The Lingering Ghost of Racism: Ignorance or Deliberate Hate?

Rodali Baruah

The incident that took place the other day at Malviya Nagar almost disappointed me to silence. But no, our anger should not be kept away unexpressed. As a student from Northeast staying in Delhi, I have been a witness to racism at different levels, from subtle comments to deliberate slurs. The incidents are so common that people have started accepting them as general occurrences.

To elucidate on my own experiences, I need to point out a few things first. The level of ignorance of the majority of the masses is concerning at the surface, but the cruelty is aggravating; a complex web of biases and stereotypes. A large number of people are aware of their unawareness, and when questioned they blame it on the knowledge systems. Easy. Let me straighten it out, not everyone is ignorant. Not everyone is racist. Let’s call the ones who are as the Ignorants.

“You are from the hills. You should be used to the chilly environment.

Are you Nepali? You look like one.

(I wonder how one looks like a certain community.)

How do you know Hindi, being from Assam?

If you are from Assam, why aren’t you speaking Bengali?”

The ignorance regarding Assamese language is manifold. The ignorants have no idea that there is a language called Assamese. There is also another problem here. There is prevailing confusion between the words “Asami” and “Assamese”. It grieved us immensely when we came across a book on an Assamese fighter published by a local house, and the first thing we noted was the word Asami. The joy of holding a book featuring Assam faded away real quick. How do we explain that the two words are worlds apart; that their denotations are strikingly different? The ignorant are at many times rude deliberately. The ghost of racism has lingered so long that it has become a part of the psyche of most ignorant, who most probably lack the capacity to discern right from wrong.

Keeping the bitter happenings aside, it will be unfair of me if I do not mention the brighter side. Encounters with random people have led them to ask us where we are from, followed by an appreciation of our manners and way of speaking. More than a couple of times people have stated how the Northeastern people they met are more well-behaved, more soft-spoken. It fills our hearts with light and hope. But these cases are rare, and we keep searching for the light in people, the light that I believe is inherent in every heart.

The prejudices against Northeast have seeped in so deep that it is impossible to dig out its origins. I won’t talk about the various instances of violence and hate that shakes the core of the nation every now and then. The very recent death of a fellow Northeastern is still throbbing in our blood with all its distorted realities.

Living amidst such a cocoon of stereotypes makes us develop a thick skin, and indifference grows from the limbs. But that is not the solution, and thinking about the solution keeps us spiralling. No arrests have been made as of now, even after the deliberate words of hate that were thrown at the girls without any fault. Has everyone given up? Or has it become a part of society; unable to be rooted out? Thick skin it is for now.

How does one get rid of racism? Of the deep hatred that people nurture without a cause? I wonder how the ignorants fail to see the splendour of that region of the country that has persevered and bloomed in all its diversity. The Northeast blooms and will keep blooming.

Are institutional changes enough to dig out racism from the minds of the ignorant masses? Unless individual and collective awareness are not awakened, it is a long path to follow, and it is already too late. The Northeastern people have been treated as outcasts for way too long in their own country where they should be able to breathe without strain.

If prayers work, I hope and pray that the ignorants around the country finally see wisdom, and the Northeast is able to prosper without humiliation and shame. On humanitarian and moral grounds, I hope this country becomes capable enough to embrace all its parts with equal love and recognise the uniqueness of its places that have been kept in the dark for too long.

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