White colonialism left its mark in South Asia and injected its poisonous racist ideologies into these lands. Within this community itself, colorism is very prominent and the members with lighter skin tones are at the top of the societal hierarchy. The American-South Asian community has entered the American hierarchy and looks down upon those who are darker than them. This is especially prominent in the older generations and this community must be called out and ostracized for any change to be seen.
It is critical that we as the newer generation sit down and have the difficult conversations with our families about the death of George Floyd (and many others), police brutality, the protests, and racism, in general.
Because without educating our members and eliminating racism within our own homes, we can not progress and bring upon the great changes that will bring equality to America as a whole country and society.
Many younger South Asian community members, who are high-school to college levels, have especially observed racism in their parents or grandparents as the news was seen on T.V. Looks of horror were seen on their family members faces as images of the protesters were shown, yet this same disgust was not present when viewing images of the murders of innocent black people. This is the problem!
This community has this ingrained idea that by looking down upon black people, they will be more like the "superior" white people.
They are subconsciously trying to climb the ranks of this racist Society by sympathizing with the police officers who are committing these crimes and that is not ok! Call out your moms and dads and uncles and aunts! IT IS OUR DUTY, MY FRIENDS! Educate them, even though this task will not be easy.
The biggest barrier when discussing this topic with your family is the fact that they will feel like you are attacking them and judging them, which you are, and they will immediately become defensive. But we must not let this detour us, we must force them to listen to the words that will seem bitter to them to have any chance of changing them. The best approach is to start by explaining the science behind why some people have dark skin and others don't. This is very effective because you are showing them that this hierarchical system is killing and torturing black people solely because their bodies evolved to produce more melanin to protect them from the strong and harmful effects UV rays that their ancestors faced. It must be explained to them that they are blindly labeling all black people are druggies, rapists, and alcoholics based on the words of the white-dominated system of oppression white people have set up to keep themselves in power. And explain that black people are more likely to be in poverty because racism has made them less likely to get higher educations and get promotions when competing with white people. In a case study, it was found that white people are 29% more favored than black people when getting promotions and black people are favored over white people only 5% of the time. American society was designed to unequally favor the success of white people and then look down upon black people for not being able to reach the level of success that white people have.
We must educate our families on this matter to bring about change. And this not only applies to the South Asian community but other communities, as well.
