The recent heart wrenching stories of George Floyd and Amy Cooper made its way to our dinner table conversation in South Sudan. My African-American colleagues shed light on how the systemic racism was not simply institutionalized in the justice and policing systems in the US, but impacted their lives in undeniable ways. From here, the conversation took a rather unexpected turn as a South Sudanese friend recounted her experience of studying in Mumbai as an undergraduate student and facing similar challenges for her skin color as she did in the US. From being name-called for her darker skin tone to receiving unwarranted advances and being stereotyped, I realized how racism isn’t just a black and white issue. There’s many more shades in between…

I dug further only to find a whole host of articles which explained the gravity of this issue in the Indian context. According to the Association of African Students in India (AASI), about 25,000 Africans study in Indian universities, drawn by their high academic standards, low fees and the use of English language as the medium of instruction. Nigeria sends the highest numbers to India, followed by Sudan and Kenya. A majority of them have reported racial discrimination, profiling and stereotyping. They are often presumed to be drug peddlers, burglars or even prostitutes, as some students report.

But these reports were only helping weave a story around what I had seen and observed. Even when I was back home in India during my breaks from working in Africa, people’s concerns for my safety and well-being were often laced with inadvertent bias. Questions like “is there proper food there?”, “are the local people safe?”, “can you walk around by yourself?” often come from a position of worry and concern, but also that of power. Africa is what most Indians would consider “poor”, “underdeveloped” and “risky”. Whether or not we acknowledge it, there is often a hidden preconception of economic, social and cultural superiority, that has been internalized.

72 years after our independence, we are far from overcoming colorism which is deeply rooted in our colonial past and the caste system. Cosmetics industry players make millions in India convincing men and women that white skin is what makes you attractive and successful. Growing up, kids are told not to play in the sun for too long for the fear of a tan. Our films mostly feature artists whose skin tones are rarely representative of the larger population. This worrying belief is evident everywhere we look.

To me, this feels strange. If anything, shouldn’t Indians (or more broadly the Asian world) be empathizing with Africa on issues of race, given our shared struggles as a former colony? I think the apathy lies in our simplistic understanding of race and privilege. The spectrum is not as simple as whites on one end and blacks on the other. There are many shades in the middle… shades of brown, if you will (the Asians, Latinos and so on…). While they do not enjoy the privileges of being a white person and are definitely victims of racism, their experiences may not necessarily be as heavy as that of a black person in this post-colonial world order. This gradation of color has led to a perception that being brown is better than black, and has placed the “in-betweens” in a confusing situation of balancing their newfound privilege over African races while simultaneously fighting discrimination from the so-called “superior” races.

This is all to say that if we want to fight institutionalized racism, we need to look within to confront our predispositions, even as a person of color. Yes, systemic change is paramount, but so is understanding our individual role in it. We cannot perpetuate biases against others, while also trying to fight the same biases when they take place against us.

Whether you’re white, black, brown or anything in between…why is it so hard to treat all colors the same?