a response to a racialicious article

http://www.racialicious.com/2012/01/24/not-my-arab-spring/

Interesting stuff. I agree, my parents come from the Punjab region of India, I was born in the United Kingdom and was raised in the United States. When I came here I was perhaps a little too British for these guys, but over time I think I've become sufficiently American so as to be accepted. I think coming here when I was 10 probably helped me there. But I am aware that alot of children of immigrants from countries like India seem to feel they have a connection to the country their parents were born in. In my life, and in my mind, I don't feel as if I have any such tie to India. I was not born there, I haven't lived there, I am not of their culture. It is a foreign place to me. I am often asked about India, most specifically what I feel about certain things, where can you find the best Indian food, or what language do I speak. Most commonly, arguements with me about whether or not I am Indian. I always tell them I am not, that I'm British, and i currently live in America.



But my point is... when I am looked at with brown skin, black hair, I am assumed to be Indian. This annoys me to no end. I don't for instance look upon someone with white skin, fair hair, and assume they are from America, or Europe. I think we live in a time where we can no longer look at skin or hair and derive a persons origin. Ultimately, my skin has no bearing on my views. And similarly, neither does where my parents come from. My parents may be from North India, but I have no tie to the country. I don't believe things like nationality can be passed down from generation to generation. I would have to live in India and be immersed in the culture to call myself properly exposed.



I understand when you say you are asked to give expert views on topics you are far removed from. You may say it's because you are Muslim or Arab and because of this you understand that others may assume things about you. I am similar, and yet different. I am not Sikh, nor am I Indian, however I am brown skinned and black haired. I feel fools will approach me and assume I am something or the other, and bigots will ignore what I reveal myself to be, and attempt to brand me with names and distinctions of their own coining. I am who I say I am, especially when it comes to the identity I bear. I hope in the coming century people like me will not have to fight tooth and nail to be accepted in the ways we wish to be. I see parallel's with the gay community in America, I have seen them fight for their right to be accepted as their name, and similarly I seek to escape the branding of immigrant, or Indian, and be known for who I am, what I am of, and whom I seek to be. For instance, I am interested in punk music, I play in a rock band, I am interested in entrepreneurship, but I don't get noticed or recognized for these things on a street corner or in a bar room. I am instead recognized as a brown skinned black haired potential-Indian, and these people will assume my identity, and talk to me about topics they believe I am knowledgable of. I have brown skin, but I don't bear my skin as a badge of my expertise in the South Asian affairs, or even Arab-spring related stuff. I look at it as a fluke of our times, as like the Irish, now brown-skinned people are being looked at as exotic, different, and other-worldly, and perhaps easily understood. I am just as convoluted as the next guy, whether they be white, black, or otherwise.



Ultimately I'd like to see a move away from the notions of race and nationality, especially when I am asked to reveal my ancestry as a means of being able to better interpret my identity, in the form of requests from others curious about me. But I don't think society will change overnight, and all you, I and others can do is continue to voice dissatisfaction over cultural associations with skin and hair color and continue to show the lack of logic for such things to be done.