Author: Ghazala Sameer

Text Review – Nayak: The Real Hero

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Nayak: The Real Hero, is a movie that follows Shivaji Rao, a reporter who gets challenged to become the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, India for one single day.

Rao had a first-row seat in the injustice CM Chauhan was committing after witnessing how Chauhan did absolutely nothing to control the protest in Maharashtra. While people were killing each other on the street and the police were urging Chauhan to order police control, Chauhan sent orders not to do anything. He claimed that he was afraid of losing his popularity votes. Rao got everything Chauhan had said on camera and confronted him in an interview. Feeling extremely criticized about his performance as the Chief Minister, Balraj Chauhan declared the challenge himself. Rao courageously accepted and showed India all the systemic injustice Chauhan had been committing with his power.

In the first hour of Rao becoming the CM, he got all the data about other government officials also abusing their positions of power. By the end of the 24 hours, he had suspended 46,000 corrupt officials. Rao also traveled all over the city to poorer sections and made incredible developments to help the people living there. Throughout the entire 24 hours, Rao changed everything about Chauhan’s rotten system and the situation in India saw immediate benefits. These incongruities and blatant injustices being committed were taking away the livelihoods of the citizens in India, while those in positions in power were just becoming more powerful. The position of Chief Minister goes to the elected individual with the promise of leading the country to greatness. The first priority of the CM, and all government officials, should be the protect and serve all participants of the country. Clearly, this was not the case as all the institutions working with the CM were plotting against the innocent citizens of India. 

The power dynamics explore the Master-Slave Dialectic and the Subaltern. Chauhan and other government officials are the One, while the citizens of India are the Other. Chauhan forced the citizens to become inferior and made it so they couldn’t speak against the unlawfulness occurring to them. If they did, the citizen’s authenticity came into question. The Master-Slave Dialectic is better seen through Shivaji Rao and CM Chauhan. Both of them acknowledge the threat they are to each other and struggle in a vicious war throughout the movie to establish superiority. Even by the end of the movie the Master, Chauhan, was unable to see the limitedness of his power, eventually leading to his death. On the other hand, Rao, the Slave, was able to achieve self-consciousness and spread it to the country as the newly appointed Chief Minister.

Nayak bravely covered topics revolving around power dynamics and how they go with systemic injustices. The movie shone a light on the same systemic injustice that had and has still been occurring in India, forcing viewers to question those in positions in power and break free from the constant infringements occurring against them as citizens of India. 

Shivaji Rao (LEFT), Balraj Chauhan (RIGHT)

“Yo, Is This…” Podcast – S. Hand, G. Sameer, A. Vance

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This podcast has content about systemic racism present in the healthcare system. Topics such as the types of discrimination people face, acts/laws in place that are related to and/or could be contributing to the racism, health risk factors, and why proper medical attention isn’t being provided are discussed.

Weekly Now: American Medical Association Grapples With Past Racism: Associations Now

Podcast:

Thank you!

1,238 Racism Illustrations & Clip Art - iStock

 

Continue reading “Yo, Is This…” Podcast – S. Hand, G. Sameer, A. Vance →

Diary of Systemic Injustices Showcase: Indian Muslims – G. Sameer

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The thing about systemic injustice is how the general population doesn’t realize the chokehold it has on it. Systemic injustice creeps into the mind and takes hold of thoughts and attitudes made about certain groups of people. It doesn’t even matter if that person or group of people did nothing wrong, there is already a preconceived notion of how those people will act. The acts of hate that eventually became an instilled mindset are what continue to fuel systemic injustice to this day. It is because there are so many systemic injustices occurring in the world, that more and more people are educating themselves/others on these topics. This specific systemic injustice diary discusses content about the discrimination and inequality against Indian Muslims.

It is not strange to hear about racism and hate crimes against Muslims. However, it is a little dumbfounding to hear about it when it is committed by your own country. Indian Muslims make up the largest minority group in India, which is heavily dominated by Hindus. With over two hundred and nine million people living in the country, Indian Muslims are the second-largest community. Despite how easy and how often it is randomly run into an Indian Muslim, they are the only ones not welcome in their own country. For years and years, Indian Muslims have faced great quantities of discrimination and racial injustice. If the hate were to be specified, Indian Muslims experience it the most in their education and employment. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, is such an advocate of Hindu nationalism that it fueled Indian citizens to attack Muslims, their homes, schools, workplaces, and even sacred places of worship. 

For as long as history can be remembered, there has been hatred against Indian Muslims living in India. We were harassed, beaten, and often killed because of our religious choices.

Many generations later, the hate has fueled the discrimination into being denied the right of livelihood. The injustice has become so noticeable that other countries felt the need to discuss Modi and his government’s extreme discrimination against Indian Muslims. Ever since 2014, when Narendra Modi’s BJP, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was elected, Indian Muslims have been in constant danger. They practically have no one to turn to for support, nor are they allowed to call their birthplace their home.

In February of the year 2020, where hate had taken a hold of the entire world, a video had resurfaced of five men subject to police brutality because they had taken part in peaceful protests against ethnic tensions. Three days after the video had come out, the news was filled with how a minimum of 52 people had been brutally killed, 200 people injured, and many properties were completely destroyed by Hindu assemblages. Which people were most affected? Indian Muslims, to no shock, but there were Hindu casualties as well. Modi’s eccentric nationalism and how it is completely supported by the BJP was one of the major reasons the protests had started in the first place. It didn’t matter who was protesting against the ethnic/communal tensions, Modi and BJP have irrational hate against the idea of Indian Muslims. The BJP constantly makes speeches directly speaking against Indian Muslims, practically encouraging acts of violence against them. Whether it be women, students, travelers, children, no one is provided political protection from the ruling BJP. Indian Muslims are left to fend for themselves and it is very common to not see the police/government stop grievous attacks against Muslims.

This is a link of The New York Times finding out the truth of how Modi and the BJP view Muslims and two short interviews with officials: https://youtu.be/7yCUIZVMVZQ.

For many years, Indian Muslims have experienced much hate and discrimination against them from their own country. It is baffling to see their own government systematically encouraging their citizens to commit hate crimes against such a large community in India. The injustice has become so noticeable that other countries felt the need to discuss Modi’s and his government’s extreme discrimination against Indian Muslims. The only way for all of this to be righted is for the radical nationalists to step down from their positions of power. More integration of Muslim people in the government and powerful positions would be required to try to balance the power play. Indian Muslims would need much more than a promise of their unalienable rights to even start believing their country is truly their home.

Struggles of Being an First Generation American Citizen – G. Sameer (Week 10)

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     Most Asians who immigrate to the United States experience the same overwhelming sense of not belonging anywhere. More than parents themselves, their child is more likely to endure the pressure of being a first-generation American citizen. The parents of the child don’t suffer from such pressures because they clearly have a place to call home, a place they know they will always be welcome too. The child, however, is torn between two vastly different cultures from an extremely young age. The child knows their motherland is where they originate from, but doesn’t know the world past the walls of their environment in the United States. The child is expected to deal with learning both of the cultures so they can fit in their new domain, but also not be forgotten from their old one. 

     On top of this, there is the burden of upholding and respecting your parent’s legacy and strides. The child grows up incessantly hearing about their parent’s struggles and everything it took for them to immigrate to the United States. There are constant reminders that they specifically immigrated in order to give their child a better life and more opportunities than they had. In The Leavers, Daniel experienced something similar when he explained, “If only Peter and Kay knew how much he wanted their approval, how he feared disappointing them like he’d disappointed his mother.” (Ko, 39) There are many other obstacles people like Daniel have to face, such as creating an identity within the cultures you’re exposed to or being forced to mature faster than the average child to be able to survive in the demanding, independent lifestyle of the U.S. In Daniel’s case, his experience with suddenly acquiring new parents who didn’t know anything about his Chinese origin or culture made it even harder for him to adjust and find his sense of belonging with them. 

     Daniel’s story in The Leavers is an experience that other Asian immigrants can definitely relate to and sympathize with. In Pressures of being a first generation American-born citizen, Helen Bezikyan quotes Kotelyan on her experience of being the first generation American in the family. Kotelyan states, “My biggest struggle was finishing graduate school & learning to truly live in this highly competitive & individualistic American culture. With the idea of making my parents proud at the forefront of my path, I learned to juggle multiple roles and identities […]”. The weight first generation children carry on their shoulders is an adversity that can not be avoided. But just like how Daniel couldn’t be angry at Polly for leaving him when they finally reconnected, more than likely first generation children view the “burdens and pressures” as their responsibilities to uphold. 

 

Works Cited

’21, M. M. (n.d.). Caught between two worlds: The struggles of First Generation Americans. Padua 360. Retrieved October 25, 2021, from https://padua360.com/student-news/2019/10/02/caught-between-two-worlds-the-struggles-of-first-generation-americans/.

Bezikyan, H. (n.d.). Pressures of being a first generation American-born citizen. Daily Sundial. Retrieved October 25, 2021, from https://sundial.csun.edu/113606/opinions/pressures-of-being-a-first-generation-american-born-citizen/.