"I can't breathe." said George Floyd as he pleaded with the police officers who suffocated him to death last week in Minneapolis. With this brutal incident coming to light, people across the globe have come together to raise their voice against racism and police brutality in the United States.
Dialogues about how racism is a transnational issue, and that every society has some history with marginalisation are also being initiated, and people are recognising how this social evil has been and continues to seep into our daily administrative, governmental and non-governmental practices.
While the people of Minneapolis took to the streets, the global community took to expressing their views online. Indians too have initiated a conversation about this incident and have shown immense support by condemning such heinous acts.
What has divided the Indian community however, is the sheer blindness displayed by some persons, as they fail to recognise that race in the western equivalent of casteist and communal marginalisation in our own society. While we discuss issues that have led to such horrific incidents continents away, it is important that we have our own house in order.
While no one is taking away your right to grieve over one tragedy, it becomes difficult to ignore the hypocrisy that we fail to see that "Goli maaron saalon ko" is the exact same as "When the looting starts, the shooting begins."
In fact, one does not have to even look too far back into our history. Just this lockdown has given us an insight into the insensitivity displayed by scores of Indians. From communalising a global pandemic to turning a blind eye to the chain on migrant workers walking days on end to reach home, the outrage over such incidents have been far less in volume as compared the anger over George Floyd's death.
We must not use one tragic incident to trivialise another, however the reaction every such incident receives, says a lot about the people affected or unaffected by it. Therefore, it becomes difficult to accept that Indians are genuinely grieving over Floyd's murder when millions of us have justified and sometimes even cheered the killings Kashmiris, Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis, North-East Indians etc.
Colin Kaepernick, an American footballer knelt down during the national anthem as a form of protesting against police brutality in 2016; should any Indian sportsperson have the nerve to mirror such an act, hell would freeze over, because flag-burning, refusing to sing or acknowledge the national anthem and other similar acts seem to be completely anti-Indian.
These would be unthinkable deemed unthinkable crimes in our country, and would most likely result in legal action being taken against such perpetrators. Yes, we can argue that in the United States, such acts of protest are protected under the First Amendment- and is considered Freedom of speech and expression; however, back home, this form of protest will only be met with utter distaste.
Many urban Indians who tend to remain quiet about prevailing social issues in our own country are voicing their concern over the Floyd's death. Few Bollywood celebrities too have reacted to this incident but have refused address or acknowledge the burning issues in India. While it is commendable to see Indian teenagers and young adults, have also shared posts about racial equality in a first-world country, a sense of introspection and understanding of our own complex society must be instilled in them. In fact, there have been instances of people bringing their children to protests. It perhaps shows how Americans are willing to get political and start a conversation while elite Indians try to insulate themselves from the political realities of their country.
In India, for the ones mourning his death, George Floyd is an innocent Manipuri girl walking down the streets of a metro city being blamed for bringing Coronavirus to India or he is a man lynched to death for alleged cow slaughter. He could be a man out to vote who is instead tied to a moving jeep by an Army official in Kashmir.
George Floyd exists amongst us. He is the migrant walking back home, the baby playing with his dead mother’s shroud and the man breaking down upon hearing about his father’s death. Sadly, we are not willing to even see the George Floyds amongst us because that would mean raising a question about the atrocities that exist amid us. It’s much easier to point fingers at others than talk about our flawed system that caters to the crème de la crème.
