Paradox of the liberal racists

 Even now, arts, culture, science, medicine and finance in the West have white donors and patrons. 
Representational Image. (Photo | AP)
Representational Image. (Photo | AP)

On September 4, 1888, just a month short of his 19th birthday, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi sailed for British shores. His family was wealthy and powerful: both his grandfather Uttamchand and father Karamchand were the Diwans of the Porbandar state in Gujarat. Like all rich Indians who send their offspring to be educated in England, Karamchand too dispatched Mohandas to become a barrister. But all his wealth, breeding and the Inner Temple stamp did not stop the young Gandhi from being ejected from a whites-only train compartment in South Africa. It did not stop him, either, from protesting to a Johannesburg health officer in 1904 that towards the “mixing of the Kaffirs (his term for Blacks) with the Indians, I must confess I feel most strongly”.

Later, he became the champion of the ‘untouchables’ renaming them Harijans—the children of God. Perhaps this was atonement or a quest for redemption. Or just an astute move to accumulate political virtue by opposing the Indian equivalent of racism: caste.

The human race isn’t colour blind, it is colour-coded. The modern world’s most liberal and vocal clan is artists. In America, it is Hollywood. Actors are cause-driven, liberal and politically correct. They booed racist Trump and roasted him on SNL. They adopt African babies. And now they are handing out Oscars to Asians. So why are Indians indignant that SS Rajamouli was seated in the last row near the exit at the 95th Oscars ceremony where Naatu Naatu won the award for the Best Original Song? Deepika Padukone is one of the world’s most gorgeous women.

She is also one of the best-dressed— at the awards, she wore a long black off-shoulder Louis Vuitton dress with matching velvet gloves, and Cartier jewellery. She is the third Indian after Priyanka Chopra and Persis Khambatta to present at the Academy Awards. But Vogue magazine, which makes a living off celebrities like Deepika, mistook her for Brazilian model Camila Alves, who is married to superstar Matthew McConaughey. Before our nationalist tweeple's explode in a fit of rage, Deepika wore Vuitton and Cartier not because Sabyasachi or Radhika Agarwal are naff, but because she could meet and beat Hollywood royalty on their own ground.

Visual power dominates history. In its palette, colour is a deeply ingrained prejudice. Linguists refer to race as a metaphor: white hats are good while black hats are bad; a villain has a black heart while angels are dressed in white. Most Hindu gods are fair while all demons are black—Aryans are considered fair and non-Aryans dark. A dusky daughter is an embarrassment and a marital drawback. Race is as close to the home where the heart is: perhaps there’s no need to travel far to get the origin of pigment-pandering. History has been written by victors, who were mostly fair-skinned Muslim and Christian upstarts.

Machiavelli’s ‘paradox of conquest’ harps on the necessity of a new prince to “appear ancient”—
pedigree, manufactured or not, is a prerequisite for legitimacy. Hence, politicians and leaders push the ‘we were there before’ trope to justify their superiority by identifying with the past. White colonisers of the Americas, Asia and Africa annihilated ancient civilisations that proved otherwise. Even now, arts, culture, science, medicine and finance in the West have white donors and patrons. Whether it be Gandhi’s early racism or showing Indians their place at the Oscars, the establishment reveals its true colours when the message is delivered in black and white.

Ravi Shankar

ravi@newindianexpress.com

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