[Thread on confronting anti-blackness in Pakistan]

A “word of caution” I was frequently offered by people in Pakistan before I moved to New York was that I should steer clear of Harlem because of how “dangerous” it is and that I should avoid black people for the same reason.

Then, once I moved here, my relatives and parents’ friends would inquire about the area I was staying in and would express their shock and worry that I was staying in West Harlem.

“Bach kar rehna”
“Beta bas kal’on se door rehna”

And in the current moment which is being experienced by America in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by the police, I think it is important for brown communities to confront the anti-black racism within.

I cannot speak for every community of colour, of course, but I can certainly speak for mine. Some great individuals and organizations associated with South Asia have already issued a useful list of ways we can be better allies but there are a couple of things for re-emphasis:

1. Don’t, for the love of God, use the N-word. You *can’t* use the N-word if you’re not black. You have no right to throw around a word built on the backs of a people abducted, sold and enslaved, their pain, and the hate for their descendants.

If you are not familiar with the history and gravity of this word or the history of slavery, please read up and don’t be inhibited to reach out and ask for resources to learn.

Saying “oh we can use the n-word since we don’t have a history of slavery” or “we don’t have any black people in Pakistan” is a terrible, ignorant excuse. In fact, Pakistan does have its own indigenous black community who are known as the Sheedis.

But again, you do not need to be in the presence of certain people in order for you to respect them or in order for you to not be racist. You do not need to be in the same room as me for me to respect you.

It doesn’t matter if Pakistan doesn’t share America’s ignominious history of slavery, what matters is simply that that history exists.

And that should be reason enough for you to be mindful of it and respectful of those for whom it is an everyday legacy that they experience as they continue to struggle, to live and to breathe under systems and structures which carry on from that history + institution.

2. Quit colourism: our pervasive social and cultural obsession with “beauty standards” that pit fairness against dark skin, which is deeply disliked and disdained, is deeply racist. Comments on complexions and judgements based off those are not uncommon, but are far too common.

Whenever you find yourself in the middle of such discussions, please speak up. We have entire industries of fairness creams and entire industries of relationships of rishta-hunting for gori chamri running on this. Break their chain.

3. Do not make jokes about “kaala rang” or “Africa” and do not condone cultural appropriation. Again, “hum Amreeka main thori hain” is not an excuse, your location does not determine your morality, ethical positions or decency, and regard for people’s experiences and lives.

Black people’s cultures are NOT costumes for you to trot out for fun. And neither are they fodder for your cheap laughs and giggles.

I know anyone who attempts to stop such things is usually met with “yaar can’t you take a joke” and “har cheez serious nahi hoti/mazak bhi koi cheez hoti hai” and I know, for a fact, that I will soon be told “Amreeka jaa kar Amreekiyon wali baatein karna shuru hogayi hai" too.

But the thing is, none of these are jokes, none of this is anything to be laughed about/be flippant about. Would you laugh about something deeply personal and agonizing? Would you, if it were not for your internalized anti-blackness, "joke" about black people?

So while it is often uncomfortable to be that one person who doesn’t laugh along and calls others out, it is also one less person partaking in a system as vicious and savage as racism; which affects real people and real lives. Which usurps lives in broad daylight.

It is one less person in whose presence others can think anti-blackness is kosher. Doing the right thing may not be easy or fun, but it is still the right thing at the end of the day and we have a responsibility for it.

There is plenty of stuff in the world to be joked about, but a people whose past and present are bloodied with oppression and suffering aren’t it. And the least we can do is not participate in the denial of this and perpetuation of it.

Words, jokes, practices may not seem concrete or material but they constitute material realities in equal part, which, in this case, is the dehumanization of black people.

4. Educate your parents and your elders: anti-blackness in Pakistan is internalized and generational which is why it is widespread. Have a conversation with your parents, your elders and relatives.

It doesn’t have to be confrontational and angry, sit them down, patiently explain things, have a dialogue. Keep trying. Living in here over the past 8 months, I have actually had several conversations with my own parents, my grandparents, and my relatives on this subject.

And I have tried to untie the stereotypes they have held about the black community. If it helps, use examples that resonate to make your point: Hazrat Bilal’s life, the Prophet’s exhortations against racism, or even contemporary examples such as Muslim=terrorist stereotype.

(There is absolutely no parallel for the black condition and it shouldn't require examples from different contexts but here we are)

5. Hold yourself accountable: unlearning our internalized anti-blackness will have to be and should be a continuous effort. Listen to black voices, read black writers. Continue supporting black movements for justice.

Check your privilege too.

6. Please acknowledge the entrenched anti-blackness within. Being a person of color does not exempt or excuse you from being racist and the possibility of it. Please play your part in unlearning it, in educating others, in continuing to educate yourself.

Put an end or a stop to anti-black discourses, conversations, comments, jokes and stereotypes—whenever they circulate in your presence, intervene, confront and counter them.

Be better. Do better.

Know there exists a system in which the life of a black man is worth less than a $20 note, in which black people are killed while jogging, while walking home with Skittles, for getting a normal traffic ticket, for simply sleeping at home.

All for being black.

This is a system of racism and the dehumanization of black people. Apathy is complicity. A difference of location from the location of this system does not excuse your participation in it. It exists within and among us. Bigotry is complicity.

Cut yourself out of complicity from a system of white supremacy which consigns black bodies and lives beyond the confines of humanity and dignity because black lives DO matter.

[Photo taken in Harlem, January 2020]

#BlackLivesMatter

Anyone else who wants to add to this thread, please feel free to do so.