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Here's a subject. An Indian-descended girl at a work lunch was saying how she hated summer
as it made her skin darker, and she preferred it lighter. She then went on to explain in quite strong terms how she hated dark skin, and how she didn't like her boyfriend at first who was from India because he had very dark skin.
Sitting next to her, with much darker skin, was another Indian-descended woman, and a Jamaican-descended woman with very dark skin indeed. :- I don't know what they thought of this outburst / expression of aesthetic preferences as to try and avoid hearing any more of it I concentrated on intensifying the discussion I was having with my Macedonian colleague about the history, politics and conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.
Anyway, can it be racist if an English Sikh rails about hating brown skin? Has anyone else experienced this?
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Yes. I was having dinner with a very dear friend in Delhi once. He was disgusted to hear
that my trip was taking me on to Kerala.
"Those people from the south!" he cried, face distorted with disgust. "They're so dark!" And then, with a mournful shake of the head, "And they eat so much riiiice!"
I didn't care to point out to him that he was, even as he spoke, shovelling rice into his yap hole at a rate of knots.
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"Now on to lighter matters, the former Yugoslavia..."
I think you'll find that whole skin colour business matters, if anything, even more to your effnicks.
I had the joy recently of sharing a table with a very drunk african who said he didnt want to sit with the opposite table as it was "full of mulatos and cane cutters".
I quite like the fact that just about everyone is capable of utterly vile racism. I know it's not the sort of equality people had in mind but..
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Is it not something to do with the caste system as well?
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indians are some of the most racist people ive worked with..that and chinks
at te hong kong office the chinks put a face mask on in the office when the indian delivery bloke came in .. :yikes: and wouldnt touch him..get too close , wouldpile the boxes on a table for him then move away
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The indian thing is, undoubtedly
The african one, well that's much more complex.
That's without delving into the intra-island racism of the west indies.
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Right. Sticks and stones basically.
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It's a cultural thing in India still. They still sell skin bleaching creams etc
Lighter skin is deemed more acceptable (by other Indians)and more likely to be successful. Bonkers imo
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Was your friend in Delhi from Delhi? I realise that India has a history of caste/regional/religious
looking-down-noses thing but for an educated, middle-class English girl to say this, and in front of black and dark south asian people seemed extraordinary.
I presume it is her personally, rather than some notion of the cultural anti-racism here not applying itself to some light-skinned Asian people.
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Darker skin associated with manual (outdoor) labour, etc
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He's from Jaipur and pretty upper class (caste?) I imagine, but I've heard similar
from a friend of v's who's an educated British Indian.
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We should really stop calling them indians, y'know
In the US theyve been calling them Native Americans for years
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now shes English ? make your mindf up is she indian or english ? ffs
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As I was saying to my African-American colleague the other day
"are you going to see your family in Trinidad again this Christmas?"
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I think we've uncovered some latent racism in Ash, tbh
No wonder he was so keen to change the subject to ethnic cleansing in Sarajevo
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He's a good fellow, red. Fought for the JNA against the AQ-backed mob who wish to enslave us all

A continuation of the work his grandfather did fighting for the Partizans.
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Quite. Though I avoid talking about it with most people who know nothing about it apart from the
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Ah, good. We're all in it together, after all.
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Where's the fun in that

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Now Snin, I know you don't always like to read posts before splurging your reactions
but it says, right up there "Indian-descended", and not Indian.
The majority of young ethnic-asians have been born here, as has been the case for many years which makes them English/British, or UKish to not leave out our chums in Norn Iron.
Anyway, you'll doubtless claim to be waving your silly fishing rod around now, so :vsign:
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nope no fishing I missed the word descended..or read it as she decsended on the table
or such...skim reading ash skim reading. But at what point would one not even mention indian descended and not just say british ? its a bit insulting to try and say/guess where her roots are from ? if she white english dad, indian mum is she still indian descended ? how far back do we go ? i would just say british imo.. but im probably a bit less racist than you.
:fishing:
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Well said, Snin. That's these urban types for you.
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I've seen pictures of her family though.