How The Black Lives Matter Movement Exposed India’s Hypocrisy Towards Colourism and Police Brutality

By: Avanti Savur

 
On May 26th, 2020, the world watched aghast as George Floyd, a black American man was murdered by police officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota- one of the latest in a long list of victims of racially motivated police brutality. His murder was the straw that broke the camel’s back- a catalyst for protests in all 50 US states and all over the world against the disproportionate use of police force against people of colour and the lack of police accountability. Those who couldn’t participate in person, used social media to show their support to the cause in various ways, raising awareness, circulating petitions and fundraisers and promoting black-owned businesses. India joined in as well, and while at first glance that appears to be a commendable gesture, given India’s general opinion towards police brutality towards its minorities, the “support” is largely performative.

On February 24th, a horrific video went viral on social media of the police relentlessly beating up five people who can be heard singing the national anthem in muffled terrified voices, clearly in pain and on the orders of the police. One of them, 23-year-old Faizan succumbed to his injuries two days later. Faizan’s murder wasn’t a one-off incident, India’s police force regularly resorts to senseless violence against Muslims, people belonging to lower castes (Dalits), and women. One of the most obvious and devastating cases of police brutality in the country was an attack on student protesters at Jamia Millia Islamia University on 15th December 2019. The students were peacefully protesting against India’s new discriminatory citizenship laws that targeted the Muslim population. Hundreds of police officers forcefully entered the campus and detained over a hundred students and used batons and tear gas against the students. They proceeded to enter the college libraries and restrooms and attacked innocent and defenceless students who had no part in the protests. Over six months later, the perpetrators still walk free. After watching the video documenting George Floyd’s murder, one can’t help but draw horrifying parallels between his murder and that of Faizan’s and between the two countries; the issue of police brutality and state sanctioned violence between the two countries, police viciously beating down already oppressed populations and their allies, the police’s failure to respect constitutional and legal rights and a leader with a cult of personality who is hostile to minorities and dissenters.

 One of the biggest differences between the two cases is the fact the the cop who murdered George Floyd, Derek Chauvin was charged with 3rd degree murder and his colleagues who stood silently watching were dismissed from service four days later. The police officers who murdered Faizan remain anonymous and no action was taken against them, or any other officers who resorted to caste-based or religion-based violence, and such crimes almost never make headlines or receive widespread public outrage. Police brutality in India is eerily comparable to that in the US; in India, the middle class and the rich- which is usually comprised of upper caste individuals, rarely ever face the violence that the Muslim and Dalit population are accustomed to and have come to expect. White people in the US and upper caste Hindus in India don’t share the presumption of guilt and excessive scrutiny that black people, Dalits and Muslims are subjected to.

India’s Islamophobia goes beyond police brutality though. Take the comments of former Indian cricket player, Irfan Pathan for instance. “Racism is not restricted to the colour of the skin. Not allowing to buy a home in a [housing] society just because you have a different faith is a part of racism too,” he said on Twitter. In 2015, 52-year-old Mohammad Aklaq was lynched to death in the state Uttar Pradesh by cow vigilantes for allegedly killing and consuming cow meat (cows are sacred to Hindus). What started off as a shocking incident became the norm in the next five years, and the cow vigilantes have often been supported and praised by lawmakers. Religious minorities, particularly Muslims are the subject of slurs like “terrorist” and “jihadi” and those who come to their defence are labelled as “anti-national.” In February 2020 alone, more than 50 people were killed in a targeted mob violence in the Indian capital of Delhi. More than 70 percent of those who died were Muslims. Their alleged crime? Exercising their right to protest against a controversial citizenship law.

Much of this intra-Hindu discrimination draws back to Hindu culture which is based upon the system of “varnas” or “castes”. While the Indian Constitution states that there must be no discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex and place of birth, in reality, caste-based discrimination not only exists but thrives under a government that seems to promote it and a citizenry that is indifferent and benefits from the divide, thus wholeheartedly embracing it for their convenience. In the past month of June 2020 alone, two members of lower castes were killed in altercations with upper caste families. The police, a major part of the problem, denies there being a caste angle to the crimes.

“Colourism is the daughter of racism,” said Lupita Nyong’o, and rightly so. Colourism is another social evil that plagues the country, and is a remnant of colonialism in India. The idea that fair skin and other Eurocentric beauty standards is desirable was perpetrated by the British in their attempt to subjugate the country to bring it under their control, and internalised by Indian society. The Indian fairness cream market is worth 450 million US dollars as of September 2019. To this day, companies sell fairness creams, further cementing the idea that fair skin is synonymous with beauty, success, and happiness, thus profiting off people’s insecurities. “Ladki kaali hogi to shaadi kaise hogi? (If the girl’s skin is black, how will she get married?)” are common phrases heard in Indian household discourse. This isn’t a women’s only issue however, in the wake of the protests abroad, Saint Lucian cricketer Darren Sammy shared on social media that he had been called “kallu (black)” by many Indian cricketers- and is one of many victims of such insults. People from southern states are mocked for their darker skin, language and cultural dissimilarities from the rest of the country. Similarly, people from the north-eastern states are mocked and ridiculed as “Chinese”- with a stark increase since the advent of coronavirus this year.

So where does India’s hypocrisy come in? Most Indians on hearing George Floyd’s, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery’s names, instantly recognise them, but have never heard of and don’t care about Faizan’s name. Bollywood celebrities like Priyanka Chopra expressed their condolences on hearing about George Floyd’s murder, but have made no mention of the atrocities committed in their home countries, and Chopra in particular has endorsed the aforementioned fairness creams in the past, along with several other Bollywood household names. Indians rose to social media to join the Black Lives Matter movement, but are ignorant, and sometimes supportive of the police brutality within their borders. This group sees no irony in their fervent support for equality and justice in America alongside their indifference to or even support for discrimination in India and in the Indian diaspora. Journalist Rana Ayyub calls their behaviour “weari[ing] the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag as a fashion accessory”: posting or tweeting about the movement in order to opportunistically cash in on its moral and cultural capital. While I think it’s imperative for Indians to lend their voices to any pursuit of justice, does one truly condemn police brutality if they condemn it abroad but applaud it at home?
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Marginalised sections of the country hoped that the protests abroad would be a wake-up call to desis to their plight. The movement is necessary in many ways, but for Indians in particular, it could be an opportunity for the country to challenge the narrative and look inwards upon its own past and present. The Black Lives Matter movement has already produced results and has gotten the issue to the forefront of the country’s priorities. Perhaps, following their example, if privileged sections of Indian society displayed even half of the fervour they do to foreign movements towards the minorities at home, would we be seeing favourable results too? This is a pivotal moment for us all; a reminder of the importance of protesting and dissent and the use of the internet and social media as a tool to further rid societies of institutionalized oppression and give the downtrodden a much-needed voice.​