oct 26th
she's the black woman who stood up for her rights as a human being by refusing to vacate her seat for a white guy.
eventually it led to the landmark brown vs. board of education supreme court ruling outlawing 'separate but equal'.
we need a rosa parks-type symbol to end the endemic state discrimination against hindus in india.
13 comments:
we need a rosa parks-type symbol to end the endemic state discrimination against hindus in india.
How abt Uma Bharti?
details, pennathur. i did not say rosa parks became brown v. board of education.
the point is rosa parks was a symbol, an electrifying one, about injustice. much as, say, the boston tea party, was; the dandi salt march was.
rosa parks was the catalyst that helped a loose coalition of religious blacks, socialist jews and others to coalesce into a powerful moral movement. this led to the climate that allowed a liberal supreme court to rule for civil rights in brown v. board. a conservative court would not have.
civil rights had many leaders, including even the strange ones like malcolm x. and it had many martyrs like goodman, chaney, schwerner, a black and two jews, whose murderer was if i remember indicted this year, fully fifty years after they were killed. (see mississippi burning).
and don't confuse matters by complaining about dalit rights. where was your sensibility when mohammedans murdered 12 dalits last week in mau, up, for playing hanuman songs? where are you when mohammedans in bangladesh regularly torment dalits? how about the oppression of dalit christians by churches which have separate pews? why are you silent about all this?
why is it that a lot of well-meaning people like you can only see dalits being oppressed by other hindus?
let's face it, it's got nothing to do with religion, it's got everything to do with power equations. for instance, in your native tamil nadu as elsewhere, the worst atrocities against dalits are always the handiwork of low OBCs, those just above dalits in the hierarchy. why is that acceptable?
Very well said, Rajeev. Hats-off to you.
Bullshit it has nothing to do with religion. Dalits are not allowed entry into Hindu temples in large swaths of Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan etc. etc. They even forbade them entry into a Sai Baba temple in Andhra Pradesh. Hinduism has to be reformed. the more people like you around (who claim that 70% of the problem is due to the British) the less likeligood we'll have the radical reforms we need.
RSS slams `Hindu hypocrisy and upper caste arrogance'
Press Trust of India
Posted online: Sunday, September 04, 2005 at 1423 hours IST
Updated: Sunday, September 04, 2005 at 1548 hours IST
New Delhi, September 4: In an unusually hard talk, the RSS has
blamed `Hindu hypocrisy and upper caste arrogance' for the recent
arson in Gohana town of Haryana in which several Dalit houses were
set ablaze and even indirectly attacked BJP leaders for not applying
the `soothing balm' on the wounds of the victims.
"Even if we try to view the incident in Gohana, removed from the
political angle, it reflects the hypocrisy of the Hindu society and
the cheapness and arrogance, which goes against national interests,
of the so-called upper castes," Tarun Vijay, editor of RSS mouthpiece
Panchjanya said in a write-up in the latest issue.
Maintaining that the incident was `neither surprising nor new,' he
said the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in Haryana, Punjab,
Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan were victims of `deep rooted
hatred and neglect'.
"The so-called upper castes cover up all their misdeeds overtly and
covertly through their fellow clansmen in the administration and
media. Irrespective of parties and their colours, they are all alike
when it comes to atrocities on the deprived sections," it said.
Referring to the BJP's September 1 decision to send a `fact-finding
team' to Gohana, he said, "the incident took place on August 27. The
houses were set on fire on August 31. The news dominated every
newspaper and television channel but till now, we have not heard of a
single important Hindu political or social leader having visited the
area and applied balm on the wounds of the deprived sections".
I agree with Anonymous. Even though I hate the muslim treatment of Hindus, we have to clean our own house first. The treatment of dalits by upper caste hindus (not necessarily brahmins) has been apalling.
For a change why don't we collectively admit that hinduism has to change and caste based feelings has to die, as it serves no purpose now. Instead it divides us.
And BTW I am a brahmin.
Ravi Krishna,
Are you a brahmin by birth or by deed? If by birth, there is no such thing in any Hindu text. If by deed, tell us how have you spent your time in pursuit of Brahman to be called a brahim.
What keesp the caste going? It is the acknowledge of it by the state and sense of entitlements that it bestows to belong to one caste or another?
Pennatur:
Now how many dalit and minority PMs and Presidents have India elected in our 50 years versus US which has yet to put one on a Presidental ticket? Or women for that matter. Mind you this is what 225 years after US indepenence?
Issues aren't Hindus complaining because of some a Dalit here or there feels oppressed. It's because when it come oppression, hindus, muslims, christians all are oppressed in on form or the other. It's only that some seek recourse in foreign nations while other Indians are slog it out within the democratic framework of India to bring forth the reforms.
Reforms for Dalits (or for any community) will have to come within. Missionary or mullah or some brahmin or for that matter some US Congressmen deliver it like some Christmas present. Though the mirage of the same might be comforting to the oppressed mass and surely profitable for their leaders.
I don't see a Hindu society resistant to reforming or laid any impdiments towards the progress of reforms. As far as I can see currently the President is a Muslim, Prime Minister a Sikh, Army chief a Sikh, President of ruling party a Christian, richest Indian in India a muslim. Can Hindus claim credit for these? Surely not, but they why would you lump all social evils on Hindus, right?
http://www.shastras.org/
Isn't this a Michigan based group whose primary goal is to have a upanayana for every dalit? Not that I have anything against these bunch but they have in past turned hostile when I asked them as to why they are gloating over Kanchi seers arrest despite the fact Kanchi seer did a lot for dalits.
From Gurumurthy
Link
pffrrrrttttrrrrr... that was mitrrr.. farting.
I disagree with Mitra. Dalits, like most social outgroups, do not want to constantly rage against the machine, they just want to BELONG and be accepted. They have not converted out in mass numbers. If caste Hindus wont even allow them to purchase property in colonies in Delhi, or shun any buildings with a large number of Dalit families, (as frequently happens) then that gives room and scope to politicians to manipulate. Don't confound politics and sloganeering with the average aspirations.
I think Mitra and Pennathur raise some valid cancers.Yes, we do not have the likes of Ramanuja today, but we need the present day Gurus like Swami Dayananda saraswathi to campaign against castes, castism,discrimination on the basis of birth and most importantly encourage the erstwhile upper classes to open their hearts and pass on the culture (one aspect would be our music..)to all. Also, we need to be bold enough to admit that not all our sasthras make sense.We do not know who made these and who tweaked it to their vested interest - we do not need to. Burden of bad history lies everywhere ,in every culture and in every country..Let us emulate america in the legal sense.But we need to do better - we need to further this acceptance - we need to return to the ideals of our soceity - Place compassion above anything any religion has to offer..
We Hindus have suffered much damage over centuries..Our advesaries have attacked our weaknesses and that is good. Let us correct those,even if it means disagreeing and dropping a few couplets from the most revered scriptures (there are such non sensical stuff in every religion).
Defending our culture does ot have to mean defending our weaknesses.Let us acknowledge those and try to correct those without ever giving up..
Problem does not lie in Hinduism..Problem lies in our intolerance to valid criticism..
--Srini (i forgot my PW)
Meant to type concerns..Cancer is not what I meant--Srini
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