"Goray rang ka zamana . . ."
The scene below from one of my favorite films, “Stand and Deliver” came to mind when I read one of Arturo Dominguez’s notes on Substack.
Also, somewhat related to Arturo's note, I’m watching a miniseries on PBS, Cuba Libre (not only the drink), in which a Portuguese fascist’s daughter, Annie and her “diplomat” husband are in Cuba in the early 1960s. Annie loves Cuban culture, and Fidel and Che’s socialist ideals, much to the ire of her conservative husband. The justification of the Revolution, or anything contrary to fascist ideology threatening Western Civilization is raised throughout the series, so far. This isn't that much of a spoiler since I'm only at the 2nd episode.
In the scene above, Mr. Ramirez (Andy Garcia) may protest fiercely that no one has the right to accuse him of racism, but the system he is a part of belies that for Jaime Escalante (Edward James Olmos). Racism and/or colorism permeate through various systems in societies all around the world, in every continent. An Urdu song by a now defunct Pakistani pop band exalts whiteness:
Goray rang ka zamana kabhi hoga na purana (The era of whiteness will never age)
Gori Dar tujhe kis ka hai? (Fair one, why are you afraid?)
Tera tau rang gora hai, hai, tera tau rang gora hai (For you are the fair one, always)
--Gori. From the album Vital Signs 1. 1989
The translation is rough, and not literal, but you get the drift. It is sung to a catchy tune, which draws one in, but listening to the lyrics carefully, especially where they sing: many may admire dark beauties (sanwali saloni)/ but whoever you see is attracted to the fair ones, does more than raise eyebrows. It's one thing to admire the beauty of someone. To set that up against the beauty of those of darker complexions is indeed, colorism. I don't believe that song was satirical. Also, "Fair and Lovely" skin creams still sell even if the name changed to "Glow and Lovely"!
We still live in a world where there are still people who do not believe that non-white children or adults can master math or science. The current US government, fueled by white supremacy, is cutting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs, in intentional denial of the fact that programs such as these, be they called DEI or Affirmative Action exist because white supremacy has never gone away. How do you fix centuries of discrimination and systemic racism in just a few generations? We live in a world where there are still brown people, and fairer skinned children of brown people who are steeped in whiteness and colorism. I believe this existed where I come from long before British colonialism in the Indian "sub-continent," but I do not discount the Empire's racism, or promotion of colorism.
I am still waiting for Marco Rubio to stand up and shout, "No one has the right to accuse me of racism!" but not being able to stomach all of his responses in Congressional hearings, I daresay suspect he has already done so in one form or another. Perhaps everyone does not get to be let into the United States of America, but granting asylum to certain White Afrikaners over Africans who are not white, who have been waiting for longer periods of time, who have faced actual persecution in their countries? His justification of "not everyone gets to be let in . . ." isn't designed to reaffirm what is already a fact. It is a fact that NOT EVERYONE gets to be let into the United States. His faulty reasoning and defense of the decision to admit Afrikaners (White Afrikaners feels like a redundancy), the intent to generalize rather than specify, is clear avoidance and affirmation of this government's intentions and policies. Having said that, we should also acknowledge the inability of previous governments to address the speed and red tape involved in asylum seeking petitions. To translate from an Urdu idiom, "We are all naked in the public bath."