Anti-Blackness, Caste & Colorism
As a feminist collective grounded in Black feminist and transnational feminist approaches to social justice work, SAYHU is intentional about engaging in difficult dialogues around colorism, casteism, and anti-blackness within the South Asian community. The history of colorism in South Asia is tied up with the history of caste in the region—all major religious communities (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Islam and Christianity) recognize caste differences. Since casteism and colorism often remain taboo or unspoken within the ‘polite’ society, or in our homes and community spaces, many of us learn to silence any critical questioning of these unjust practices and social structures.
In order to break the silence around the continuing oppressions at work within South Asia and in its diaspora, especially as it is experienced or witnessed by people of color in the US South, SAYHU is committed to this ongoing conversation. On this page you will find a wealth of resources along with several key questions for you to ask yourself about racism, anti-blackness, caste and color, and some critical ways to think about how these issues are interconnected.
We believe in gathering resources, teaching, and generating knowledge through interactive conversation with one another. The insights we share here draw from feminist, postcolonial and cultural studies scholars, writers, and activists who bring to light the visible and invisible structures connecting casteist and colorist discriminatory practices within a larger ideological lattice of anti-blackness at work.
We see this page as a living document: your feedback, additions, and suggestions are welcome. Find below some suggested scholarship to read, videos to watch, and links to allied groups and organizations who already devote themselves to education in these areas. For Dalit feminist analysis of these issues please see the work of Shailaja Paik and Shaista Patel.
Race and Anti-Blackness
Key Questions
Where does anti-blackness in the South Asian community come from?
How is the myth of the Model Minority connected to anti-Blackness?
How can South Asians act in solidarity with Black lives?
Although African Americans were brought to the US by force as far back as 1619 and enslaved in systems of capitalist exploitation for hundreds of years, this violent history, one of the foundations of our white supremacist culture, is often erased from public education. The labor, and cultural contributions of Black people that are so essential to the nation have consistently been obscured and made a footnote in American history classes as part of a culture of anti-Blackness that continues to sustain the devaluation of black life.
In 2020, in response to police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade,along with countless others, the Movement for Black Lives reignited a movement of resistance against structural racism that is inherently anti-Black. These protests have sparked conversations about anti-Blackness by a generation of South Asian youth looking to understand their role in changing these systems and their relationship to these movements--and to Black culture.
Ethnic studies scholars have argued that the Civil Rights Movement paved the way for immigrant groups to claim rights by claiming minority status. After the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which lifted quotas previously in place that limited the number of immigrants to the US from specific nations of origin, the South Asian population in the US significantly increased. However, this wave of post-1965 immigrants from South Asia, especially from India, were mostly upper-caste professionals. This trend was, in part, a result of immigration laws at the time that privileged the entry of “skilled” workers. Even though they may have had caste status and privilege in India, this new stream of immigrants were minoritized in the US context. They used what anthropologist Aihwa Ong calls “flexible citizenship” to claim affirmative action benefits. Thus for some, investing in minority status may also result in material benefits.
The Myth of the Model Minority
In the US, however, Asians are typically perceived not only as minorities but, more specifically, “model” minorities. Prompting this status was the perception that Asian Americans had higher levels of socioeconomic status (i.e., income, employment status, occupational prestige), high levels of educational achievement, and certain cultural attributes that facilitated these markers of “success” which distinguished them from other racial and ethnic minorities. This status, based on broad trends and generalizations, situates Asian Americans, including South Asians, outside of the boundaries of Whiteness, while at the same time distancing them from Blackness.
That said, not all South Asian communities are equally privileged or can claim model minority status. In fact, a Pew Research Center Survey on Asian Americans found that the median income for all Asians in the US was 73K (compared to the US average of 53K). But for Indians it is 100K, while for other South Asian communities it is below the median for Asian households: for Pakistanis it is 67K, for Bangladeshis 44K, and for Nepalis 43K. Levels of educational attainment follow similar patterns: 72% of Indians in the US have a BA or higher while the figure is 57% for Sri Lankans, and only 9% for Bhutanese immigrants. The National Asian American Survey, the first nationally-representative survey of Asian Americans, was launched in 2008, with a second wave conducted in 2016 both before and after the election. Researchers are continuing to analyze these data, but have made a lot of their findings publicly available to highlight the diversity within this racial category.
Having these conversations and taking action in solidarity with Black lives
There are great resources online that can help us to have meaningful conversations with friends and family about not perpetuating racial injustices in our communities. Here are some to get you started.
Race and Caste and Colorism
Key Questions
What is caste and how does it work?
How is anti-blackness connected to caste?
How do issues of caste-based discrimination play out in the US?
For South Asian Americans, notions of caste, difference, and hierarchy are both salient and linked to understandings of race, racial oppression, and colorism in the US. As described (and illustrated) by Equality Labs, a South Asian power-building organization dedicated to research and community organizing, caste is a structure of oppression that slates individuals into different hierarchical social positions, which shape their lived experiences and life chances.
Below are some key terms and concepts that help illuminate the connections between caste oppression and racial oppression, and its implications on anti-Black racism in the US.
