By: Jitendra Damudre.<\/p>\n
Teacher\u2026. Teacher come quickly, the boys in the playground are fighting.<\/p>\n
The teachers soon rushed to the playground to stop the fight.
\nA gang of students were pushing the boy around, whilst another young boy was trying to
\nsave the victim\u2019s glasses. Seeing the teachers approach the scene, the perpetrators ran
\noff, leaving only the spectators behind.
\nThe teachers asked, \u201cwhy were they fighting?\u201d
\nNo one answered them, perhaps they were afraid of the boys from the gang!
\n\u201cWell, you guys stood watching it! Why didn\u2019t you try stopping the fight?\u201d enquired one
\nteacher.
\nStill no one replied!
\nOne teacher asked the battered boy, \u201cwhy were they pushing you? Did you do anything
\nto them?
\n\u201cTell me the truth and I will not punish you!\u201d
\nThe boy couldn\u2019t hold his tears and started crying. Some of those standing nearby,
\nstarted crying too! They knew what happened.
\nThe boys called me \u2018blackie\u2019 and kept pushing me around!
\n\u201cAren\u2019t you black?\u201d cheekily asked one of the students, as a few others chuckled!
\n\u201cI feel uncomfortable about the colour of my skin; other kids make it sound so dirty and
\nimpure.
\nCan I ask you a question, teacher?\u201d asked the boy
\n\u201cYes, you may,\u201d replied the teacher.
\n\u201cWhy do we think \u2018fair\u2019 is something that is good, and dark, something bad? Like a fair
\ngame, dark secrets! Why must darkness always be shameful?\u201d
\nThe teacher and the onlookers stood in silence.
\nThe child kept crying, he was looking for answers.
\nThe teacher said,\u201d Krishna was black and He is beautiful!\u201d<\/p>\n
The boy replied, \u201cI have never seen Krishna black. In the temples that I visit, He is made
\nof marble and is white in colour, photographs I see, He is painted blue. He is never
\nblack.\u201d
\nThe teacher mumbled, Kali is black too! But soon realised that She is painted blue and
\nkept quiet. The teacher let the boy speak.
\n\u201cWhy do people hate \u2018black\u2019 so much? Is it my fault if I am dark-skinned? People like
\ndogs that are black, and pat them with love; am I worse than that?\u201d, asked the boy.
\nThe students and teachers around felt numb, many could feel his pain.
\nHis favourite teacher soon rushed to his aid, she took him over to the teachers\u2019 room
\nand got him seated. The child felt secure and protected in the comfort of his favourite
\nteacher.
\nShe swapped her own class with the boys\u2019 teacher in his next class, so that she could
\nvisit the classroom. They both walked in together.
\nThe entire class stood up and greeted the teacher.
\nThe boy went back to his seat, feeling confident and assured that no one will say
\nanything.
\nThe teacher reproached the entire class: \u201cI am deeply upset with what happened in the
\nplayground today. It should never have happened! It was wrong! What makes anybody
\nthink that having a fairer skin makes them superior to someone with a dark
\ncomplexion?\u201d
\n\u201cThere she goes!\u201d, whispered a boy to his friend, both giggling.
\nThe teacher made the two boys stand up, asking them for the reason for the laughter.
\nThe student said, \u201cour history textbooks said that the Aryans were the superior class of
\npeople who came and conquered India, and taught Indians how to live. They are the fair
\nskinned people while Indians are the darker skin.\u201d
\n\u201cI can\u2019t believe the textbooks are still teaching AIT,\u201d said the teacher.
\n\u201cWhat is AIT?\u201d asked some students.
\n\u201cAryan Invasion Theory,\u201d replied the teacher.
\nShe went on to say, \u201cIt is time that our textbooks are updated, and present the correct
\ninformation to you all, rather than repeating a Colonial-era stereotype that has created a
\nnonsensical theory of superiority throughout the Subcontinent, to an extent where dark-
\ncoloured people feel ashamed of their own skin. The advertisements for creams to make
\nyour skin colour fairer and lovelier or to become handsome, I just don\u2019t get it. It is such
\nan irony that the guy who sang, \u2018no matter if you are black or white\u2019, underwent so
\nmany procedures to become white.\u201d
\nThe teacher wrote on the board in large writing, \u201cThere is no race called Aryan.\u2019
\nIn 2013, a paper was submitted at Plos genetics, which mentioned that light skin allele
\nof SLC24A5 in South Asians and Europeans shares identity by descent.
\n(https:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosgenetics\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pgen.1003912) <\/p>\n
It simply means that the mutation appeared in the genetic record nearly 30,000 years
\nago and this mutation is common between Europeans and South Asians. It controls the
\nexpression of Melanin (pigment that determines skin colour), which is the 15th
\nchromosome of the human body, it controls the expression of melanin and depending
\nupon our exposure to sun, this pigment determines our skin colour. The higher the level
\nof melanin, the darker your skin becomes. Usually when one lacks something, we feel
\nsorry or embarrassed or ashamed of it, but this is a perfect example of where one has
\nused their lack of melanin to feel powerful and superior.
\n\u201cAnd now to you, my child, probably its time for you to visit Vitthal in Pandharpur;
\nDwarkadish in Dwarka; Badri at Badrinath; Srinathji at Nathdwara; and Banke Bihari in
\nVrindavan. There you shall find your Krishna Black. He will always be black, because
\nKrishna means black.
\nAnd Kali? said the boy who had heard his teacher mutter it before.
\nDakshineshwar, the teacher replied instantly.
\nKrishna did complain to His mother Yashoda, once, why is He black and Radha fair?
\nMa Yashoda replied,\u201d because You are Ghanashyam (black clouds), You bring rains on
\nthe earth to make the earth green.\u201d
\nMeanwhile, as you are researching and seeking your own help, here are a couple of tips
\nthat can help you fight discrimination against Skin colour\/ Racism:
\n# Don\u2019t be a victim, stand up for yourself or someone else, even if that person is a
\nstranger – remember racism is a learned behaviour.
\n# Respond with knowledge, quoting facts or statistics help understand the extent to
\nwhich a person could be hurt.
\n# Stand up against micro-aggressions – these are actions that affect people deeply. For
\nexample, avoiding sitting next to a person of a different race or skin colour.
\n# Schools should be a safe place: inform your teacher or principal if you have ever
\nexperienced discrimination against your skin colour or race, ask the school to conduct
\nlectures on racism.
\n# Celebrate Multicultural events.
\n# Adopt zero tolerance policy against racism at schools.<\/p>\n
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