LGBTQs can draw strength
from Feroza’s story
Must say that I am proud of Khabar for highlighting
this topic! (September 2018) The LGBTQ community
definitely needs support from us South Asians. Kudos
to Feroza for sharing her story! While her journey was
a hard one, I am sure she has become the voice and
strength of many who share her struggles.
Bhairavi Bhatt
by email
Wow, I think this is the first time I’ve seen such extensive
attention to an Indian transwoman in the media.
I hope young desi LGBT folks and their parents see
this, like she says, and draw strength from her story.
Sravan Kannan
online comment
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Is white racism/insecurity
responsible for Trumpism?
I was appalled by the racial tone implied in MuraliKamma’s “Viewpoint: Take a Stand, Speak Out, ActNow!” (Khabar, October 2018), suggesting that it was
the insecure white voters who were worried about losing
control of power in American politics that elected
Trump as President. He wonders why Trump continues
to have a hold over his base of voters, “despite
all the incompetence, bigotry, deceit, crookedness,
cruelty, chaos, corruption, tawdriness, and sheer bizarreness.”
Those comments are very offensive to all of
us, including me, who voted for Trump. I always enjoyed
Murali’s previous articles, mostly about life in real world
combined with a sense of humor, published in Khabar
and elsewhere. But not his political ‘viewpoint.’
To rebut his assertion that it was racist/insecure
whites who elected Trump as President, let me point
out that Trump won white voters (57%) by a margin almost
identical to that of Mitt Romney (59%) in 2012 and
Sen. McCain (55%) in 2008. Also, one should remember
that 8% African-Americans, 28% Hispanics, and 27%
Asian voters voted for Trump, which is slightly higher
than the same groups—at 27% and 26%, respectively—
that voted for Romney in 2012. (Source: Roper Public
Opinion Research, Cornell University).
It is unfair for the author to come to a conclusion
that America has become a racist country only because
they elected Trump, a Republican, as President. One
should not forget that it was not the 13% of black voting
population alone that elected Obama as our first African-
American President in history, but made possible
only with the support of 43% white voters in 2008. So it
is beyond ridiculous to suggest that Trump got elected
only because whites of America turned ‘racist’ just to
elect Trump. Maybe we should consider other facts,
like Obama’s failed economic policies, foreign policy,
and racial divide that his provocative speeches caused.
Trump’s voters are still supporting him because of
a healthy economy with a 50-year lowest unemployment
rate of 3.9%. The beneficiaries of this healthy
economy are not limited to whites alone but also
African Americans and Hispanics who are currently
experiencing the historically lowest unemployment
rate and increased wages.
Let me assure you, America is not “going off
the rails” or “falling in a ditch” or about to face a
“catastrophe” as claimed. This was just another
effort by the liberal media to scare our Indian American
voters before the midterm elections.
Narender G. Reddy
Lawrenceville, GA
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(U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Denise M. Nevins/Released)
Teaching boys and men to
behave appropriately
While we continue to educate our girls and
women to be careful whom they associate with,
when will we teach our boys and men that if a girl or
woman is friendly, it does not mean she is interested
in developing a personal relationship!
As male and female celebrities are being exposed
though #MeToo, what about the common person
being affected? The courageous ones speak up not for
themselves but to increase awareness about the
existence of such unacceptable and unimaginable
behaviors by predators.
Will the community silence, alienate, or shame
the ones who speak up with evidence? Will you stand
for the ones who speak up (#MeTooAtlantaIndians)
or continue to support the ones who are preying on
others? As an Outlook India article (“Author Ira TrivediCalls Out Chetan Bhagat, Suhel Seth”) notes, #MeToo
is about “creating better and safer working and living
conditions for women.”
Do the right thing for our daughters in our
communities!
Nazeera Dawood, M.D.
on Facebook
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Prejudices can be managed, but racism is evil
I enjoy reading Bill Fitzpatrick every month—a
great storyteller and illuminator of American truth.
So how could his “What, White Privilege?!!” (Americana,October 2018) move me from excitement with
a new perspective to craziness as I unpacked the
article’s ramifications: guilt and whining with no
solution in sight?
Americans are privileged. Some think they are
not. Some have more privilege than others. Some have
earned whatever privilege they enjoy, others have it by
default. Those who don’t enjoy privilege may be incapable,
oppressed, it’s just not their time, or they’re just
unlucky. Others with privilege may jealously guard
theirs, while others are envious. Some aggressively
seek to expand privileges they have at the expense of
others. Some may be blithely unaware of their privilege
or unprivileged status, but are made aware of them
through articles like this one!
The crux of the article “What, White Privilege?!!” is
that ignorance of privilege can be hurtful to those who
are not on equal terms with white privilege. Many unprivileged
have adjusted to daily life that may be more
risky or more difficult; the result of interactions with
even the unknowingly privileged. Privilege—whether
conscious or not—equals power. Kumbaya!
Fitzpatrick baits readers by spurning any notion
of White Privilege: You work hard in bad jobs to pay
tuition, fight for every inch of success thereafter,
give to charities, help minorities in need, your career
includes hiring workers regardless of color, creed, or
gender—and still it seems every movement du jour
takes aim at white people. Where’s this privilege we
seemingly enjoy?
Then, Fitzpatrick does a 180 in a deconstruction
that starts with a compelling life example and homage
to Peggy McIntosh’s introspective article “White
Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” wherein
she rationalizes the subject, personalizing the ways she
as a woman experiences white privilege, or “unearned
power conferred systemically.”
McIntosh’s list of her privileges taken for granted
include “I can easily buy posters, postcards, picture
books, greeting cards, dolls, toys, and children’s magazines
featuring people of my race; If I should need to
move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing
housing in an area which I can afford and in which I
would want to live; and 24 others.” The corollary to all
of these seemingly benign privileges is the proverbial
“death by 1,000 cuts” suffered by the unprivileged, the
non-whites.
From McIntosh we learn that when we talk
about racism we must broaden our scope about what
constitutes racism beyond individual acts of meanness,
and include such invisible systems of privilege
that confer unsought racial dominance on a privileged
group from birth.
So it’s all or nothing. Or, racism whether you know
it or not. Now let’s introduce prejudices. We all have
them, and wrestle with them in others and ourselves.
Prejudices can be insignificant biases to more significant
roadblocks to personal growth and interaction
with others. They’re probably a defense mechanism
left over in prehistoric genes now tripping us up more
than helping modern decision making. So, it’s fair to
consider three degrees of social discomfort: privilege,
prejudices, and racism. Racism is prejudice multiplied
and magnified. It is a cancer in an individual fed by likeminded
haters who can only be fulfilled if the object of
their hate is eradicated by any means necessary.
As an average Joe, I find it hard to accept responsibility
for things I cannot control. I have no trouble acknowledging
the dynamics of privilege, equality, and
power, not only in race relations, but other societal
categories, including class, politics, and gender. I can
accept any and all newfound awareness of these labels
within my limited circle of influence, and then work for
justice where it may be lacking.
In seeking a solution to ingrained injustice, how
is it even possible to fairly un-confer, or equalize unearned
versus earned power or privilege? Is privilege
versus unprivileged a zero sum balancing act
where one’s gain can only come from another’s loss?
When does social reengineering become pandering?
Beware unintended consequences that might include
victimhood and problem exacerbations, rather than
concrete solutions. Then we get reactionary Bombastos
for leaders.
Aren’t each of us a bundle of human imperfections,
of which prejudice has both helped and hindered our
primal encounters of all types? Prejudices can be managed.
But racism is a program for collective evil, and for
that reason more tricky to control, as we work to root
it out. IMO we need to be careful how broad a negative
brush we choose to paint each other as Fitzpatrick and
McIntosh have done.
Emil Walcek
by email
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