Disclaimer: This person is someone who I have chosen to keep anonymous and is not necessarily a friend of mine, but for the purpose of this article I will refer to her as such. I do not nor will I ever share the same views as her. Another thing is that I don’t mean to cause any offense to anyone at all. This is a case of ignorance and will soon be corrected.
When my friend first told me that she “hated” (this term is used loosely) Indians, my first thought was that she was referring to the baseball team, then I thought she was talking about the native Americans. I never expected her to actually refer to the people from India. I asked her multiple times, anytime that I could, but she just “cannot explain it.” I thought she was joking because she just had to be, right? It turns out that she wasn’t and I realized this as I observed her behavior.
First of all, whenever she would look up tutorial videos on YouTube she would simply scroll over any video with an Indian on the thumbnail. If the person wasn’t on the thumbnail or the video was a voice over, as soon as she heard the way of speaking, she would immediately click on another video. I’ve asked her repeatedly what was wrong with the video and she would just say, “I’d rather look for another video or ask for someone else’s help.” Appalled? So was I for I could not believe that I actually knew someone that would rather struggle with their work than listen to the voice of an Indian and could not even justify her preference. I could not believe I socialized with someone who was so prone to blatant racism and I was just realizing it.
Second, whenever we were walking on the street or on public transportation, she would try to avoid passing by an Indian or sitting next to an Indian. Maybe it made her uncomfortable? I’ll never know because she just cannot explain it.
Another thing she did was when we were thinking of names for a story character and I offered one idea and she rejected it because “it sounds like an Indian’s name.”
Why am I writing about this? I’m writing about this because racism is still so very present everywhere we go and while it may seem like more people are being more aware of their words and actions, it is not enough that they are aware because my friend is aware that she’s being racist (after I had yelled at her over and over again), but has she discontinued her tendencies toward Indians? No. We need to educate these people and show them that whatever they’re doing is more than just not okay. Racism in any form by anyone is still racism. Be it a family member, a friend, a teacher or an official, don’t ever be afraid to point out their ignorance and educate them because that does a lot for the welfare of everyone. We all have to draw the line somewhere and I draw my line at racism.
Ignorance is not bliss.
