So I have spent the last few weeks actually trying to think of how to post my feelings about a June 10 article by Sampriti Ganguli titled “Dateline India: What Shade of Brown Are You?”
The reality of it is – shades of brown when it comes to complexions is ridiculous. I listened to family my whole life speak about not getting darker, staying out of the sun, finding ways to be light, oh they must be from X part of India – look how light/dark they are. Having had people be openly racist towards me at various parts of my upbringing (whole other post) it always baffled me that those of Indian descent or from India would internally segregate each other. Didn’t they know that those that saw colour just saw one shade of brown – and that if you were it – you weren’t part of them.
Sooner or later the internal politics have to subside and Indians will proudly call themselves Indians and not worry about what specific region or skin tone or even caste (though this is illegal now). While I am not sure how much this exists in other cultures, my brothers and sisters of Indian descent often find a way to self-segregate and distinguish between each other, from brownness, to how “Indian/Desi” one truly is?
My response – Get Over It! Start Looking For The Similarities Amongst One Another.
Without one unified country looking to work together – India will continue to create its own glass ceiling, whether it be in basketball, other sports, all the way through world politics.