Hyderabad (Telangana): People across the United States are protesting the systemic racism and police killings of its Black citizens. After the US police killed George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, protests erupted and quickly spread throughout the country. The Black Lives Matter movement is now a global phenomenon with people across the world rallying against racism. There are over 4 million Indian Americans in the US but their support for the movement is divided.
In an interview with ETV Bharat, Dr Suraj Yengde, author and award-winning scholar on caste and race issues said, "Racism against Black people in the US is similar to the oppression of Dalit and lower-caste people in India. The Indian response to the protests happening across the United States is divided. Most of the Indian diaspora, except a few, aren’t 'concerned' about the issue. "I don't remember any Indian organisation coming to the fore protesting against the racism prevailing in the United States. Indian response is negligible."
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He went on to add, “If you excuse the millennials from this you will get a picture of how predominantly the views are about which the Indians really don’t want to do anything. The parallels we see appearing in this is the fight against supremacy. In America, it is the fight against white supremacy and in India it is the systemic casteism. It has been institutionalized into various organizations, similar struggles we see happening here in the American context.”
Asked about how Indians can show solidarity in this context, the scholar added, "Indians can show solidarity with the movement by first acknowledging and educating themselves about their upper-caste privileges and the caste discrimination in India.
Yengde is encouraging Indian Americans to come out in large numbers to protest for Black lives in America. He says that people should stand up against casteism in India to 'dismantle the institutions of Brahmanical supremacy and should not allow them to be exploited for an egalitarian society.
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