There are some cricketers that remain in the news for the right reasons. Others snag headlines for things that have nothing to do with cricket. Hardik Pandya makes headlines for his on and off the cricket field activities. Earlier this year, Pandya was flayed for his comments on a chat show. This time around, he has been the butt of racist jibes and received support for this.
Actor Krystle D’souza posted a picture of her “#brotherfromanothermother” and captioned it “Mere Bhai Jaisa Koi Hard ich Nahi Hai”. Many liked the picture, some commented upon the use of the words ‘brother’ and ‘bhai’ which appeared to be used carefully and deliberately – probably to create a distance from Pandya’s Casanova image.
However, some comments were neither appreciative nor funny. "Kaalu bhai. Aap West Indies team ke World Cup squad main select kyun nahi huye," said one frankly racist comment. In response to this, actor Aparshakti Khurana commented: "I think you should not write such comments and definitely not use such language. We all love Hardik because he is a performer. You should rather encourage the Indian team, especially before the World Cup." D’souza added her agreement, expressing the view that the anonymity of social media makes people “mean and obnoxious” and they think they can get away with anything. She added that such comments would not make any difference to Pandya’s “superb performance."
The comment by a person who goes by the name ‘Sameer’ is undeniably racist. Firstly he feels it is perfectly OK to call someone “Kaalu” which is used as a slur in our society. Secondly, he feels that if one is dark skinned they have to play for the West Indian team; that this is somehow hilarious. Thirdly and most distressingly, his comment has hundreds of likes. So obviously, there are many who agree with him and also feel that his comment is not objectionable but funny.
This is what is so problematic: the word ‘kaalu’ is used casually, unapologetically. It is used not as a pejorative term but a descriptor – much in the same way as Indians casually use ‘blackie’, ‘chinky’ and so on. You could say that this is unconscious racism, but it is still very much racism – and ignorance does not absolve a person. Implicit in that racism are certain assumptions about the people these slurs are used for. If one is ‘blackie’ or discernably African, they must all be drug peddlers and maybe even cannibals (a mob had broken into the home of Nigerians living in Noida and checked their fridge and many were violently attacked)! If they call someone ‘Chinky’ they assume that they will forever be eating noodles and that they are permissive and even promiscuous.
The Indian brand of racism is frank and unapologetic and casual. It is also unacknowledged. When BJP minister Tarun Vijay defended himself as not being racist, he offered as evidence the fact that there are Indians of all hues who live together. He expressed the view that “if we were racist why would we live with South Indians… we have blacks, black people all around us”. When he was later questioned about his bizarre words, he expressed amazement that they were seen as offensive. The ignorance in words and behaviour such as this is absolutely astonishing.
Coming back to the Hardik Pandya issue, Pandya has described himself as ‘being bit on the black side’ to demonstrate his affinity with Caribbean culture. His blingy clothing is also meant to demonstrate this; and he doesn’t appear to see anything wrong with this attempted cultural appropriation. In fact, he sees it as paying a compliment to his colleagues from the West Indies.
When such attitudes are both deeply ingrained and unacknowledged they are difficult to get rid of. For the time being, we Indians are going to continue to deny being racist while being racist. We will continue to see ourselves as being the victim of racism (which we undoubtedly are) and therefore being incapable or racism ourselves. Our stereotyping of races, religious and ethnic groups, goes hand in hand with our prejudices and our racist mindsets. I don’t see this changing anytime soon.
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