#colonial hangover

[rhysaka]

NCERT covering up the famous Dancing Girl artefact of Mohenjodaro is exactly why we need to decolonize from foreign-colonial conservative ideals.

[deadassdiaspore]

ASSIMILIATION AIN'T FINNA SAVE NO ONE.THE PROSTRATION JUST FINNA EXHAUST YOU AND HAVE YOU IN THERAPY UNNECCESARILY.

[freeuganda]

The heavy weight Tyrant of Uganda,Yoweri Museveni

The heavy weight Tyrant of Uganda,Yoweri Museveni

The heavy weight Tyrant of Uganda, Criminal Yoweri Museveni is visiting the UK for the biennial junket of the Commonwealth heads of government meeting- taking place this week in London. Though the Commonwealth is more associated with the quadrennial games, the fact remains, its a lost empire trying to fake relevance in a dynamic globalised world. The fact remains, the Commonwealth is a body…

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[truu2u]

kids in the Netherlands never believe in Santa Claus because we have Sinterklaas but Santa Claus’ story is so much cuter with his little reindeer and elves on the north pole like i do not get the impression that his elves are slaves while Sinterklaas is some fuck from Spain who brings over his black slaves (aka white people in blackface, including the big red lips and gold hoops) on a big boat like uhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm yeah has totally nothing to do with slavery at all

[sinhala-kella]

Black vs PoC

Reading medivialpoc issues of being mistaken for Black (based on the belief you must be Black to sympathise with Black issues), I am reminded of other words used to segregate non-whites in the landscape of oppression.

Oppression is not prime real estate, yet I remember how those boundaries were as jealously guarded then, as today’s words of cliquey exclusion: Black, Desi, Asian or Latinx... 

Words that Divide

One of the first English words I heard in England was ‘n****r’. I was called one at the age of 5. I didn’t know what it meant  but it didn’t sound nice.

I should have been relieved to be informed that I was not a ‘n****r’ by the only two kids in the school who were as dark as I -- a Jamaican and a Nigerian, who let me play with them -- except they said I was a ‘Paki’ and that didn’t sound nice either.

But apparently that was wrong too, according to the Pakistani student with whom I had school lunch. Paki was only for people from Pakistan; since I was not, I had to be a ‘blackie’. 

My skin does change from light cinnamon to dark umber, depending on how long I stay out in the sun, but I resented being called ‘blackie’. As much as I learned to hate the random ‘n****r’.

I’d left Sri Lanka as a whole human being, but in England my humanity was reduced to a colour; a ready-made label that put me into a ready-made box to be either abused or, at best, ignored.

Words of Hate

There are people who embrace slurs, own them, wear them with pride; I am not one of those people. I still remember being pushed/kicked with a sinister hiss; of seeing bared teeth as words were spat at me. 

(I used to wonder what I’d done to these people I’d never met. I was amazed at how both kids and adults got away with behaviour that would have earned me a good smacking from my mother. Later -- after learning what the British had done to my ancestors, are still doing to my country -- I was stupefied at the bald-faced audacity of racists; the incredible stupidity, they mistake for superiority and their thick-skinned hypocrisy when they present themselves as the standard and vanguard for democracy, justice, sovereignty, human rights and good behaviour in general.)

You see, we’re not talking about going retro with 70s pants; we’re talking about adopting words of hate, of marginalization. Those words also represent (I learnt as I grew older) murder, brutality, theft, exploitation and monumental suffering.

Now on Tumblr, I see people getting territorial over the words ‘black/desi/Asian/Latinx’ - and it makes me smile, bitterly. All I’ll say is, if you want to stake your claim, fly your flag, patrol the boundaries to keep all PoC within their own slums -- you know what, knock yourself out.

Also know that if you spend all your time defining the exclusivity of your oppression, you won’t have a lot of energy left over to rid yourself of the limits imposed by systematic racism.

Words that define

I am dark-skinned. Some say ‘black’, some say ‘brown’, but certainly no one has ever said ‘white’.

But those words don’t define me - I have a name that my family chose with loving care. More than my name, I am defined by the values of my Buddhist-Sinhalese Sri Lankan family and education - as I have been taught that despite the gross hatred which exists in the world, evil is not inherent in human beings (though I’m not always sure about this) and that our lives and actions are all inter-connected (I am sure about this).

I am also an individual with my own brain, separate from anyone else - a distinction I respect in others. So I’ll emphasize that my thoughts and opinions represent me, no one else. But I personally don’t think we should limit ourselves to little colour-coded boxes, labelled by hatefully ignorant people. 

I don’t tell people I’m Asian because there’s nearly 50 countries on that continent, and Sri Lanka is a tiny island. I didn’t know I was Desi until I joined Tumblr and saw Sri Lankans included in a group that apparently excludes Burmese and Tibetans - both Buddhist countries. Do I really want to be part of a group that make others feel like they don’t belong? No. This is planet earth - we all belong.

It helps them, not us when we perpetuate rigid, exclusionary divides so the racists can continue to rule - either on their own, or more often now, through their newly-minted surrogates.