STOP IT! DON’T INSULT THE COMMUNITY!

By DR VICKI BISMILLA

A friend sent me a link to a York University webinar by a small panel of South Asian educators titled Brown Complicity in White Supremacy: Towards Solidarity with Black Lives which flagellates fellow South Asians for being complicit with white supremacists.

The webinar was held on June 19, known as Juneteenth, a significant date in the history of black slavery, but not acknowledged by panel members.

In this short article I am only going to concentrate on the title of the webinar; I am not even going to begin to address the claims made in the content such as one panellist saying that South Asians have our feet on the necks of black people (it was a police officer’s knee, not feet, on George Floyd’s neck).

The title of this webinar and its premise, I believe, are skewed, insulting and hurtful to all the South Asians who have fought for human rights here in Canada and around the world.

You need look no further than the Grant’s Desi Achievers to see the work of outstanding South Asian Canadians who give selflessly to all Canadians regardless of race, ethnicity, gender or ability.

I do not buy into the narrative of brown complicity in white supremacy.

In South Africa, we fought alongside oppressed black citizens for freedom from apartheid and many Indians died in that struggle including my uncle.

I have spent my entire career lifting as I climbed and it is disappointing to realize that some of the very people who have been mentored and assisted in their careers may now or in the future step on the faces of people who helped them.

There are dozens of South Asian educators who have championed black students, challenged racist curricula, protected black students against systemic racism and who vigorously support the Black Lives Matter movement.

It is unkind to accuse South Asian Canadian educators and other ordinary hard-working South Asians of being complicit with white supremacists.

As our editor Shagorika reminds me that while in South Africa Indians might have united against white supremacy, there are  shameful instances of small rulers in India who signed away taxes to the British Raj in exchange for empty titles and who looked the other way when harsh policies killed their own people because they were happy enjoying the privileges of being allowed to socialize with the British.

I get that, and it was appalling.

But these few South Asian Canadian educators in this webinar here and now are painting fellow South Asian Canadian educators and other South Asians here in Canada as coconspirators with white supremacists.

I find that accusation to be inaccurate and would welcome other readers’ views.

We have had other examples of South Asians turning against people respected in their own communities. Take for example the Indian writer Arundhati Roy who made accusations against Mahatma Gandhi. So these accusations are not new, but need to be addressed.

 Nelson Mandela, the icon among freedom fighters, in his book A Long Walk to Freedom acknowledged my uncle Debi Sing as a fellow freedom fighter together with dozens of other Indians who fought alongside him.

If the noble and true anti-racism activist Nelson Mandela acknowledged the work of South Asians in the fight against white supremacy, how can we allow a small South Asian Canadian panel to align other South Asian Canadians with white supremacy? 

White supremacy is a highly charged compound word. The term should not be used lightly and should not be used against average white people let alone South Asians. White supremacists are hate-filled, hatemongering, bigoted, vicious, alt-right people who will stop at nothing, not even violence, to emerge supreme over all other minorities.

How can South Asians accuse other South Asians of being complicit with such a vile segment of the species? For a small panel of South Asian Canadian educators to use that word to describe fellow South Asian Canadians is irresponsible.