[Assam] white girl, brown guy: Racial profiling?? flag & Dust mite

[Ram Sarangapani]

Hi Umesh

The fact that you took exception to a 5-year old's comment makes me wonder
maybe IT was you who is thinking being brown etc is inferior or being white
is superior.

If in your own mind, had you thought being brown is superior, then maybe you
wouldn't have minded. :-)

Just my thoughts

--Ram da


On 6/30/06, umesh sharma <jaipurschool at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>  Hi,
>
> Yesterday was my last day at work (on my student visa) and Antonia said
> something which might shock even the most hardened.
>
> She said: " Your skin is  brown, peach and black. I am white and pink and
> peach. We are different types of people."
>
> Shocking !! you must admit. How can anyone say that . How can anyone
> highlight the differences between different races. Is this a statement from
> a white supremacist?
> Isn't this blatant racial profiling?
>
> I looked at her self portrait -  two days ago - when  I was *cleaning my*room :
> (I did it finally today with vacuum cleaner and throwing all the clothes
> in the sun -Indian style -UV rays to kills bugs etc) since I have been
> bitten by bugs on arms and legs -and itch all over even at night. Might be
> dust mites, which I cannot see but crawl all over --like my experiences in
> India. In India atleast there was no wall to wall carpeting - carpets could
> be thrown out and beaten in the sun. Here I cannot do that.
>
> Her *self portrait* is something no Indian girl can make : an oval head
> slanting, straight shoulder-length red hair (which ends in sharp curls) and
> bright blue eyes and a wide smiley mouth. No Indian girl can boast of red
> hair and blue eyes. She can say and did" You are bown, black and peach and I
> am white, pink and peach."
>
> It would be shocking to most in US - only if she had not called it simply
> becos thats true and just that. Also , it helps that she is just five (5)
> years old. Will be joining kindergarten next year.
>
> Actually, I was reading aloud her book (for the first time) at her nap
> time at 2pm yesterday -when all kids are expected to sleep. He book was
> "Goose on the Loose" and this goose led to white and black. I was explaining
> that goose is different from a duck - it is not a female duck and swan is
> not a male duck -but different kinds of ducks just like different kinds of
> dogs and cats -some big , some small, some with pointed ears , some with
> drooping ones.  She got the idea and said what she said.
>
> I wonder why it is not so simple to White Supremacists and Neo Nazis in US
> - saw on A&E channel how in Alabama (where Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King
> first launched their Civil Rights Campaign -to get voting rights for blacks
> in US etc - in 1960s!! -NOT 1800s ) these guys were openly saying to an Arab
> American and his hijab covered wife "You might find yourself swinging from a
> tree one of these days!" Police was sitting pretty - Oh, It is freedom of
> speech (just like is burning their national flag - In India you would be in
> jail if you even let it touch the ground) .
>
> Why cannot white and black be just that -- just color --and not a question
> of who is superior.
>
> Any comments?
>
> Umesh
>
> PS: Found this interesting approach to social work and faith :
> www.pastoralcounselling.com
>
>
>
> Umesh Sharma
> 5121 Lackawanna ST
> College Park, MD 20740
>
> 1-202-215-4328 [Cell Phone]
>
> Ed.M. - International Education Policy
> Harvard Graduate School of Education,
> Harvard University,
> Class of 2005
>
> weblog: http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
>
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