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Thursday, June 25, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com MICHIGAN IN COLOR

Colonial indoctrination and colorism
in India

SUNITHA PALAT
MiC Staff Writer

As the Black liberation move-
ment gained traction over the past 
month, I, like many others, have 
taken time to learn, understand 
and reflect on the systemic racial 
prejudice ingrained in this country 
against Black Americans. However, 
from a broader perspective, I’ve 
also taken the time to look intro-
spectively and reflect on the silent, 
learned biases I’ve experienced 
throughout my life and how to 
actively combat them — especially 
within the Indian community. In 
India, there exists a conglomeration 
of different skin tones, shades of 
brown, languages and cultures, but 
like most diverse nations, prejudice 
and innate biases continue to per-
petuate. Most recognizable to me 
is colorism on the spectrum of skin 
tone.There is an old Indian home-
remedy recommended for expect-
ing mothers — mainly those with 
a darker, “musty” tone — to drink 
saffron milk once a day to make 
sure their child will be “blessed” 
with fair skin. Many Indian fami-
A customary ‘chill culture’: the dangers of 
being politically correct

AAKASH RAY
MiC Staff Writer

Graphic by Hibah ChughtaiI

A customary “chill”: the dangers 
of being politically correct
In today’s racial climate, terms 
such as “micro-aggressions” and 
“gaslighting” have become main-
stream terminology when address-
ing racism at the micro-level. Many 
are content as they find their lived 
experiences being summed up by 
these newly-coined terms. Others 
are stunned, learning for the first 
time phrases they once thought 
were nonchalant actually attrib-
uted to a toxic culture of ignorance 
and apathy. 
These terms are now being rede-
fined and in doing so, are creating 
awareness worldwide. Facts and 
statistics are more readily avail-
able than ever with infographics 
about systemic racism flooding 
social media platforms. However, 
I wonder what change will truly 
come about if American society 

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does not expand their emotional 
bandwidth to feel and share the 
feelings required to push forward 
for change.
Within social circles, it has 
become increasingly familiar to 
avoid the uncomfortable. It’s not 
that people don’t know what’s hap-
pening. Individuals instead instinc-

lies, secretly or not, hope their 
child is born with a lighter com-
plexion due to the increased lik-
ability and desirability they would 
possess in society, but the quest for 
fairness does not end here. Skin-
lightening products, like “Fair & 
Lovely,” “Pond’s White Beauty” 
and “Lotus Herbals Whiteglow” 
are commonplace in Indian gro-
cery stores, and make up an indus-
try expected to be worth over $24 
billion by 2027 globally. The media 
portrays lighter-skinned families 
in advertisements and TV shows, 
and Bollywood favors lighter-
skinned actresses like Aishwarya 
Rai, Kareena Kapoor and Katrina 
Kaif (who is also half-white) as the 
stars of films, creating an inaccu-
rate ideal for Indians to look up to. 
This representation issue has been 
addressed more recently by certain 
actors and actresses’ campaigns, 
like Nandita Das’ “Stay Unfair, Stay 
Beautiful” campaign, but many stay 
complacent. Yet, colorism might be 
most noticeable at the grassroots 
level. Comments from Indian rela-
tives or acquaintances like “The 
bride is pretty, but dark,” “Oh, she’s 
so beautiful and fair!” and “She’s so 

dark, hopefully the baby won’t be as 
dark,” continue throughout the life 
of a “darker” Indian individual, and 
serve as microaggressions pinning 
a negative connotation on those 
with a darker shade of brown.
Indian society has been primed 
for years with the notion that fair-
er skin is simply better. It means 
you’re more attractive, a more 
desirable spouse and even a more 
sought out employee or leader. But 
where does this colorism come 
from? Some scholars point to 
Ancient India and the construction 
of the caste system, which divided 
labor among different groups with 
the intention that each class had an 
equally important role to society. 
Yet as time passed, misinterpreta-
tion occurred. Higher status went 
to more “noble” occupations — reli-
gious Brahmins, education related 
jobs — and lower status belonged 
to those who worked dirtier, more 
labor-intensive work outside. And 
as a result of this outdoor work, 
these people naturally became 
darker-skinned. 

tively evade discussion around 
issues, often citing a lack of educa-
tion on the topic as an obstacle for 
productive dialogue. Subsequently, 
a culture of “chill” passivity has 
swept over discussions of race and 
associated injustices. This past 
school year, I occasionally spoke 
about systemic issues of inequality 

like voter suppression, the prison-
industrial complex and discrimina-
tion in healthcare with some of my 
peers, only to be met with little to 
no enthusiasm. Instead, the ensu-
ing conversation was very surface 
level and treated as an afterthought 
to the rest of the discussion. I 
believe we have grown accustomed 

to glossing over the negative details 
and instead become hyper-mellow 
to the point of insensitivity in 
regard to human life. Being “chill” 
means to ignore what’s happening 
around your bubble, to not care and 
to not feel.

Graphic by Hibah ChughtaiI

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