Freedom from racial stereotypes

By Anupreeya Goswami

(Image source: Axone-Netflix)

I would first bring to light what Ethno cultural nationalism stands for- It translates to a nation

where nationalism or the feeling of belongingness to a same nation is run in ethnic or racial

backgrounds. Contrary to this, for a country like ours, diversification has also given a place for the existence of racial pluralities. This brings into unification the indo-aryans,the negritos, the Dravidians and the mongoloids who identify as one unified nation despite their not alike features or cultures.

"All south Indians are Dravidians. All north easterns are mongoloids." Stereotypes often do no go around being extremely hurtful and pinching for retaliation, for a protest or rally. But it never rules out the very basis of them being misconceptions. More often than not they grow from ignorance and not hate.

Nevertheless these little symbolics, very often go out to ignite bigger flames.

In the light of a tremendous work by a masterpiece like the Netflix streamed 2020 film 'Axone' what was also under the spotlight was the discriminatory face of metro towns. Voices from around the map of India came forth talking about their shares of discrimination that metro towns had to offer. The north-easterns living out and within the states alike were overwhelmed with the tremendous support pouring for them. Representation let alone, let awareness and compassion flood. In light of the many reviews that the film got, there stood a problem with a few of them. A

girl posted about the discrimination she faced as a Bengali person living in Delhi which she

claimed to be very similar to what Axone had talked about. While it was right voicing out, what stood fundamentally wrong for northeastern India was how ignorance jeopardized their ethno-cultural struggles and long drawn background of discrimination and put to the same line of how it is similar to call a northeastern a Momo and a Bengali a bong.

Another writer on social media came out with a piece of work narrating a tale of his encounter with a northeastern woman in a car showroom. The very lines of the except mentions "These northeastern girls have the most enchanting eyes. Those small slim eyes have a world of fire in them. And also I've heard about how beautiful they are down there. I mean I've heard it tastes different" His writing goes on to explicitly describe vulgar imageries and cheap adjectives as he writes openly of how he objectified the women and her racial types in form of art depiction. Racial fetishism flies, open in the air as racial bullying and misogyny finds easy expression masked as an erotica or a social media post.

With the pandemic that started around China, the nouns of momo and noodles have become

synonymous to "corona" now."The prying eyes of the passerby that glare at us with hostility

adds imminent danger to our already battered Northeastern identity" writes a student from

Sikkim, (JNU) living in New Delhi. Multiple videos, multiple essays, articles, Instagram lives,

twitter handles do not come forth to save one, until you are spat on openly, in broad daylight-to make it to the big news.

The Prime Minister on April, 2020 lit the lamp against the Corona Virus, with a manipuri scarf

called "Leirum Phee' around his neck. As it popularized amongst the mainlanders, mass

production of the traditional textile started somewhere in UP under the name of 'gamcha' or

'modi gamusa'. In moments the heritage, traditional values, manipuri sentiments were

sidelined.Cultural misappropriation can never be the same as cultural exchange. The cultural

significance was easily and brutally separated when they turned "Leirum Phee'" a heritage

symbol for the state into a "gamcha" that made a trending scarf. The state suffering in itself for cultural erosion had lost a significant symbol as the craftsmen's age old skill and perfections now stood nowhere in front of machine made replicas.

And while the scarf is so easily incorporated into a greater Indian life, the problems and the

people lay far from fair representation. As the pandemic sits upon the entire country, Oil India's gas leak in Assam's Tinsukia let blazing fire for a month long after having destroyed much of the Flora, displaced thousands and taking over wetlands and a wildlife Reserve. A month later an entire state is now drowning underwater, hard-hit in flood. These news lay far from fair media representation.

All these depictions lay sweeped under the carpet because they never stood big enough. On a brighter side we saw an article on The Times of India captioned "Northeast has potential to

become India's growth engine: PM Modi". The Hindustan Times and The Hindu- reputed

newspapers of the country have too, talked about the same. The prime minister had sent funds to disaster-hit Assam and has started with a water supply project for the state of Manipur. He further talks about efforts to improve connectivity in the region through railways, roadways and airways. While the economic front has been given some light in present times, the region still hopes for cultural freedom and acceptance. The few examples above show aptly how discrimination doesn't always barges to big protests and utmost unrest, but still hurts sentiments to a great deal. The media has a huge role in reaching out to people. This gives enough reasons why media representation can go a long way in helping people look beyond stereotypes and pretermit misconceptions.

Modern India has tremendous potential to florish only when people choose knowledge over

conceptions each time. Modern Satyagraha seeks as much truth as freedom to this date.