker skins, you know, to inferiority. So,

what happens? People in land in America and instead of questioning the system, they embrace it. They tend to adopt to the

embrace it. They tend to adopt to the system and the first thing they do is they try to distance themselves from blackness, black people and, you know,

people of color. Sometimes they even have the guts to look down on the very people that opened up America for everybody.

I think you built the foundation of your speech on working against identity politics. Yet, um

politics. Yet, um I think so conveniently and it was kind of ignorant that all of your examples of oppression or people going through struggle were all from the black

community. So, if you could so

community. So, if you could so conveniently use one specific ethnicity to kind of propagate your ideals, is that not identity politics in itself?

You allege I only spoke about what black people face in this society and that that's a form of identity politics. In

fact, it is not. First of all, I spoke about the Bangladeshi women in the sweatshops sewing our clothes.

I talked about women who've been forced to have children against their will in that form of enslavement. I spoke about trans people who have faced over 500 laws this year introduced or passed. Not

to mention the terror that's enforced against them. I spoke about what happens

against them. I spoke about what happens on this planet as a whole as it is heating due to the destruction of climate change driven forward by the system of capitalism and imperialism. So, I've if

you missed all that, I'm not surprised if you also missed some of the scientific undergirdings of it. But, to

be fair, I will walk through it again.

I speak about black people in a very pronounced way when we come to revolution because the exploitation, the enslavement, the dehumanization and

the and the and the degradation that's been inflicted on black people is foundational to this society and this system. And that is scientifically a

system. And that is scientifically a fact. You It's evidence-based. The

fact. You It's evidence-based. The

wealth of this country, the territorial reach of this country, the military strength of this country got its roots in American slavery. The chattel slavery of black people And then on that

foundation the ideology of white supremacy, of black inferiority, has was propagated. It was made a a a bedrock of

propagated. It was made a a a bedrock of one of the glues of this society and it has been woven into this society ever since. The forms of oppression have

since. The forms of oppression have changed. Took a civil war to end

changed. Took a civil war to end slavery, but then what happened? After

not even 10 years of reconstruction where black people were brought into some rights within this country, that was betrayed. The troops were pulled out

was betrayed. The troops were pulled out and black people were re-enslaved in new conditions, slavery by another name, sharecropping for generations.

Serf-like conditions enforced through terror, lynch mob terror and violence.

And the troops were pulled out to go and finish off the extermination of the native peoples. Okay? Then

native peoples. Okay? Then

another generation comes up in the face of changes in the US economy and the need to pull black people out of the south and into the factories, black people stood up and they waged struggle in the civil rights movement. They gave

their lives, they stood up. White people

stood with them. They went down from the north and stood with them. This upended

Jim Crow. It was heroic. They many did just unbelievably brave things. And then

that was dismantled and what did this system come back with?

A new Jim Crow of mass incarceration THAT HAS GROUND UP millions of black lives.

So when I tell the story, this is science. When I tell the story of a

science. When I tell the story of a black woman in Harlem with binoculars next to her window watching in terror every time her 12-year-old, 13-year-old son crosses the street because of what

police DO EVERY DAY.

EVERY day to black people.

Every fucking day. When I talk about that, that is a particular that concentrates a huge reality that is defining to this country. And that's

scientifically true. It's

evidence-based. It's woven into the fabric of this society. It's culture,

it's economics, and it's global reach.

Frankly And so we can debate. If you

want to argue that's not scientific, bring some evidence. If you didn't hear the science, then please. No, go ahead.

Go ahead. Tell me that it's a marginal thing. Tell me that to talk about that

thing. Tell me that to talk about that I'm pimping off of it. I'm acknowledging

reality. You want to say it's not defining to this country that we shouldn't talk about it? I want you to talk about it. I am talking about it.

Yeah. Okay, so

just the fact that something actually happened or is true Yeah. doesn't

Anything that's empirically based is not science, right? It's It's like It's like

science, right? It's It's like It's like saying anything that's true is a scientifically like in science. It's

not. So you I I understand Okay. Okay, let me let me help. Let me

Okay. Okay, let me let me help. Let me

help. Okay, go ahead. Maybe he should get the mic.

I understand that your your your point is I want to be building arguments based on reason and rationale. Here, take the mic just so it gets you.

that your point is I want to be building arguments on reason and rationale, but that doesn't mean that it's scientific and and that doesn't mean that it's it's false or wrong. I'm saying that um the validity of your argument doesn't

increase by throwing the word science out. Well, I I Okay, so I would I would

out. Well, I I Okay, so I would I would argue that science actually can be applied to all of reality, not just narrowly in engineering or in the natural sciences.

No, this is important. What you're

raising is widely felt, it's widely believed, it's widely taught, I'm sure on this campus, that you can apply science to medicine, to nature, to the natural world. There's a hard sciences,

natural world. There's a hard sciences, but when you get to social reality, it's just opinions, it's experience, whatever. No.

whatever. No.

You can apply science to everything.

Everything that is part of reality, which societies are, can be analyzed scientifically. All science means in a

scientifically. All science means in a universal sense is it it's an evidence-based process. You gather

evidence-based process. You gather evidence about reality and you look for the deeper causes of the patterns in reality. And you can apply that to a

reality. And you can apply that to a society just like you can apply it to a rainforest, just like you can apply it to a virus. You can say what is the most defining thing about any given society?

What undergirds it? What are the laws in its functioning? And a scientific

its functioning? And a scientific analysis of this society says the most defining thing about this country is it's a capitalist imperialist mode of production.

That all of our needs are met through exploitation and people laboring in conditions all over the world to get the food we need, the clothes we wear, the pens we use, the microphones, all of this is created through global networks

of production. And that all of our

of production. And that all of our cultures, all of our ways of living, all of our ways of relating flow grow out of and have to reflect and

and and more or less correspond to that.

And so when we live in a society that where the exploitation and oppression of black people has been woven into that mode of production all the way down to today, it leads to the culture and the society and the kind of police terror

that we have today. That's That's

applying science to a social contradiction. And I'm telling you with

contradiction. And I'm telling you with people can deny this as much [music] as I'll I'll talk for my own family. They

think black people smell, they think black people um are always stealing, looking at lucks.

They think black people are corrupt. And

all they want to say is their culture.

[music] It's their culture. Constantly

that. That's That's who they are. And

then when something happens, right? Say

you get there's a robbery, 90% is going to be a black person. Do you know what we call black people?

We call them kala. It means black, not in a good way. If someone in your family is dark skin, we clown them.

We call them kalu. Look at kalu. IF YOU

WANT TO SEE RACISM AGAINST BLACK AMERICANS, JUST GO INTO TECH.

I AM AN ENGINEER. Three engineering

degrees. If you want to see how people of immigrants treat black Americans, go in tech and go work with Indians.

Sometimes I open my Instagram and I get a DM from someone saying um hi black cow.

[laughter] I don't really know what to say. They're

obsessed with my skin color.

Please tell me y'all have seen this video of the black man walking through his neighborhood and some Indian man approaches him and is demanding that he shows his identification to prove that

he lives in the neighborhood.

What's your name?

Anand? Can I see your ID or something?

Yeah, I mean you can call the police or I can call the police. I Can I see your ID? Yeah. Let me see your ID. Yeah. Let

ID? Yeah. Let me see your ID. Yeah. Let

me show you your ID and I'll take out my ID.

Let me take out your ID and let me take out my ID. Okay, let's

Can Can you get my uh phone?

No, no, let's call the police.

Give me your phone. Let's call the police. I'm in I'm in my own

police. I'm in I'm in my own neighborhood where I live at working in my neighborhood where my house is and I have this man asking me do I live here?

Yes. And what's your name?

Dude. I'm going to start I'm I'm going to start a civil civil lawsuit right now. That's what I'm going to do.

now. That's what I'm going to do.

Absolutely. You got to do it, man. But I

want to What's your name, man? Because I'm

walking in the neighborhood where I live at and I'm getting harassed.

No, wait. He's unnecessarily playing us.

But we can make a call to the police.

Yes. Bring my phone. I don't have my phone. Get my phone.

phone. Get my phone.

me and get the I will. Get my phone.

Because this guy will escape otherwise.

Get my phone. Get my phone. Come with

me. Yes.

He's going back and forth with the man, walking all up into his personal space, calling him a boy. Like really a boy?

Most of the racism I've actually experienced since coming to Canada has been from Indians. Unfortunately, that's

the that's the reality.

Is there a point of time in your life when you thought that I need to bleach my skin or whiten my skin?

Yeah, I thought I thought many times.

No, Indians were not supposed to be fairer. India receives more than 250

fairer. India receives more than 250 sunny days. So vitamin D is directly

sunny days. So vitamin D is directly absorbed by skin, hence more melanin content, hence the darker skin.

There was time when I was a teenage girl, I could see people who like girls who are fairer than me, you know? They

were treated in a different way. You

could see the school teachers or everyone else like oh, she's so cute, she's so pretty. So that time we what we feel okay, I want to be that person.

I've been bullied for my skin tone and that too by my teachers.

Yeah, one of my teacher bullied me I mean I was in like class third or fourth. I was just a child. I don't know that I have a dark

child. I don't know that I have a dark tone and all. My friends were like a little darker than me. They sometimes

feel that you know still that I should put tomato on my skin and this on my skin to become fair. So their

self-confidence has been really affected. Colorism is truly a scourge

affected. Colorism is truly a scourge among brown folk. I remember

experiencing colorism from the earliest moments of my life and it was the first form of discrimination that I was acutely aware of because it came from my own people. For context, I am the

own people. For context, I am the darkest skin person among my family, among my extended family. And the way having dark skin was phrased, was discussed so nonchalantly among my

family, among other brown community members, was almost as though being blacker, being browner was in itself a pejorative. When I was young and I would

pejorative. When I was young and I would meet family in India who I'd never met before, the first conversation they would have was about where I got my skin tone from. My mom is fair-skinned, her

tone from. My mom is fair-skinned, her mom is fair-skinned, and both my brother and my dad are brown-skinned. When I was in elementary school and my grandmother would come to visit us in the states, she would stop me from going out to play with other kids in the neighborhood

because I was getting too dark. The sun

was getting me too dark. When I was in high school and I got into my first long-term relationship with a fair-skinned girl, she very casually told me about the fact that her uncle would refer to me as kali. And she said

it as though it was a funny statement.

To them, dark skin is inferior in the same way that the sky is blue. I was in my AP world history class in high school with one of the other few South Indian people within my friend group and very casually the topic of like, oh, if you

could choose any ethnicity to be, what would you be came up, right? And I was thinking I was about to hear like Polynesian cuz Polynesian guys are just buff as fuck for no reason or like Thai cuz Thai food is great. This self-hating

fuck was like, I would want to be North Indian. When you are brown, you are

Indian. When you are brown, you are taught to hate yourself for one reason or another. And a large reason that I am

or another. And a large reason that I am not friends with brown folk, even though I want to be closer to my culture, even though I would love to be able to pass on my language and my food to my to my

children in the future, is that misery loves company and I am not miserable. So

Kamala Harris being black is independent of the incredible anti-blackness in Asian communities. So I've posted a

Asian communities. So I've posted a number of videos about the anti-blackness that many Asians have.

For example, the Indian-American community expresses a lot of anti-blackness, which is in some ways tied to colonialism and the colorism

inherent in Indian society. But in other ways, it's also about identifying with whiteness. But that is not the only

whiteness. But that is not the only reason that Kamala Harris is black. In

the United States, blackness is defined, I mean theoretically as one drop, but inherently as if you could look black.

And the state of being black is so contested in American society. And I do agree, that's also why you have such strong community in African-American community. She was accepted. Totally

community. She was accepted. Totally

agree with that. But even if she didn't identify as black, she'd still be classified as black cuz that's how our system works. Now look, there is plenty

system works. Now look, there is plenty to say about Kamala Harris, but to take her racial background, bro, that don't make sense. Yeah, her mom is Indian, but

make sense. Yeah, her mom is Indian, but you know we got a shared history with them, right? Britain colonized India

them, right? Britain colonized India just like they did Africa and the Americas. They took their land and stole

Americas. They took their land and stole their own government, raised their taxes while they worked long hours for little money. Farmers were forced to grow opium

money. Farmers were forced to grow opium and indigo instead of food. Britain

forced a famine. They forced poverty.

They forced oppression. When Britain

ended slavery in 1833, they brought in Indian indentured servants to replace formerly enslaved blacks in their other colonies. Talking about Trinidad,

colonies. Talking about Trinidad, Jamaica, Guyana, they were all on the sugar, tea, and rubber plantations. Yes,

as indentured servants. Oh, technically

it wasn't slavery. They could go back to India usually after 5 years. They made

that trek across the Atlantic Ocean usually in overcrowded ships filled with disease. And they were treated just like

disease. And they were treated just like slaves were on those plantations. Then

in the 1950s, India was fighting for independence from Britain. They wanted

to kick Europe out of their country just like the rest of the world. In 1959, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. went to India to learn about their resistance.

Specifically Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence. Gandhi used to write

non-violence. Gandhi used to write letters to black leaders in America expressing their shared struggle. Hey

look, blackness has a sound, a feel, a history, but it also has a shared struggle with oppressed people all around the world. So worrying about her blackness just may not be the move cuz it could look different across time and

space. Oh, and her dad's Jamaican. Last

space. Oh, and her dad's Jamaican. Last

time I checked, that was black.

I would not recommend going to Delhi.

Okay. [laughter]

Uh we Because Because Delhi is also a great cultural vibe, but but the people sometimes are very And especially because you're black, I'm going to tell you there are racists over there who are very much in your face.

Mhm. Like I'm I'm not even going to lie, there's a my my black friend from America had come down. He was from Brooklyn and he was visiting Mumbai and he's queer, so he was like, "What are the queer hotspots?" So I took him to like a bar and everything. And this is

in the most uppity part of Mumbai, right? Where all the influential and

right? Where all the influential and affluent people come and drink. Mhm. So

we're having a smoke in the in the in balcony and there's a song in India and pardon my words, but in India, nigahe means eyes. Yeah. Yeah, like the

the eyesight. Okay. So so the song has

the eyesight. Okay. So so the song has the word nigahome. So he was he was saying that word built him on purpose because there was a black guy and they could say the N-word without saying the N-word because of the the Indian word.

Oh, they tried to do that shit? My blood

was just like curdling, not even boiling. It was just like I'm like,

boiling. It was just like I'm like, "Bro, like" and and the girl next to him was like she's pinching like, "Shut the fuck up, dude. Don't do this." You know, so that that's what happened, you know?

Okay, so before I started my series, I wanted to tackle this question right here. A lot of Indians don't like black

here. A lot of Indians don't like black people cuz if you have a baby with a black guy, they think how dark it will come out.

And in my case, this is true. So my

family always called me dark growing up.

Mind you, I'm not that dark. But my

mother is darker than me, my father is lighter than me, so of course then you get me.

But apparently, I'm still dark.

So when I was pregnant with my son, all my mom would say is how dark my child was going to be.

Now, when he was born, when you look at the top of a newborn's earlobe, you'll see how what color they're going to be basically. Their pigmented earlobe

basically. Their pigmented earlobe basically tells you how dark or how light the child is. So what she said was, "He's going to be so dark. Look at

his ear." I was like, "Huh?" I didn't get it until later that she thought that because of his ear, he's going to be dark and well,

anyway, colorism is a big issue in India and that could be why they don't really like the intermingling with black people.

Now that being said, my mom did remarry after my parents divorced and she did marry a white guy and my sister is half white, so she's super super bright.

So yeah. I just want to comment on this video about this Indian couple getting married. The Indian guy is very dark.

married. The Indian guy is very dark.

He's like my he's basically my complexion and his wife is a little fairer than him and um the comments they're getting is just like, "Why is this dark-skinned man with

this lighter-skinned woman?" It's just like complexion complaints from Indian folks, from their own folks. Or the men look reaction like that. I was in that my family got targeted. You are [music]

nobody. Anytime I see a video that

nobody. Anytime I see a video that really like hits me, I go, "Man, let me let me talk about it." First of all, India is like just I mean, they are it

when it comes to like complexions, I mean, listen, every brown society has complexion problems. This all stems from white supremacy and European colonization, European standards of

beauty. This is all facts. India was

beauty. This is all facts. India was

colonized by England, Nigeria colonized by England colonized a bunch of Caribbean, France, all of that. So all

the European influence made brown people feel like shit, okay? Even in their makeup products, if you go to some of these countries, when I was in Thailand, all the advertisement was light as Thai

people. Light as fuck and the most of

people. Light as fuck and the most of the Thai people are dark brown. It's the

same thing in the Philippines, same thing in some parts of Africa, and same thing in parts of Asia. It's it's

insane. It's like even with Bollywood, it's like the light These These Indians be light as fuck, but they still look Indian, which is hilarious. But they're

light as hell. That's why I always advise people to watch movies from Telugu the Telugu movies. That's a

different part of India, but you'll actually see brown people cuz most of the majority of India is brown.

So it's nice to see these new Telugu movies like RRR, for example. If you're

ever interested, watch RRR and you'll see brown actually brown people. You

know, of course all of these all these different countries are made up of different complexions, but they always put the lighter people in front. There's

one called Light and Lovely, I think.

It's a it's a it's a bleaching cream in India. Light and Lovely. I think it's

India. Light and Lovely. I think it's Light and Lovely, I think. If I'm wrong, let me know, but it's like it they have that on the shelf like fucking Vaseline.

They just they buy that Light and Lovely. We In Nigeria, they had Ambi. I

Lovely. We In Nigeria, they had Ambi. I

think it's still there, but a lot of lightening creams are in a lot of these countries, even in America, and it's pretty fucked up. And I'm and I heard that a lot of these lightening creams

cause cancer and like that. So for those of you who are lighting lightening your skin, I don't want anything good to happen to you. Be yourself. Now this is not me wanting people to die of

anything, but you deserve to be poisoned because you already are poisoning yourself with your negative thoughts and ashamed of who what you look like.

Listen, I understand as a dark-skinned man. I understand people make fun of

man. I understand people make fun of you, they do this all this other Yeah, it happened to me as a kid, but thank God I had strong Nigerian parents where dark skin is normal. It's okay. Being

dark is great, all right? Be who you are. You understand what I'm saying? And

are. You understand what I'm saying? And

you and and I remember when light-skinned black folks would make fun of me. Yes, light-skinned black people

of me. Yes, light-skinned black people say, "You know," they call you black this, black that, dark this, dark this, but all my light-skinned friends look like now.

[laughter] That light skin doesn't hold up too long.

Listen, it's a joke, but it's a joke, though. But anyway,

all complexions are beautiful, you know what I'm saying? And that couple look great and it's a shame that really India has a real real complexion problem and it's fucked up. It's really

fucked up. And yeah, I just wanted to throw that out. So be proud of who you are and all you dark folk out there, you're still dope. You're still amazing.

And I know Listen, it it gets really bad because even in the NBA, I think the NBA is very light-skinned now.

The NBA is very light-skinned. It used

to be darker back in the day. You look

in the '80s and '90s, way more darker dudes. But now it's very light-skinned.

dudes. But now it's very light-skinned.

That's probably why they don't play defense cuz if you if you foul one of these light-skinned dudes, they'll bruise easy.

You know what I mean? And you know what I think this is an example I think the the reason why the NBA is so light-skinned cuz you had a lot of insecure dark-skinned basketball players in the past, so they made sure they got with either really light-skinned women

or white women to make sure their children didn't have to suffer later on.

That's just a social [snorts] theory, everybody. Hey man, I'm out of here.

everybody. Hey man, I'm out of here.

So as a Guyanese West Indian woman, I actually just wanted to add my two cents on this because growing up back home, my family was one of two Indian families

in a predominant black village.

And we were always taught to, you know, respect our elders. Regardless of the skin tone, you respect everyone around you. You know, my best friends were

you. You know, my best friends were black. We went to school with everyone

black. We went to school with everyone who were black.

Um And I don't think my grandpa even really knew why he did not want like you were allowed to be besties. His best friends were black, our neighbors were black.

You know, when we kill our animals for Christmas time, we don't feed half the village, but he never he always used to preach like you never marry a black person. And

person. And I don't think we really truly knew why we felt that way.

Obviously now looking back, slavery.

Because we were the lighter skinned slaves, you know, the slaves that came from Africa were meant to feel that we were superior to them because of our skin tone, but a slave is a slave is a

slave is a slave. And

all of my aunts and uncles later went on to marry a black man or woman. And so

all my cousins are, you know, biracial or dougla for the Guyanese people.

That's what we call the biracial person, you're dougla.

[snorts] And so I don't think he fully knew why he was supposed to feel that way, but he did. And I mean

did. And I mean like I said, all of my cousins are mixed, except for me. My mom married a Guyanese Indian person, so, you know,

but I mean even as a Guyanese Indian person, I'm like 12% black. So,

[laughter] there's the mixture happened whether we liked it or not, but it's it was just interesting for me because I never felt like it was racially profiling back home. You know, we break bread with

home. You know, we break bread with them, we invite everyone over, we have parties we sit down, we we congregate with them, we go to their weddings, they come to our weddings. Like, you know, we were very

weddings. Like, you know, we were very much immersed in each others cultures.

And so it it never felt like the North American version of racially profiling someone or racism. It

never felt that way, but of course, you know, it's obviously still a version of that to say that you can be best friends with them and, you know, we can grow up our entire lives with them, but oh, you can't marry that person cuz they're

black. I don't think it ever really had

black. I don't think it ever really had anything to do with you know, your skin tone. Cuz especially

in Guyana, like it's a Caribbean country. It's very hot.

Everyone is a have some level of melat- melatonin going on.

I think we just have to thank slavery for that. You know, thank the white

for that. You know, thank the white people for conditioning us and and putting us to fight against each other because even to this day, the black and the Indians are fighting and we don't know what the fuck we're fighting for.

But it's just interesting, you know, South American versus North America how you look at things. Um

Anyways that's Now, here's where the contra- this is the contradiction that probably um

not many people are talking about enough or loud out enough. The very

that the very people some immigrants distance themselves from or even look down on are the same people

who fought bled died for the rights that immigrants and everybody, especially minorities, benefit from or enjoy today in America.

We're talking about civil rights. We're

talking about voting rights. We're we

are talking about anti-discrimination laws, you know.

You name them. So, when

someone arrives and asks why do we not get treated like black Americans? There's some videos of of

Americans? There's some videos of of some Indian people asking or questioning why black Americans in

America get more spotlights or better they tend they they tend to get much more treatment than immigrants.

You know, they expose the irony and the arrogance and the ignorance that people carry because one thing is that uh immigrants need to know that these

people, black Americans, are not immigrants in the first place. And in

fact, they are hosts in America. They are their hosts. So,

in America. They are their hosts. So,

you need to respect your host instead of demanding for equal rights. And instead

of questioning why they get more attention is learn their ways of how they they steal the spotlight from

everybody because yeah, we know that everybody, you know, wants to be like them. So, learn from them instead of

them. So, learn from them instead of fighting, you know.

Um Or at least listen to them. So, this

question alone exposes a a deep misunderstanding. When people ask why

misunderstanding. When people ask why why they can't get the same spotlight or the same treatment like black Americans.

Black Americans are not immigrants, obviously. And they're more like a

obviously. And they're more like a foundation to what we know today as, you know, the modern day America. They they

did not enter the system.

They forced the system to change, not just for them, but for everybody else.

And yet instead of of other immigrants from wherever they come from, it could be from the Caribbeans, from Africa, from South America, or from Asia,

instead of recognition, they they tend to put up a competition, a fight. Instead of respect, then they

a fight. Instead of respect, then they begin to to to to try and compare.

But now though something, you know, quite interesting is happening. More and more people are, you

happening. More and more people are, you know, especially in the Indian Americans, they're beginning to see the truth. And

the truth is the same system they tried to align with was never fully meant to to to, you know, to absorb them, to

include them. White white supremacy

include them. White white supremacy will not there's no there's no way you can get yourself to be accepted by them.

They might tolerate you for some time, for as long as you're still useful. And

you know, that acceptance is is never permanent. It's conditional. You're

permanent. It's conditional. You're

valuable when you're useful.

And then you're discarded and invincible when you're not useful to them. That's

not belonging. That's that's being rented for some time.

But now people are beginning to see the the, you know, that truth.

Now, so maybe the real question isn't how can we get to whiteness? Maybe the

question is why was I taught to look down on the people that I should have been standing with in the first place? That I should

have recognized that all the rights immigrants enjoy it's because of their sacrifices, you know? And um

because division if you look deeply at at it, division is not accidental. It

was engineered by white supremacy and it only benefits white supremacy. Divide black people

white supremacy. Divide black people from immigrants, you know, divide immigrants amongst themselves, and the system basically stays

untouched. But when people start seeing

untouched. But when people start seeing through it, when they start giving credit where it's due, then things begin to shift, you know?

So, yes, maybe it's time.

Maybe it's time for immigrants to start, you know, giving flowers, real flowers to the people

whose struggles, whose sacrifices opened the doors for everybody else. Not

out of guilt, not out of obligation, but basically out of the truth.

You know, out of feeling like of course they deserve this because you you don't expect to disrespect the foundation and think that that that that that the house is going

to stand long enough. Yeah? Cuz these

are the people that set everybody else to have a chance in the so-called America today.

If it was not for their their fight, [snorts] their struggles, and their sacrifices that they paid with their labor, with their sweat, with their their lives,

maybe America would never have existed as what we know to be today.

Yeah.

So, really that's my two cents, my take on this. Let me

know what you think.

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