‘Racism’: Short note by Arsh, Apeejay School Faridabad

Racism is a cruel reality in India. A person is being a racist when he displays the emotions of hatred, prejudice, biasness and intolerance against another person solely due to his/her skin color or the structure of his/her lips or language, place of origin or any other attribute which s/he might have gained biologically. We live in a country where racism is deeply rooted, especially towards those in the North-east of the country. The constant insult term, ‘Chinki’ has been invariably used by North-Indians. 

People in the nation have various skin complexions such as fair, dusky, dark among others. We face color hatred and prejudice and somehow still choose to remain silent about it. No one has the right to question or judge one’s complexion. No matter what the skin tone is, what caste or origin a person belongs to irrespective of all the other physical traits, everyone deserves the same respect as a fair person gets.

 The racial prejudice in our country has taken the form of colourism. The basic definition of colourism means that differentiating or classification of a person from another on the basis of the skin tone or complexion. Discrimination against the members of the same race due to their dark skin complexion is called colorism. The people with dark complexion are considered to have a lower status while the fair complexioned are considered noble and intellectual. 

In our Indian society the complexion of a person is given a lot of importance, fair people are believed to have positive nature while those with dark complexion have negative impacts. This is how the stereotypical mindset of the Indian society works. The black is hated and condemned by  people worldwide.

Racism and colorism are very closely related to each other . People with a lighter skin tone are considered as rich or belonging to the upper caste while people with dusky skin tone are considered as poor or from a lower caste. Due to colorism, dark complexioned people face problems all over the world. It brings down their morale, enthusiasm and self-confidence to a great extent. They fear the world outside and their voices often go unheard. They don’t receive the right amount of appreciation, instead they face constant hatred and are subjected to brutality. They face harassment at every level and we must ensure that it comes to an end at the earliest.