please read the thread pals:

yes there are specific challenges to being a diaspora kid. HOWEVER there are also privileges in being a diaspora kid, and these can both exist at once.

how can you expect others to acknowledge their privilege if you can’t acknowledge your own?

and this is not an insult; this is not a statement insinuating anyone is “not indian enough.”

there are often numerous factors relating to lack of education - whether it’s one’s parents mentality, dealing with racism in the country one lives, and more.

but none of that exempts us from our responsibility to stay educated on our homeland, esp. if we claim to have a connection to it.

i‘m learning to love being indian (being honest here y’all). i do love india. i also know the country has ideologies + practice that are fucked up.

i was misinformed. i was uneducated.

yet in middle school, my two indian friends and i claimed to be experts on india and indian culture(s).

i fucked up. i know that. and once i reached high school, i changed. i learned (+ still learn). i don’t claim to know what i don’t know.

if you fuck up, apologize and do better.

we have the privilege to be uneducated, but that doesn’t make it okay if / when we are.

and i promise you, in the end, you will be the one who loses the most by being uneducated and spreading misinformation.

lack of knowledge and awareness only leads to you slowly losing your connection to your homeland. it truly does.

and i say all this as someone who has experienced it firsthand.

obviously all of this refers to a bigger issue than a readathon, and i don’t know any of the hosts personally so i don’t know their journey, but this is an example of the effect of not being educated and how it also leads to spreading / perpetuating misinformation.

it is not an insult to ask someone to acknowledge and do better.

and i have to say: it is hurtful, dismissive, and borderline offensive to see this treated as an overreaction to something small / regular book twitter drama / flat-out ignored by the majority of people who show up for other equally important issues.

the people who i’ve seen speaking out / boosting voices are 99% indian and 1% other people of color.

y’all, this readathon issue IS a big issue, and it highlights public ignorance of the dangerous state of affairs in india and the privilege of all diaspora kids.

if you’re not indian, you have no right to tell us which of our issues are valid / important.

if you’re not indian, we deserve for you to show up for our issues.

if you are indian, you have a responsibility to put in the effort to know where we’re from and to know your culture.

indians and non-indians, do better.

show up for us. care about us.

ok i’m super upset right now so bye kids