White Babies

If you take a moment to examine the public reading material in the US, mainly magazines, newspapers textbooks etc, the photographs of so called ordinary people are usually black or white like the people in our country. This is not meant to be racist in any way, just to see some cultural differences and really examine racism beyond the obvious black and white. I visited the card shop today to find a birthday card for my nine year old friend Ashwithi. She speaks English fluently and can be seen taking the center of attention or vying for it. At the card shop there were many cards to choose from. Mostly birthday cards, some for Christmas and some for holy communion. The card I picked had a butterfly theme with a pop out inside which I thought was great for the occasion, but I could have easily picked a drawing of a white naked baby holding a rose with some gold glitter instead. There were no cards with black babies or Indian babies, or Swedish babies. Earlier this year I photographed a Math book and on the first page of the first lesson was a white baby with a bumblebee costume. Who is this child and why are they in the Math book for LKG students? Can an Indian student aged 6 identify with a white baby? Chances are they have never seen a white person before. During my first month here for Pongol holiday I went to the village Alagapasamuthiram and met our successful student Susai's mother. She is also a success story and inspires her whole village among others with her hard work and dedication to provide funding for her children to complete studies through college. On the wall in the main room of their house there were two posters with motivational phrases.... and WHITE BABIES. Susai's mother is obviously Indian, so why are the people famed on the walls white? The British rule in India was a detrimental time of exploitation and segregation. The caste system itself sprouted from British Brahminical thinking. The people who are oppressed in villages want to identify themselves in their home and school with the same color person that put them in the situation to struggle for basic survival. I think if you explained this they would not accept this arrangement, so why are there white babies? Don't get me wrong I've seen some Asian babies on posters in pediatric hospitals and saree shops, but the majority of the subjects are clearly of Aryan descent. Today also I began to promote the slogan 'Black is Beautiful' to two shop girls who were saying how beautiful I was after buying some kerchiefs. I dominated after they put themselves down by comparing the color of their arm to mine and said their arm was the better color, my face is an ugly red color and I want a beautiful face like theirs, even throwing in the Tamil words for good and beautiful. The didn't have a chance to combat because they felt a moment of confidence and were too shocked to react. The printing presses should start photographing Indian babies and the tradition of putting a black dot on a child's face and feet so say they are too young to be complimented should be outlawed. You should be able to say an infant is beautiful or cute even without having to worry about some made up curse threatening their future. I've met people suffering from the effects of the evil eye and I feel terrible that they are the only ones making themselves suffer so. It's pitiful. In resolution, make and buy posters with Indian babies, compliment infants on their looks and features and forget about the imaginary spirits that will threaten your entire psyche and physical being. Affect your future by taking full advantage of NOW!