So, black people of South Asia - a thread.

The Siddi people (or Sheedi, Makrani, Habshi) are people of African descent living in present-day India and Pakistan. They mostly concentrated in Sindh and Balochistan, as well as Hyderabad, Karnataka and Gujrat. [0]

While many of them came to Hindustan as slaves, others came as sailors, soldiers, mercenaries, merchants, eunuchs, concubines and pearl divers. [1]

Siddi merchants were supposedly one of the first people to make Muslim contact with Hindustan in what is today's Gujrat. Later, the Umaiyyad caliphate's expansion in 712 AD into Sindh by Muhammad Bin Qasim brought in black solidiers to Sindh (possibly African Zanj slaves).

Freed black slaves being enlisted as soldiers was seen throughout different Islamic eras, as well as with the rulers of the Delhi sultanate.

Jamal-ud-Din Yaqut is one of the famous early African Siddi slaves during the Mamluk Dyanasty (13th century) who...

...was given the prestige of being a nobleman in the court of Razia Sultana (the first Muslim female ruler of Hindustan). A black person being given such prestige, under a female Sultan, was supposedly a source of controversy among the Turkic nobility and royalty at the time. [2]

The Sultanate of Bengal was established in 14th century and African-origin soldiers were recruited in the army who later became magistrates, law-enforcers and tax collectors. One such person, Shahzada Barbak, seized the throne in a coup and established Habshi dynasty in 1487. [3]

In the Deccan Muslim empires of Hindustan, there were several prominent Siddi rulers such as Malik Ambar, who was the Nizam Shah of Ahmadnagar in 16th century. Malik Ambar has a long-lived legacy as a successful and influential leader in both Siddi and Deccan Muslim History. [5]

Ikhlas Khan was a slave-turned-Chief Minister of Bijapur in the 1580s, and held an important position in administration and finance under Sultan Ibrahim Adil Shah II. Others in the bloc of important Siddi noblemen included Daulat Khan, Malik Raihan Habshi, Randaula Khan. [7][8]

In 17th century, Yakut Khan was a Siddi admiral who served the Bijapur Dynasty in South India with many stories of valiant bravery and leading important battles against English, Portugese and Marathas. [6]

In 19th century Sindh, Hoshu Muhammad (also known as Hosh Muhammad Sheedi) fought against the British at the Battle of Dabbo in 1843 and coined the iconic Seraiki phrase, repeated by every Sindhi person at least once in their lives: "marvesu par sindh na desun" [9]

The Siddi people have had their own principalities and states in Hindustan, such as the Janjira State (founded 1489) in Maharashtra and the Jafarabad State (founded 1650) state in Gujrat. Both of these were dissolved after India was created. [4]

In present day Pakistan, we have the famous Urdu poet Noon Meem Danish. In 2018, Tanzeela Qambrani, the first Sheedi person in Pakistan to be represented in provincial assembly was chosen to represent the women's seat in Sindh Assembly. [10]

Siddi influence on Sindhi culture is present in songs like Bija Teer Bija, which has a strong Makrani rhythm. [11] Mithu Tahir, a Sheedi singer, appeared in Coke Studio to a mainstream audience singing a rendition of "Pere Pawandi Saan". Abid Brohi went viral with "Sibbi Song".

The Siddi people have been present in South Asia for thousands+ years and unfortunately they are not at all represented in media, education, popular culture. They are only footnotes in history books, and in Sindh and Balochistan their communities continue to be ruled by poverty.

While we are talking about BLM in US while sitting in Pakistan and India, it is important to recognize that injustices against and erasure of black people are global phenomena. The Siddi communities are entrenched in poverty...

...black students in India have to suffer from repeated instances of racism. [12][13] Let's take this opportunity to amplify black representation and remember our own millennium old black communities who perhaps have suffered through similar neglect and possible antagonism.

[0] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1869876.stm

[1] https://books.google.fr/books?id=PucrDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT13&ots=Jdslo58jqN&dq=zanjis%20in%20sindh&pg=PT13#v=onepage&q&f=false

[2] https://www.dawn.com/news/1330155 

[3] https://www.livehistoryindia.com/history-daily/2019/01/01/indias-african-kings

[4] https://indianexpress.com/article/research/african-rulers-of-india-that-part-of-our-history-we-choose-to-forget/

[5] https://indianexpress.com/article/research/malik-ambar-aurangabad-mughals-jahangir-akbar-shivaji-6397143/

[6] https://thinkafrica.net/yakut-khan-the-indian-admiral-of-african-ancestry-story-of-the-1690-ce-defeat-of-the-east-india-company/

[7] https://www.nofi.media/2018/09/ikhlas-khan-premier-ministre/58981

[8] https://madrascourier.com/biography/ikhlas-khanthe-abyssinian-who-ruled-the-deccan/

[9] https://tribune.com.pk/story/772390/faded-glory-sindhs-resolute-fighters-stand-tall-but-forgotten/

[10] https://africanshapers.com/tanzeela-qambrani-premiere-personnalite-dorigine-africaine-nommee-deputee-au-pakistan/

[11] https://historypak.com/makrani-culture/

[12] https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/04/african-victims-racism-india-share-stories-170423093250637.html

[13] https://www.thebetterindia.com/93614/racism-africa-india-students/