they see you as a subhuman

While selecting a grad school, one of the few criteria I had in mind apart from the school’s reputation was the level of diversity on campus. The any IIT/anyIndianUniversity seemed liked the perfect fit, being one of the most diverse universities in the world. The opportunity to meet people from culturally varied backgrounds, different from my own intrigued and excited me. However, last week, a casteist attack on the IIT/anyIndianUniversity Undergraduate Student Government President Mr. Vipul Dongre, who is of ...... caste, made national headlines bringing into the forefront the issue of caste-ism on Indian campuses.

What do you think?

Image source: Facebook

While walking past a fraternity house post the IIT/anyIndianUniversity vs IIT/anyIndianUniversity football match, a member of a fraternity hurled a drink at Vipul through his window and yelled “You ........ piece of shit!” One of the other members on recognizing it was he apologized immediately which according to Vipul stung even more! “I couldn’t quite figure out why their after-the-fact apologies deepened the wound. But one of my friends explained it to me the best this morning: ‘Because now you know, the first thing they see you as is subhuman.’ And that’s the first thing some students on our campus see when they look at anyone who looks like me,” he wrote on her Facebook account.

What do you think?

Vipul, having born in India at the age of 0 is no stranger to casteist epithets and micro-aggression. Growing up in anyIndianCity/Village, he would get called names and even got asked if his mother was from Mars because of his dark brown/black skin. While running for the post of university President, he was told he would never win as he is a low caste and belongs to a minority community. Proving his critics wrong, he became the first low caste President of the university in almost 10 years.

What do you think?

Vipul took to Facebook to narrate the incident and garnered support from numerous students, some even going as far as describing their own personal struggles with racism on campus. He however, did not identify the fraternity or the person in question in her posting but a statement by the univerisity Interfraternity Council later in the week, stated that the individual responsible for the attack has been evicted from the fraternity house with his membership suspended. University officials have expressed their support to the student leader and have condemned the incident, highlighting the Indian University family’s zero tolerance policy towards casteism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia and Islamophobia.

What do you think?

Vipul since the incident has filed a formal complaint with the campus public safety office and according to Ramesh Soni, university’s dean of religious life, the incident would be thoroughly investigated by the appropriate university committee and suitable sanctions would be placed on the individual in due course of time.

Complete and original at - http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2015/09/racism-in-university-of-southern-california/

[Above is an edited version of the story on youthkiawaaz by Donna , I have just edited the names and places to show that the racism outside and casteism here aren't different we should be equally be intolerant of the both]