Recently,
we were filling some government paperwork and just like every other time before,
we were asked to identify our race. This questions is never mandatory, however,
it has a way of snaking itself into important decision making. Since Nikhil had
completed the paperwork online and with his attention to detail, all the T’s
are crossed and I’s dotted, this question was correctly and completely answered.
Although
we had an audience of two other people, I politely told Nikhil that I never
want to answer this question, unless mandatory. Almost immediately, and with
equal civility, our witness thought it was necessary to clarify that the race
classification is to ensure that we have not been discriminated against. That this
is a neutral process, neither leaning towards affirmative action nor prejudiced.
I
thanked him and confirmed that I was aware of this approach, and that in
principle do not agree with the existence of this question – please identify
your race. The gentleman I was talking to became surprisingly uncomfortable, even amused at my unexpected request. But there
is a background to all this.
In
general, discrimination is stereotyping and prejudice that impacts behavior of
the person holding the bias. So unless the ‘victim’ specifically identifies the
exact nature of bias, it actually hard to say the kind of discrimination you
have faced. As a legal alien, I have been discriminated against in more
countries than just America. However, the most discrimination I have faced has
been in my own country. Ironic that it is the single nation in the world that
harbors most cultural diversity. To what I can recollect, I have been discriminated with
staggering variety - being a female, being educated compared to masses, for
being a proletariat amongst elite, caste, religion, for being single or for
being married, being too young or too old – whatever applies, for being a north
Indian in south India, for studying in Kendriya Vidyalaya, for being a social
worker, for being a corporate woman, for being a Delhi-ite, for being a Punjabi,
for being a city dweller visiting a village and for perhaps many reasons that I
could not even clearly distinguish.
Don’t
get me wrong, I’m not in an “it-only-happens-to-me” syndrome. I am not picking
any personal example where people’s tolerance was tested when I was being
myself, rather I am picking situations where I was fit into a stereotype and
subsequent actions were taken in alignment with the said prejudice. Where any
person with a common context as mine would be subjected to similar biases.
Again,
don’t get me wrong, this is not a petulant rumination of all that was pitted
against me. I saw discrimination as being very individual and yet nothing
personal. Once I was able to extricate the precise stereotype, it would become
easier for me to manage the situation. So over the years, I’ve gotten wired to
look for the prejudice and deal with it as if it were screen door to an
entrance. This was a battle that was given. Everyday. And this is perhaps the unique
story of everyone in India – a nation of diversity where people are desperate to
label you as ‘one-of-them’.
And
then I moved to America. A country that is exceptionally sensitive to
differences amongst people. Sensitive to a fault. Where children are taught to
celebrate individual differences and to own their preferences. And yet, as
like-minded folks commune they talk about not feeling accepted along with their
differences & preferences. The political affiliations, sexual orientation,
class, race, gender, physical abilities anything can cause people to disagree. But
it gets tricky when the government steps in. When the government lends a
validation that people belong to different races and that is the most pervasive
prejudice and that they need to be ‘protected’. Additionally, enough research is
being done in our current world where race is being hauled to limelight as
being a closeted deciding factor. A small but significant and growing section
of population in America does not fall under any of the race classifications. America
being a multi-cultural melting pot, mixed race children here may find their
options for race identity to be limiting. And this is how a prejudice becomes
personal.
Sadly,
America is still dealing with racial conflicts every day. And every time I have
to identify myself with a race, I lend a voice that supports race
identification. Of all the times I have been discriminated solely on the basis
of my race (in America or the 11 other countries I have visited), it would
probably amount to less than 10%. Perhaps I haven’t fully evaluated the cost of
all the racial discrimination against me – did it cost me a college seat? Or a job? Or equal
pay? I don’t know. But to even recognize race to be a differentiating factor,
in my opinion, is not progressive or productive.
Biases
don’t offend me and discrimination doesn’t scare me. But to create and maintain
differences that impact the social fabric of a country and touch each
individual personally, is something I do not support.
So onward I march. Each time I am asked to
identify with a race, I chose the ‘skip question’ option
