Colour of your skin

There is a WhatsApp group that I am a member of. Well, let us say that in that group, there is no one, not even a single person who holds a degree lesser than M.Phil. And many with PhDs! You get the idea, the kind of educational eliteness that the group members belonged to. A few months back, one of my seniors posted a programme announcement in this group. The resource person was from Australia (Dr X). People who have worked in the field of suicide prevention and have done some reading cannot miss him. He is a familiar name—a young researcher. Immediately after the poster was shared, there was a question from one of the group members, a profoundly disconcerting question from a very senior person (Dr Q). Disturbing because, one, the nature of the question itself; two, the person who asked it.

The question was this, "is the place (Place X) where the programme was planned not yet out of its white-skin syndrome?"

The question was appalling because Dr Q had no regard for the merits of Dr X. Nor about his accomplishments or about the numerous researches Dr X has conducted. He was not worthy because his skin colour is white. Place X had to be criticised solely on the ground that Dr X was of white skin. If the question was appalling, the lack of reaction from the 'elite' 150+ highly educated people against such a contemptuous remark made it even worse.

Very rarely I have felt as disturbed as I felt that day.

What I am trying to say is this, for those who believe racism is an act only of the fair-skinned, it is not.

In fact, of all the atrocities that human beings are capable of, not even a single one belongs only to a specific group. We all are capable of it. Most choose not to and that is what makes them better human beings. People, wise people, from ages have proclaimed this, a mere mortal, an ordinary being like me also would like to proclaim the same: "human being matters. Being human matters." And any ideology, which asks you to look at people in other ways, be careful.

Black is a colour. White is also a colour. So is, blue, green, yellow, orange, pink, maroon, and so on. It is not the white skin that matter, nor black, or brown. It is the person, irrespective of the colour of the skin. No colour is superior or inferior. What made us superior is our actions. What made us inferior is also our actions.

I am aware of (at least intellectually and cognitively) the misery the black people have endured in the history of the human race. I don't think it is humanely possible for me to "feel" the way they have experienced! I am also aware of the way in which our own people have treated the "brown skin." I can only imagine! I am ashamed to read about what we have done to each other. I am. And I will always be.

But I do believe trying to teach the world to be proud of being of a specific colour of skin, no matter what the colour is, is not a wise thing to do. We are probably repeating the same mistake of "this colour is the better colour ideology," except, this time, with a different colour. We need to be proud; without a doubt. Proud that we are kind. Proud that we are gentle. Proud that we can love each other. And proud that we are humans, yet do divine things.

Noufal Hameed, Ph.D.