Opinions
Subconsciously racist
-Ishana Modi
Racism is a word we have been hearing a lot these days. In the papers, news channels and even on social media. Everyone everywhere is protesting against it. That is an amazing thing. But I feel that people are going about it the wrong way. There is a lot of finger-pointing, and everyone’s playing the blame game. Here in India, we’re saying that racism is prevalent only in the west. In the west, the blame is on the USA. In the USA, people are blaming the people in power. I’m not saying that we should stop protesting or that they are innocent. I think that we get so caught up in this twisted web of pointed fingers that we only see the bad in others. If we want to do away with racism in the world around us, we must do away with the racism inside us. The first step towards achieving this common goal is acknowledging it. I’ll start:
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I am racist.
I really am. I perceive the trends of the west to be better than the traditions of my country. I feel that the fairer someone’s skin, the more beautiful they are. These thoughts are in no way right, but they are real. Every day, I look in the mirror and see a race barely portrayed by the media. I look at the silver screens and see people endorsing bleach in a bottle, claiming that it is beauty. I look at my bookshelf and read names of people with lesser syllables as compared to the ones in my contacts. I feel helpless.
How am I supposed to fight a system that weaves itself into every aspect of my life?
The first thing to remember is that I am not alone. No one truly is. So, the only way to find peace in such tumultuous times is by reaching out and having conversations with people who are willing to admit their flaws and grow. These conversations are very uncomfortable and just admitting that this issue exists in our minds takes so much courage. So, have these
conversations, and become someone better. Become someone who will stand up and raise their voice for those who have lost theirs. Become someone who doesn’t shout above others, but listens to them and learns. Become someone who says something worth listening to. Because God knows that not many of those people exist.
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The second thing to do is introspect. Dig deep down and find the roots. Buried under layers of beauty standards and stereotypes. Now, cut them. Hack and chop at those voices saying that the colour of your skin determines your worth as a person. The more you deny their existence, the more these thoughts grow and establish themselves through your subconscious. The only solution is to reach deep into our minds and destroy them as they form. It’s never too late. I have started this uncomfortable journey.
What about you?
war within and without
-Ishana Modi
We know what war is,
Guns, tankers, bomb blasts.
It’s a temporary situation;
It never lasts.
Wars have a definite end,
Soldiers bleeding out with glassy eyes,
Governments rejoicing,
As a mother opens a letter and cries.
The battlefield, a piece of land,
Stained with blood and gore.
Not the unforgiving teal tiles,
Of a cold bathroom floor.
Voices in my head,
Spilling out with the blood,
The hatred rises in me,
A torrent, a flood.
My worst enemy,
In the mirror, meets my gaze,
As I try, so hard
To navigate this maze.
Emotion, insecurity
Taunts and pain,
I can’t help
But reach for the knife again.
Feelings are dangerous,
They pull at you like quicksand,
But pain is simple,
That, I understand.
Shadows in my mind,
Whispers at midnight,
Saying maybe, if I go,
Everything will be alright.
But soon the whispers are gone,
Here comes the worst of all,
A blanket of numb silence,
An impenetrable fortress wall.
My heart is as cold,
As the tiles under my back.
I reach out again,
Longing for that permanent black.
A grenade explodes,
All I see are stars
I can’t let myself go,
I’ve come so far.
I rise from the floor,
Wind bandages around my wrist,
I won’t let my name appear,
On tonight’s casualty list.
While soldiers’ accomplishments
Are fastened to their chests with a pin,
The cloth around my wrist
Showcases my private win.
Silence
-Ishana Modi
War's silence is louder than its screams
Just Us And Justice:
Gen Z is changing the political scene, one post at a time
-Ananya Aaliya
On a dull and rainy Sunday afternoon, I checked my social media apps bleary-eyed (never mind the amount of time I spent there). My feed was filled with articles, petitions, and outrage towards the murder of George Floyd and countless other innocent African-American people. Everyone I knew had posted something or the other about it, and I had done the same too. People who I knew lived a 1000 miles away from me were posting about it. In true Gen Z fashion, we mocked the politicians and systems that created these injustices before they could get a statement out. After two weeks of protesting, the Minneapolis police committed to dismantling their police system, Confederate statues were toppled, and a real change was made.
I sat there and thought to myself: “How are the youth of our age so politically aware, and what can this double-edged sword do for our posterity?”
According to several studies, research shows that the Generation Z (people born from 1996 to 2010) are very likely to be activists for social causes they believe in, especially when it has to do with peace and justice. With the platforms that we’ve been given, word spreads like wildfire, and action takes place fast. This is a good thing, as we have more time to make a change and ask for justice. With activism becoming a sort of trend on social media, more people are jumping onto the bandwagon and fighting for what they think is right. This can do wonders for dissent, because authoritative figures are pressured to do something about them, especially when it’s the people inheriting the world after them. According to Pew Research Center, around 70% percent of us want an activist government, and demand an administration that works towards solving the problems it has created. We have made a lot of progress in India too, such as demanding justice for
Jayaraj and Bennicks and other victims of ‘lathi-charging’, proving that it is a universal concept we believe in.
Though we have done a lot for certain movements, we still have a long way to go. With the privileges of the Internet that we have, we can use our voices to undo the mistakes of the generations before us, including wars. Because we are a compassionate and empathetic group of people, we understand the trauma and destruction that is caused by war. It is imperative that we use these platforms for the better, so that we inherit a world that is a safer, diverse, and accepting place.
A teenager holds up a poster at an anti-Trump rally.
Every generation has to make its own mistakes. But our greatest mistake would be to look past the errors made by our forefathers. Our job is taking advantage of the digital age, amplifying our voices through these mediums, and righting the wrongs of our predecessors.
It's not your fault, say sorry
-Kushagra Sisodia
I will just say this. I will not tell you what to do. I will state mere facts and it is up to you what you will do with these facts. Thank you.
‘Sorry’. What does that word mean to you? And no, I’m not talking about the childish version that adults tell you when you break a glass, no. I’m talking about the literal dictionary definition. It means excessive regret for wrongdoing. Now think about the most heinous crimes across history. The concentration camps, the Jalianwala Bagh massacre, 9/11. They cannot be resolved by saying sorry. Compensation is required.
However, a fight with your best friend, your mother or even the gardener can be solved by a sorry. A few days back, I shouted at my mother because I was irritated with one of my school teachers. I saw that my mother was visibly hurt and so I went to her and gave her a big hug and said sorry. This resulted in a very good lunch but that is beside the point. Or if you want an example that puts it better into perspective, take a nasty divorce. The two parties can apologize for their misdeeds and resolve the issue. What my point is, is that, ‘sorry’ can even improve the relationship. Whether you want to go to a party or you have a disagreement on a sensitive topic, it can be solved by saying a simple sorry.
Ego is a poison. A poison that has circulated for millennia in the minds of our previous generations and now is coursing through the mental veins of our generation. Ego has cost people, not only their relationships but a lot of wealth. Take the richest man in the world. His wife took half of whatever he had. Granted, he retook his position but you get the point. Sorry is such a powerful word. And we underestimate it.
My opinion does not matter. But that word does. The sooner you say it, the faster the wounds heal. Ego and greed are the only things preventing progress. And trust me when I say this, Ego will get you wealth. Greed will get you fame. But if you have no friends to share it with then what is the point? Forget the fact that they might be fake friends. It is your choice. I might sound like an outcast to you. It does not matter. Our generation cares about clout. It does not matter how a person gets this clout. Fake news, negative news or even graphic imagery, it does not matter. Instead, even a small act of repentance, the act of saying ‘sorry’ can do so much more than give you meaningless clout.
I leave you here. You can decide if this piece really meant anything or not. After all, this is just my opinion.
Racism
-Shinjon Sana
The current year is 2020, so let me ask you what has changed since 1920?
Different countries are nuclear powers now, and all the industries have seen significant advances and of course, AI and nanotechnology. Why is it that amidst all of these great achievements the world has not seen it fit to end racial discrimination?
From 1518 to the mid-1900s, countless African people were shipped by slave handlers to various countries in the world to serve their masters, in particular the North American Continent was a place where most of these slaves were sent. Back then, these people were treated worse than animals. They were whipped daily, killed for the slightest mistake and forced to live in brutal conditions. Why did this happen? The answer most slave owners would have given, is that these dark-skinned people are not civilized human beings. To what extent this statement is true is debatable, since there have been innumerable occasions when it has proven to be the opposite. Just imagine, one day you are going about your business, as usual, suddenly a group of white men approach you and start beating you, accusing you of a crime you did not commit. After this, you were lynched right there on the spot and murdered or in some cases, imprisoned for life on false charges. Does this in any way seem like a fair way to live? Is this what freedom is?
Now, we have come a long way since then. The whole American civil war occurred to prevent people from having slaves. Abraham Lincoln is widely regarded as the person who has done the most for blacks in the country. Yet, even he was recorded saying this - “I am not, nor ever have been in favour of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people, I as much as any man am in favour of the superior position assigned to the white race”. Let me break this down for you. This statement is very explicit, and direct, and yet, people idolize him for that one action when he signed the emancipation proclamation. To take an example, every great ruler who conquered many countries and made empires had one thing in common. They were all white. I challenge you to name a leader who came close to global domination who was not white. This goes on to show that racial discrimination is a way for the white people to feel powerful, by putting all other down.
Statistically speaking, white European citizens in America receive economic and social benefits that would never be offered to people of any other skin colour. This edge gives them advantages that make their life “simple”, and then they mock other people
for not sharing similar success. When a person from an impoverished background achieves something, it is made a success story only if the person is white. If they are of any other race, it is labelled as “luck”. These few that do achieve success are looked down upon and told that they do not belong there. Fortunately this scenario is getting better day by day. However, there is still a long way to go.
In more recent times, there was the brutal killings of many black individuals such as Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. This showcased white supremacy at its finest since it took a few months for Ahmaud’s killers to be arrested even. Breonna Taylor’s killers have not yet been arrested, and I am sure everyone is familiar with what happened to George Floyd’s killers. Now, more and more people are pushing for equality, not only blacks, but white people, Latino people and almost everyone in the world has started weighing in on this matter. But the battle is not over yet.
To cite an example recently, in the wake of rising protests over police brutality in America, a mural was painted in the Californian town of Martinez, this proclaimed the slogan of the BLM movement. Two white individuals defaced this mural, David Nelson and Nicole Anderson. David Nelson was quoted saying this “We’re sick of this narrative, that’s what’s wrong, the narrative of police brutality, the narrative of oppression, the narrative of racism, it’s a lie.” The fact that this view even exists is surprising. The statement is entirely inaccurate, and it is clear that people who believe such things are delusional.
It is now time to act, people have suffered long enough, and now they are willing to fight for what should rightfully have been theirs from long ago. The time of oppression is over, the world belongs to nobody, everyone was born equal, and everyone is equal. It is time to accept people, no matter what their race is, what their religion is, what their sexuality is. All people belong to the human race, and to preserve this human race, we must unite and accept each other for what we are, NO MATTER WHAT! However, as always there is hope and as long as this hope continues to foster we can move towards a more free and better world. More and more people are becoming aware of the situation and realising the truth. These steps are small, but it is a step nonetheless. Everything is achievable if efforts are being made. Racism has been a dark spot in human history for ages and continues to be so, but we are finally overcoming it and that is a true momentous change.
ANimal Rights:
rights are fundamental for all species
-Aashaya Anand
Many of us humans have had our individual rights and liberty recognised for as long as we can remember. We have been taught by our elders that our rights matter more than anything else, and that we should have the utmost respect for our fellow comrades and their rights. A failure to abide by this conduct shows an err in human judgement. Countless books have been written about the deep struggles that our forefathers have been through to lift us to the life we live today. Point is, we, as humans, are capable of understanding how important the presence of our rights are for a life without major difficulties. One would think, this is as liberal as we can get.
The main flaw in humankind to point out here is that we are very self-centred. We, quite frequently, overlook the rights of the species we live amongst. The lives that reside in our homes and on our streets.
The animals.
One major problem is eating meat. Meat eating, while we have other options available, is unethical. By slaughtering animals for food, when we clearly have vegetarian food available to us, we are directly violating their right to a peaceful life. Additionally, meat eating even does more harm than good to us as it can cause health issues to humans in the heart due to lower cholesterol and blood pressure. It can also increase the risk of cancer by 22%. It is also a given that the production of meat contributes largely to the rising levels of pollution through fossil fuel usage and untreated waste that comes from slaughter and blood. Harming animals and the environment, for the satisfaction that humans get from eating meat is very selfish.
“The rights of every being are diminished when the rights of one being are threatened.” This was said by John F. Kennedy. And some of us have repeatedly diminished the rights of our fellow animals. For example, the fur we wear causes great anguish and trauma to rabbits, minks, raccoon dogs, muskrats, beavers, and essentially every other animal with fur. The list goes on. Recently, on 23 April 2020, Canada Goose, a high ranking clothing company, decided to stop buying new fur to use in its products. This should inspire more companies in the fashion industry to do the same.
There also is the case of local physical violence against animals. Street dogs, cats, geese, hens, pigs and other creatures are being physically and mentally tormented. Very frequently,1 in places such as Kerala, street dogs are beaten up with instruments of torture, electrocuted, and even brutally murdered on the streets in front of everybody. It is greatly unsettling that violators of animals’ basic right to life, never ever have to pay for their actions.
Of course, it is true that humans have evolved through eating meat. Non-vegetarian food gives many of us great satisfaction, which is only natural. After all, the first man was a hunter and gatherer. But we have come far past that, because we now understand the importance of individual rights and liberty. The humans of today can empathize. It is not only an act of kindness, but also an act of duty, for us to speak for those whose voices are suppressed. The only solutions to these issues are education, protesting and demanding attention to animal rights, just as we did for human rights.