Disrupting Anti-Blackness in Malayalee Communities
Written by: Cindu Thomas-George
Image Credit: Huffpost and Instagram/whothefuckisalic
Anti-Blackness (the covert and overt systemic and interpersonal racism against Black people) has negatively impacted the health, wealth, and safety of Black Americans in this country since the early 1600’s. Unfortunately, anti-Blackness continues to persist in today's increasingly diverse society. Anti-Blackness manifests in many ways, from the murders of unarmed Black Americans to the maternal mortality rate to the disproportionate out of school suspensions that Black pre-school children experience, Black Americans continue to be subject to racism and oppression in a way that no other identity group in our country has experienced.
This form of racism is so deeply woven into the fabric of the United States that it is largely subconscious for many Americans. Although it was White European settlers who were the originators of anti-Black racism in this country, they are not the only perpetuators of it today. Anti-Black sentiments are both consciously and subconsciously held by Americans across racial and ethnic groups. As someone who engages in anti-racism work, I find that many people hold the faulty notion that racism and racial biases are only perpetuated by White people, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Racism is a system and it is very much alive and well in communities of color throughout this country.
If you grew up in an Indian immigrant community like I did, you might not be too surprised to hear that Indian people can also be racist. It’s not because Indian people are “bad” it’s because having racist thoughts and ideas is almost inevitable and most of the time, subconscious when you live in a racially stratified society such as the United States of America. Anti-Blackness exists in Malayalee communities, and it’s not just within the older generation- it is something that is perpetuated by elderly, middle aged, and even young Malayalee Americans. Anti-blackness shows up in many forms- from our everyday vocabulary (stop saying the N word, please!), to our obsession with euro-centric beauty standards, to the stigma that we place on dark skin which only strengthens anti-Black mentality, to the appropriation of Black culture, to the stigma and shame that is often times placed on someone who falls in love with and/or marries a Black person. Anti-Blackness in Malayalee American communities is real and it needs to be disrupted.
Addressing how Malayalee Americans perpetuate anti-Black racism might cause some discomfort. The thought that you, your family, or your community could be anti-black or racist is not an easy thought to stomach. I can empathize with these feelings of discomfort, but I ask that you be willing to sit in that discomfort because you have the privilege to learn about and understand anti-Blackness rather than experience it on a daily basis. It’s when we allow ourselves to get comfortable with being uncomfortable that personal growth and change occurs. As James Baldwin famously said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.” It is time for us as a Malayalee Community to face our own anti-Black thinking, feeling, and actions and work collectively to disrupt anti-Black racism rather than perpetuate it.
For the last decade, I have been working largely independently to create awareness and disrupt anti-Blackness through the work I do as an educator and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion consultant. In the last two months, that has changed. The murder of George Floyd and the national uprising that followed resulted in the formation of Malayalees for Black Lives Matter.
This community of almost 10,000 people has connected me to thousands of other Malayalees who share my passion and commitment to standing in solidarity and engaging in cross racial allyship with Black Americans. I’m grateful that my days of working in a silo to disrupt anti-Black racism in my own family and community are over. Malayalees for Black Lives Matter is an opportunity for all of us who care about racial equality to work collectively to be powerful agents of change in the fight for racial justice and Black liberation.
As non-Black and non-indigenous people of color, Malayalee Americans speak from a place of racial privilege. A privilege that we would not have if it wasn’t for Black Americans who fought for our equal rights and who paved the path for our parents and grandparents to achieve the widespread success that they were able to attain in the United States. We can (and should) use our position of privilege to amplify the voices of Black people and help eradicate Anti-blackness, and we can start by addressing it in our own community and within our own families.
Last year, I collaborated with a fellow Malayalee and host of the The Upside Down Smilie Show, Shereene Manimala, to discuss the topic of Anti-Blackness in South Asian Communities. When we filmed this video a year ago, we were just two Malayalee Knanaya girls from Chicago who were trying to make noise about a taboo topic within our own community that we both deeply care about. Ironically, we are both actively working alongside each other today to fight anti-Black racism through the Malayalees for Black Lives Matter organization.
The national uprising against anti-Black racism has awoken the racial consciousness of America. This moment in time is an opportunity for us as a Malayalee American community to use our agency and privilege to fight against anti-Black racism. Together, we can be powerful in disrupting anti-Blackness and effective in advocating for the safety and advancement of our Black brothers and sisters. If you want to join me on this journey of engaging in cross-racial allyship with Black Americans, please join the Malayalees or Black Lives Facebook Group and get involved. None of us can everything to end the centuries struggle of anti-Black racism, but all of can do something. As the honorable John Lewis wrote in his posthumously published essay, “Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself.”
