Uncoding The Color Codes

Article 5 of 5 - Unlacing the Cultural Labels Series

I have never experienced racial prejudice firsthand, at least not yet. Partly because, barring a few international trips, I have lived my whole life in India, and that too in the northern part. Thus, I have been at home, where I merged because everyone looked like me.

There’s a comfort in merging. It implies that standing out must be an uncomfortable disposition. And I have stood out many times. During my growing up years, every time I found myself to be the odd one out, I ran towards the herd into which I could merge. It took me years to feel comfortable and confident in my skin and to shine while I stood out.

Despite not experiencing any discrimination due to my skin color, I could always understand and empathize. It can be attributed to the books I read as a child like Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and Abraham Lincoln biography, that expanded the horizon of race dynamics. Over the years, books like Becoming and Dreams from My Father added to the story.

I am not sure of the reason, but I have always been sensitive to discrimination, even as a child. It bothered me. Today, having worked in the field of sociocultural inclusion for more than a decade, I can recognize an authentic voice.

It was Friday night, and I was preparing to sleep. I generally read the subscribed newsletters and blogs before going to bed. That day I ended up reading ‘Learning about systemic racism isn't a black-and-white issue for my brown-and-white children’ by Neil Gonsalves. And I recognized the authentic voice of a concerned parent.

The article highlighted the dilemma and concern for identity, in mixed-race families. While the child tries to interpret the color coding, parents try to instill more significance in the character than the color. But however much they try, the truth remains that color cannot be washed; that’s the flaw of our social structure.

Throughout history, there has been an oppressed and an oppressor. Who becomes who is dependent on multiple complex social variables that change their name, shape, and form based on geography and time.

Instead of explaining the social variables, we teach categorization and discrimination, which eventually seep into the social thread. Ah! And then we complain—why are we all divided? Well, that’s precisely because we are systematically trained for systemic discrimination. Hatred is always taught in discrete ways, while love is a natural essence of our being that permeates between one and all. The irony is: today, it's easier to hate than to love. It's easier to judge than to embrace.

Sleep eluded me, and the intensity of my thoughts kept bothering me. My heart wished to nurture and navigate our children towards love, peace, and brotherhood in this skewed up world.  When I couldn’t resist, I wrote a letter in the middle of the night.

To every child in the world,

While you learn the differences that distinguish one from another, alongside learn to celebrate the diversity.  While your heart may empathize with one faction’s suffering, be cautious not to resent the other. Always remember, never let your thoughts clutter your vision so much that it renders you with a myopic perspective of the world.

Never ever generalize people belonging to any gender, caste, creed, language, religion, race, ability, or disability. You will find mixed-up ideologies everywhere. You will meet many beautiful souls, both men and women from all walks of life, coming forward to support you. You will experience total strangers from completely opposite backgrounds as yours, helping in the oddest times.

Always study everyone individually and keep your approach that way. Life will be simple and beautiful. In Barack Obama’s Dreams from My Father, he said, “It’s not about man or woman, black or white, young or old. It’s about individuals and how they feel.”

If you will look beyond the social labels and biased perceptions, dear child, you will find goodness among people, and you will create a new history.

May the road rise up to meet you,

May the wind be always at your back,

May your life be filled with Love & Light

We need to be careful about what we teach our children. For, not all Germans are responsible for the holocaust of Jews during World War II. In fact, history is filled with numerous stories of compassionate Germans who played a pivotal role in saving the lives of fellow Jews. Similarly, the concept of Human Rights didn’t emerge in the colonized states but was debated, fought, and ensured implementation in the parliament of the then-colonial powers. According to Yuval Noah Harari, it was the compassion of the common man towards the atrocities committed against humans in another part of the world that led to the evolution of the Human Rights concept. And how did the social consensus emerge - through the accounts of botanists, zoologists, archaeologists, cartographers, philosophers, and thinkers that accompanied the explorations and conquests.

Gandhi was once asked that history is filled with violence, where does his stance on satyagraha (truth force) and ahimsa (non-violence) stand from a historical perspective? He responded,

“History is an account of facts and figures, events and rules, invasions, or battles of kings and emperors. Thus, History is a record of wars, invasions, and annexations. If the story of the universe commenced with wars, not a man would have been found alive today. The fact that there are so many men still alive in the world shows that it is based not on the force of arms but on the force of truth or love. Thus, the greatest and most unimpeachable evidence of the success of this force is to be found in the fact that, in spite of the wars of the world, it still lives on. History cannot and does not take note of this fact. In fact, History is the record of every interruption in the working of the force of love or force of soul.”

Rabindranath Tagore, the famous Indian poet, playwright, and philosopher, was visiting England in 1878, thirty-five years before he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature.

“I have traveled throughout England, and wherever I went, I met the most humble, loving, and caring human beings with the depth of character and personality.”

In his book, Nationalism, he questioned whether it was difficult to fathom that Britain as a nation and its people were at the forefront of colonialism and the perpetrator of numerous exploitations as a colonial ruler.

“I have met poets, writers, and thinkers who believe in peace and compassion as human virtues. I found friendships among British farmers, factory workers, writers, and aristocrats.”

He believed that the common man remains the same in every culture, going through his day in the usual manner to ensure food was on the table for his family. Thus, the barbaric deeds of the British crown cannot be passed on to its people. He further emphasized that nationalist fervor, an offshoot of the industrial revolution, has disintegrated the human thread among the different cultures that existed through the centuries.

In no way would I want to devalue or hide the barbaric incidents that occurred in the past. We must always remember the lessons from our past and work towards creating a new world. However, I am worried by the approach we follow. More than often, we end up highlighting only one aspect and removing the role of humane values like love and compassion from history by magnifying the polarity of the incidents, thus labeling and categorizing everything. If we highlight only one aspect, children might take the impression that ALL white people are mean to black and brown people. Such a thought is dangerous.

How to unlace the cultural labels? Why not remove the binary lens to view the world? Why can’t we look at the world without any color coding?

Let’s teach a new history. A history that teaches the lessons of the past. A history that showcases the reasons in all aspects why the past bleeds with atrocities, exploitations, and horrors of war. A history that foretells that the past has blood on its hands just because we forgot to love one another. We need to impart a history that creates a new future. A future of trust, love, brotherhood, and peace. A future where inclusion and belongingness prevail. Why not teach humanist history?

How can this be done? By teaching children that we can be black, brown, or white, but we are all humans. By showcasing that, as humans, we are all imperfect and embracing our own imperfections and everyone else’s too. By celebrating everyone’s uniqueness and by including one and all. I would end by evoking Rabindranath Tagore’s poem while ushering in a new world:

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high

Where knowledge is free

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments

By narrow domestic walls

Where words come out from the depth of truth

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way

Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit

Where the mind is led forward by thee

Into ever-widening thought and action

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

About the Author: Dr. Shruti Shankar Gaur describes herself as a nonplussed mother, a Luna to her Alpha, a passionate entrepreneur, a novice thinker, a hard-core dreamer, a scruffy poet, a true seeker, and an unusual sinner. She bares her soul in her blog: Pain & Bliss

Contact the author: https://linktr.ee/dr.shrutishankargaur