Whilst COVID-19 is a relatively new virus, 2020 has forced us to confront a different kind of pandemic, one that had existed for hundreds, if not thousands of years: racism.
The recent tragic and horrific death of George Floyd sparked a series of violent and non-protests throughout the United States, with the African American community having reached their boiling point. With the establishment of social media, news of the police brutality reached the entire world, and suddenly everyone was putting in their two cents.
There was a particularly large uproar within the Asian community, with many pointing out how South Asian youth in particular feel entitled to utilize the n-word, given similar skin tones and a history of oppression. Social media activists, and myself, have pointed out that as members of an oppressed community ourselves, it’s important that we stand up for one another during times like this. I felt it important to speak up about this issue on social media and within my personal life as I firmly believe that it is my duty as a human being to do all I can to help others out, and increase my global engagement.
To me, debate around the ethics of choices & actions of a situation like this always comes off as tone deaf and insensitive. There is no debate – African Americans have been oppressed from the days of slavery till today. It sickens me that it was only in 2020, 155 years after slavery was abolished, that an anti-lynching bill was passed in the United States.
As broadcasted my views on social media, I was shocked and appalled at the amount of insensitive and ignorant reactions that occurred, especially by fellow South Asians. I spent much of my time engaging in conversations with these individuals – not for the sake of argument but for the sake of education. It blew my mind how racist many people I knew were, and how they themselves didn’t realize how wrong their actions were.
Another thing that deals with the ethics of choice and actions are the current lootings that are going on as a form of protest. I see a lot of people criticize protesters for looting stores – curiously enough these same critiques have failed to address the issue of the actual race problem. In order to educate myself into the issue, I researched further. I found that many of the buildings that were ransacked were those of big corporations, ones who could certainly afford to repair and have insurance take care of it. Further, many small businesses that were looted were later compensated through gofundme pages. One story in particular was extremely poignant to me – the one of the Gandhi Mahal (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/05/29/dining/minnesota-restaurant-fire-protests.amp.html) In response to protesters burning his building, Islam said “Let my building burn… justice must be served.” Moreover, I was also moved by a video Trevor Noah posted on his instagram page. In the video, he talks about how protests, be it violent or non violent have always been criticized.
The current state of the world is a sadly quite disastrous as reflected through world events. The year 2020 has certainty been eye opening. Watching racism prevail even today makes me realize that we haven’t really progressed as a society. It saddens me knowing that individuals have to be on guard due to the color of their skin. It’s not right.
As a student, a young women and a person of color considered to be minorities, it is extremely crucial that I am globally engaged, keeping up with events. I know how important it is for minorities to support minorities and in general, I believe that as a human being, I should be humane towards different people in society and never encourage discrimination based on skin color. I will continue being active on social media and contributing to the cause through petitions and donations.