Knowledge
Taking The Example Of Designer Masaba Gupta, Make Kids Aware About Racism
Discrimination is a pandemic too, let us eradicate it by teaching the students better
It is high time children are rightly taught about racism!
Racism isn’t a foreign subject. It’s equally a matter of concern in India as well. Every now and then, we hear stories of children facing castism and getting tormented by fellow students. They are looked down at because of their dark colour and physical attributes.
Recently, India fashion designer Masaba Gupta (daughter of Bollywood actress Neena Gupta and Vivian Richards, Antiguan ex-cricketer) posted on her Instagram about the discrimination she faced as a child in her school.
Being a mixed-race child with prominent Caribbean features, she was an easy target for the bullies. She wrote on her social media, “When I was little & started to understand more about my ethnicity…the fact that I was a mixed child..half Caribbean & half Indian, I thought I was the only one of my kind.” Masaba added about her trip to Antigua as a child and realising she is not alone – “I discovered so many more of my kind. It was like looking into a mirror I could never find. And I felt a little less alone in my constant fight to understand racism-it was such a big word.”
It’s sad that even in 2020, dark skin tone is not considered beautiful. A lot of us are forced constantly by society to become light-toned. This centuries-old stigma is, in fact, teaching our new generation all kinds of unacceptable life lessons which now should be voiced against.
It’s important teachers and parents take the initiative and conduct open dialogues to teach their wards why discrimination is wrong. For example, why calling a Mongolian-descent kid ‘chinki’ or a dark-skinned classmate ‘African’ is hurtful and not acceptable. Kids should be told about the issue not from a conviction point of view but how it would feel if the same happens to them or someone they love dearly. They need to be taught the emotional and psychological repercussions of their actions when they choose to discriminate. Punishing the bully will not help the case, remember!
As child psychologists say, events like bullying on the basis of how one looks or their comprehension or even ability may cause some irreparable damage to the young brains. Not every child is alike, similarly, not every child’s capacity to endure the cruelty of bullying by fellow mates is the same. Some might come to the authority or parents and tell them what happened, which is a good thing, the elders could help them. The others might simply tolerate the unending ridicule and some might take drastic actions like fighting or even worse, harming themselves.
This year of the pandemic has seen a lot already and since we are hoping to have a new beginning when schools reopen, let us also eradicate discrimination along with COVID-19.
It is high time children are rightly taught about racism!