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Thursday, May 14, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
MICHIGAN IN COLOR

 GRAPHIC BY CARA JHANG

An Idealistic, Outdated America

On March 14, an Asian-American 
family of three was stabbed by 
Jose Gomez at a Sam’s Club. On 
February 23, Ahmaud Arbery was 
shot dead after being followed by 
Gregory and Travis McMichael, 
who had grabbed their shotguns 
and pursued Arbery in their truck. 
On September 17, 2019 Harris 
County Sheriff’s Deputy Sandeep 
Dhaliwal was shot twice in the 
head by Robert Solis as he was 
returning to his patrol car during a 
routine traffic stop.
These cases are not political; 
they do not require the public to 
pick between red and blue, left or 
right. They are hate crimes which 
shake up the very core of American 
ideals 
and 
values. 
It’s 
about 
humanity. Cases such as these beg 
the question: Is a need for justice 
not inherent within all humans? 
Are descriptions of these gruesome 
cases not enough to spark empathy 
and activism across all American 
households? After all, these heinous 
crimes occurred on American soil, 
the land of the free — but not free 
enough where people of color can 
feel safe going grocery shopping, go 

on a run or do their job. 
As an Indian American growing 
up 
in 
a 
typical 
Midwestern 
suburban household and attending 
public schools, I was always taught 
to salute the law and order in place 
to protect our communities and 
swell with pride when it comes 
to revisiting our nation’s history. 

AAKASH RAY
MiC Staff Writer

Read more at michigandaily.com

GRAPHIC BY CARA JHANG 

Colorism: Seeking fairness in Southeast
Asian communities

PRISHA GROVER
MiC Staff Writer

When I was little, I never 
understood why my mom used 
to bathe me with warm milk and 
honey. Or why her friends (the 
aunties) would often remark on 
how light my skin is. Or why Fair 
and Lovely whitening cream was 
always in high demand at the 
Indian grocery store. As I grew 
older, my friends and I began to 
spend more time outside — joining 
after school sports clubs and biking 
around our suburbs. As a result, 
we became more tan and more and 
more aunties would comment on 
how I had become so kala, which 
means dark. It’s become a mark of 
beauty, especially in North Indian 
communities, to be light-skinned, 
meaning that becoming darker 
made us seem less attractive. 
Recently, Netflix released the 
first season of the show “Never 
Have I Ever,” the story of the 

Read more at michigandaily.com

While I feel privileged to be living 
in this country, as I grow older I 
question whether I’ve looked at our 
past through rose-tinted glass and 
how that affects my perception of 
our present and future.
The answer lies largely in the 
United States education system 
which perpetuates an idealistic, 

outdated vision of America. I 
was taught the oppression of an 
entire race of people, yet I was 
never informed of the years of 
generational trauma that would 
linger 
into 
my 
young 
adult 
years. I was taught racism and 
discrimination 
are 
wrong, 
yet 
was never directed to systemic 

instances 
of 
racism 
prevalent 
within institutions like education, 
healthcare and the justice system. 
Students sitting in public school 
classrooms are becoming more 
diverse, yet educators rarely hold 
discussions on how to combat the 
social issues which may lie in their 
future.
Racial equality should be an 
integral 
part 
of 
conversations 
in all communities of diversity 
and injustices of the past and 
present should be at the forefront 
of our depictions of American 
history. To bring about this wave 
of understanding, schools need 
to 
have 
greater 
transparency 
of the American narrative of 
continual racism and oppression. 
Racism and discrimination need 
to be defined and explained to 
students at younger ages. There 
should not be any hesitation in 
addressing these topics, as this is 
not political but rather about our 
existence. To believe that racism 
and discrimination will one day 
be eradicted is foolish, but to 
acknowledge past and present 
wrongs is not.

high 
school 
sophomore 
Devi 
Vishwakumar who must navigate 
her life after her father dies and 
seeks to rebrand herself. Despite 
the truth, Devi is not marketed as 
attractive or charming. Instead, she 
is made to seem like a moderately 
attractive awkward nerd who is 
desperate for approval from a boy 
— putting effort into outfits that 
clearly do not match and being 
clumsy in almost any scene where 
she seems attractive. In contrast to 
her characterization, her cousin, 
Kamala, is fair and has glowing 
light skin, and is always depicted to 
be naturally beautiful and talented, 
having men fall all over her for her 
beauty. 
This show, while an extremely 
beautiful stride in representation 
in media for young Southeast 
Asian Americans, easily plays into 
this age-old notion that light skin 
tends to equate to beauty. This is 
not a new practice — when famous 
Bollywood Actresses became well 

known in American pop cultures, 
such as Deepika Padukone and 
Priyanka 
Chopra, 
they 
were 
notably made to look lighter with 
their makeup. Even in Bollywood, 
actors and actresses such as Kajol, 
Bipasha Basu, and Rekha are all 
darker in person. However, on TV 
and in movies, they are made to 
seem much lighter through the use 
of makeup. 
The 
origin 
of 
this 
notion 
associated with fair skin can be 
traced back to Euro-centric beauty 
standards. A dissertation written 
by a University of Massachusetts-
Boston graduate explains these 
standards as praising “fair skin, 
long straight hair, thin lips, [and a] 
small nose,” comparing people to 
the most prominent physical traits 
of a white woman. This comparison 
is unfair, considering that these 
traits are not normal for so many 
different 
ethnic 
communities. 
Several Indian women are blessed 
with rich, dark skin, but are 

constantly rejected by the Indian 
public, modeling agencies and 
Bollywood casting groups.