Tag: #BlacklivesMatter

How we create equality

While surfing through linkdein I came across a post where a doctor sir Ganeshan, he was providing free medical deliveries to girl. Many people of community have distinct view of it as if it is a right way and right thing.

In my view, this is how we create equality,
there are two ways
first, we share everything we have equally and eventually with time everything gets equalize,
another way is we try balancing both sides like if people are not happy after having girl child we will free them from fee charge(its temporary solution of a big part of solution) and as societies are progressing they will learn and improve with time.
Example of first one is colonized countries they doesn’t got support from developed countries and they got bullied many time but we are slowly progressing toward equality,
Example of second one is solutions for girl equality by indian govt, it involves temporary(situation based) solution like dowry punishment to educating and reservation, the benefits of having second way is it’s fast, and it has lots of temporary solution to big problems like girl foeticide case.

You can see post here

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ashwini-mahesh_activity-6846473782144630785-ZcoR

Connect me on LinkedIn here

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shivam-soni-a99a4a186

Un-Fair and Un-Lovely.

How empowering was it to watch Indians hold the “BLACK LIVES MATTER” placard in one hand supporting the protests in the United States and with the other hand applying a cream of poisonous chemicals to their naturally gifted skin. In this black and white world why do we hate brown? From the soil that gives birth to plants to the earthen pots which store our precious waters to the wood that burns into the flames of tomorrow’s ashes -brown is everywhere.

“Beta dhoop me mat khelo, tan ho jaaoge!”, yells the Indian parent while some family in the Europe takes their sons and daughters to play on the beach and get some tan. A land that prays Lord Krishna who is described to be as dark as the thunderous rain clouds and yet portrays him blue because anything is better than black anything is better than brown anything is better than dark.

Etymologically speaking, the Sanskrit word ‘Krishna’ means black or dark. At times, it is also translated as “all attractive”. According to Vedas, Lord Krishna is a dark-skinned God. Even in traditional patta chitras (cloth art) in Odisha, Lord Krishna and Vishnu are always shown having black skin. 

50,000 years ago when our ancestors migrated from the North to the African and Asian continents, they were exposed to the UV rays of the Sun which is saturated at the equator and the tropic of Capricorn. Those days’ sunscreens were not invented hence due to evolution and the wonderful science of human body’s biology it produced melanin under the skin which acted as a natural sun screen. Skin creating its own protective layers, how cool is that?

But we as Indians would rather prefer skin burns and skin cancers than having a healthy skin. When my mother read the matrimony classified newspapers for my elder sibling’s marriage, her face falls down as she looks at those advertisements. No no-hold your horses, it’s not what you are thinking, everybody is progressive nowadays, nobody is asking for dowry. All they ask is – “seeking a fair bride for my son”, “fair and handsome boy with a fit body”, “girl should be white toned and open minded”, “boy should not be dark and not restrict our daughter from wearing her choice of clothing.” (no dowry).

To parents who are afraid because – log kya kahenge? Maa lets not look for brides or grooms who are fair, let’s look for individuals who treat people fairly. Let’s not buy besan (gram flour) for face masks rather let’s lather some potatoes in them and fry it in oil as we watch the fair besan turn into a beautiful crispy brown tasty pakodas (fritters). Fairness creams or home remedies for instant glow neither teach us to be a human with a clean heart, a heart free from the ignorance. Instead of handing a tube of glow and lovely to your loved one’s let’s make them stand in front of the mirror holding their head high because any shade is beautiful any shape is beautiful any scar is beautiful. Before teaching to love others let’s start by loving ourselves. It’s time we realise love comes in all shapes and shades, it’s time we loved all shapes and shades.

Forget snow white, I’m chocolate brown, I will write my own fairy-tale. A tale of every brown Indian girl and boy who is torn apart by the expectations of society and yet stands proud with a personality and smile beautiful than any white skinned magazine covers. To every Bollywood song that calls the actress “Gori” I would like to say – “Gore Rang Pe Na itna Gumaan kar. Gora Rang Do Din mein Dhal Jaayega” – don’t show such pride of your fair skin, the fairness will fade in time. What will remain is the virtues, beliefs, kindness and opinions .

Changing the name from fair to glow will not enlighten the young minds but it will give light to the years of colourism and discrimination to continue its course in every generation to come. Brown is beautiful and so is every colour ever discovered.

A messy circumstance: A deadly Drive-Thru

Yet another Monday went by, yet another black man in America dies from a police shooting. As the world saw their eyes open from the sadistic killing of George Floyd, people mobilized and hit the streets to protest. That too during a pandemic unlike any the world had ever seen. One could do well to understand the gravitas of the situation, the frustration of the people down on the streets, the fact that they choose to contract a deadly disease than to continue to suffer under a systemic abuse of their rights not just as a citizen but as a human being.

Photo by kat wilcox on Pexels.com

As the story has been seen, Rayshard Brooks, a black man from Atlanta, was shot dead near a drive thru at a local Wendy’s. The man was probably inebriated when he came by to the drive-thru and subsequently fell asleep. The other customers simply drove past him to place their orders as they weren’t really bothered by a man sleeping in his car. Soon a Wendy’s employee calls the police on Brooks. The police came, took him out of the car and talked to him. In the video, Rayshard can clearly be seen drunk, but still being respectful to the cops, and for a change the cops to were respectful of him and talking courteously. This went on for about 30 mins or so and it seemed it would have a normal ending and not result in the death of another black man. However, what happened next ensured that this was going to be yet another story with an abnormal ending that has become too common place when we see a black man interacting with the police. The police suddenly move to arrest him, and tase him. Rayshard slips from their grip, takes their taser and tries to run away. One of the officers shoots him not once, not twice but thrice and Brooks dies. At this point I guess everyone moves to their battle stations, the right portraying this as a black man being a criminal, and the left showing an innocent man dying at the hands of the police. But that is not the case, the story is messy. The fact that they talked to him for so long and things seemed so calm – he seemed respectful and cooperative, doing everything he could to be reasonable – he probably felt safe and that things would ride out okay.  Then suddenly they’re breaking this rapport they’ve built with him, doing a 180 and putting him under arrest.  He was drunk, and it upended how he thought things were going – fight or flight kicked in and he panicked.  It wasn’t the right thing to do, but I do think it was understandable.  The officer was unable to retain control of his Taser, but the ability of Rayshard to hurt anyone at that point was pretty minimal.  He was running away.  Lethal force ultimately didn’t belong anywhere in that equation. It was much more complicated than just a cop killing another black man; however, it was also more than just a case of a man breaking the law, threatening a cop, and dying for it. A situation like this requires close attention to detail and logical deduction to figure out if the actions were justified. In my opinion, this situation was not a hate crime, but a failure of our system to properly train cops to handle scenarios like this one. I ask that people on either side of this argument challenge what I am about to say. Rayshard Brooks broke the law by driving drunk. He resisted arrest, stole a cop’s taser and pointed it at them as he tried to escape. We can all agree that he should not have done this and should have been arrested. But was shooting him really the proper way to handle the situation? To answer this, the details need to be analysed and certain questions need to be addressed: Should the cop have really feared for his life when Brooks pointed a taser at him? How does a drunk man not only escape from the custody of two cops, but also take one of their tasers? What is the worst-case scenario if Brooks escapes? And does tasing a cop warrant a death sentence? I would answer these by saying that shooting Rayshard Brooks was not the proper way to handle the situation. The officer was not in a life-threatening situation and if you are going to shoot and kill somebody, it should only be as a last resort because of a real threat. In regards to his escape, I wonder how two trained officers failed to properly detain a drunk man and allow him to take one of their weapons. And in situations like this, why is the first option to shoot someone? Worst case scenario is he gets away with a taser. Shouldn’t they chase him down, call for backup, or at the very worst shoot him once and not three times? Seriously think about that, why do cops have to instantly shoot someone who is breaking the law? Doesn’t there have to be a trial with a judge and jury to determine if someone’s actions warrant a death sentence? Why do cops get to make this decision on impulse? And why do they need qualified immunity for when they do kill someone? If you are in real danger and need your gun, you don’t worry about the trouble you get in for using your weapon because it is either your life or theirs. If you have to question whether using your weapon is justified, then you probably don’t need to use your weapon.

Now this may have been swept under the rug under normal circumstances, but due to the current scenario it seems vital that this be thought about.

What happens next is for all of us to see.

George Floyd- What happened and what has happened since.

Racism, a word that’s on everyone’s lips these days. It refers to a systemic and mental prejudice against a particular group based on their looks, ethnicity etc. It’s a phenomenon that’s been around for several decades, it’s the thorn by the side of humankind that has hampered our enhancement. But why now, why the sudden uproar, why bring this issue to light so dramatically.

Photo by Kelly Lacy on Pexels.com

The hotspot for this issue started in Minneapolis, USA, which has an infamous record of police brutality and racism against those of African-American origin. Even within US Minneapolis has had a blatant disregard for the rights of African Americans since the last two decades. The death of George Floyd, a Minneapolis resident was the tipping point for all this. The police were called on Floyd regarding a suspected forgery of a $20 bill, what happened next was both sickening and disheartening. Derek Chauvin, one of the officers in charge of “arresting” Floyd was seen crushing his windpipe by the pavement. He has been involved in using excessive force 20 times out of which 19 included no disciplinary action against him. His offences include pulling a gun at a couple of kids due to their Nerf gun hitting a passer-by. The kids were verbally abused and were threatened by Chauvin. They later told a news outlet that they feel the only reason they are alive is because they weren’t black. So, him killing an African-American in cold blood as he begged him to breathe isn’t too farfetched. Initially as soon as Floyd was termed dead at a local hospital, the police department issued a statement that he “suffered a medical episode while struggling with officers,” however a video posted by a passer-by by the name of Darnella Frazier showed the world the actual truth, as the body cams of the police officers involved were suddenly heavily muted and redacted. The video showed how no sympathy was shown the poor man, who had moved from Houston to start his life anew. What followed were massive protests throughout the country and then the world. The movement involved a cry for reform and justice, justice for Floyd and all the other victims and reform so that no other person suffers like them. However, the response from the government was rather lukewarm, initially whenever the Hennepin County attorney was questioned about the call for an arrest of Chauvin their spokesperson would reply as it being discussed. This sparked a major outrage which led to riots and looting within many states in the US. The subsequent looting increased to such a point that the military was asked to guard various stores to ensure the stores safety. Various celebrities have spoken up about this issue and how devastated they are, especially amongst the African-American community. The brother of George Floyd, Philonise Floyd was asked about his thoughts regarding the movement and its association with looting and breaking of stores and he said  “I want everybody to be peaceful right now, but people are torn and hurt because they’re tired of seeing black men die, constantly, over and over again,” And I understand, and I see why a lot of people doing a lot of different things around the world. I don’t want them to lash out like this,” he added. “But I can’t stop people right now, because they have pain. They have the same pain I feel. I want everything to be peaceful, but I can’t make everybody be peaceful.”  How this episode follows is for all of us to see.

Born a crime: Trevor Noah

I know Trevor doesn’t need an introduction. Trevor Noah is the best dailyshow host so far and famous for his consistant laugh inducing way of anchoring the show with such relevant topics.

In his book Born A Crime, he narrates his South African childhood stories. He was born to a black xhosa mother and white Swiss father at a time when interracial relationships were illegal. Therefore he always stayed indoor. Even when they went out his mother would pretend like he isn’t hers otherwise she will be jailed for kidnapping a white boy.

His mother is the main character of the book. Such a powerful women who even had the courage to approach a white man to have a baby because she never wanted her child to suffer like her. She named him trevor that does not have any meaning in South Africa. She wanted her child beholden to no fate. She wanted him to go anywhere and do anything.

The book goes through a lot of emotional states that trevor had to suffer because he was born coloured. He had gone through a lot that we can’t ever imagine just because he was black. Their natives were even manipulated to fight each other based on the community they belong to.

Trevor mastered all their traditional languages. “I soon learned that the quickest way to bridge the race gap was through language. ” He says. His mother knew xhosa, zulu, German, afrikaans, sotho and used this knowledge to go anywhere they want. Thus Trevor learned them too. This saved him to handle several situations. She also made sure that English is the first language her son spoke because that was the one thing that will make you a leg up in South Africa.

“English is the language of money” Noah says. If you are looking for a job english is the difference between getting the job or staying unemployed. Thus Trevor learned to become a chameleon to get accepted wherever he goes.

“If you spoke to me in Zulu, I replied to you in Zulu,” he writes. “If you spoke to me in Tswana, I replied to you in Tswana. Maybe I didn’t look like you, but if I spoke like you, I was you.

The book is full of humor of course we could expect that when it’s written by a comedian. But it also go through the darkest times of Trevor’s childhood. How he was raised in Apartheid South Africa under racism, abuse, colonialism, poverty, living under a police state such that we could connect it parallel to the current racial tension in America.

Oh god, Trevor was such a terror child his mother really had a hard time looking after him. He even burnt down a house where his mother worked. He was dangerously naughty. I would highly recommend it to everyone.you will enjoy and learn important things. Only Trevor could write such sufferings in such a humorous manner. We will laugh out aloud but we can also feel those pathetic situations he had to go through.

Racism a common Practice

Racism is a term that is being used only when there is a need but, everyone in every walk of life does use this term to discriminate every person they meet and this discrimination does not have any religion or region but by their skin color as Martin Luther King Jr. rightly said: ” The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy”. When the civil rights moment was won in 1968 it bought a sense of relief to a black person thinking that Racism is the end but history has its play but in 2014 a black 18-year-old student, Micheal Brown was shoot down by a White Police officer and currently this is the time where the man has to measure himself as the United States is Gripping itself to its laws and the protests are erupting across the districts of the United States and all across the globe and the reason behind this simply a term that has a deep meaning ” Racism” and this term led to the death of a man named of George Floyd who was killed by a White Policeman by strangling George’s neck with his knees for about 9 minutes. This act of the white policeman has condemned by many citizens across the globe and demonstrations and protests and clashes with the police in the United States very saddening. Due to this crisis, there have been curfews in several districts in the United States and with the COVID-19 cases escalating past 6 million all over the globe and the United States being in the epicenter of this pandemic and many experts feel that due large gathering there may a large hike in the COVID-19. This is a disaster for mankind as this has violent eruptions during this pandemic crisis as there is spread of violence, clashes with police, looting and burning the stores and currently, the actions of the Civil rights movement is trending all over the internet and all the facts and related to racism is true as it is proven by everyone and by Statistics, in 2019 around 58% of people have been or felt discriminated by fellow mates or by society, but the real question here is “Whether the real heroes of the Civil rights movement would have wanted this clashes or the activities that are taking place”?

ACCORDING TO PEW RESEARCH CENTRE

A LOOK BACK TO PAST

Oppression of the black people and colored have been in the history of human civilization a long time ago and as the civilization was becoming modernized the idea of this oppression was expected to be dropped but it gained momentum and made the oppressed people fight for equal rights and this fights have been in many countries like South Africa, United States, India, Britain and in other many countries as well and in the United States it gained momentum when Rosa parks refused to give her seat to the white that resulted in starting the Civil rights movement by Martin Luther King. Jr and this became a mass movement until the Civil rights bill was passed and this idea inspired to banish the Apartheid idea in South Africa by Nelson Mandela. Martin Luther King always stood by the side of Non-Violence and this was his Philosophy until death and his inspiration behind this is Mahatma Gandhi who used the same Non-Violence for the freedom.

Martin Luther King considered the triple evil of the society like poverty, Militarism, and racism and always stood against it and proved to be true. Martin Luther King has leaven behind a legacy to win a battle using Non-Violence as a tool but is his idea is being heard and those who use violence in this situation needs to rethink about their actions as it cause good in any way, of course not it just causes spreading of hatred among all the people and this has to be stopped and if anyone wants to prove that the reason for this protests and demonstrations is equal rights then bring back the Civil rights Movement as 2.0 and recreate the Civil Rights Movement again to win this battle with Non-Violence.