Through Our Eyes - Julia & Maureen

The friction of caste is killing people. Societal inequality is killing people. The act of moving about and navigating spaces with those whom society has trained us to believe are inherently different from us is killing people, and not just the targets. Studies are showing that prejudice itself can be deadly.

Would you be willing to stand out from the crowd and stand up for what you believe is right or would you be afraid and follow the flock even though you know it’s wrong? Are you willing to sacrifice your ideals to conform to the majority? Is this why the lynchings, massacres and tortures took place .. because people felt threatened and for an easier life they just conformed to the norm?

Why aren’t we just seen as being equal .. Why does it matter about where our families originated from, why does it matter what we look like .. we are all human beings .. we all have a part to play in society .. why did these people have to suffer .. and still suffer today.

Researchers now lost to history have sought to understand the infrastructure of our divisions - racial hierarchies. It takes a singular depth of commitment to understand the caste system in the hope of defeating it. It becomes a challenge as we seek to understand that our lives depend on developing this understanding. We can categorise ourselves but…Knowing the cultural, sociological and political meaning of caste, and how the category you are assigned to fits into a racialised - that is to say hierarchical - social structure, is just as important, if not more so!

We thought we would share some news that caught our attention, were thought provoking and funnily enough had us discussing.

Can you believe that the Americans thought it was just as important to keep people in their place as to win the war! If you are a success and you become a hero surely that should be celebrated and rewarded whatever colour you are? Why do people feel threatened by others' success? So if you are born into a lower caste, if you show innovation and creativity, you are then seen as a threat and becoming above your station and need to be put back in your place!

When is it right to share with your children about what could be seen as “adult” or very sensitive topics. Why do people make assumptions so quickly and can often appear reluctant to change their minds? Why do people of the dominant caste believe they are entitled .. can step in and assert themselves wherever they choose. Surely people have the right to go about their business without being accused of doing wrong when they are perfectly innocent. How would you feel living in a world of blame just because of your colour? The truth is we do!

Do you know where the term scapegoat came from? Why were people used as scapegoats for other people’s failures … Surely this is not right or fair? Why were the assumptions made by the law abiding officers so wrong that they made the people’s lives hell. The caste system allows for the guilty to shift the blame, making our societies less safe . However, a Caste system gives us false comfort, it makes us feel the world is in order, that we automatically should know the good guys from the bad guys! But do we?

Today we will discuss the pillars that uphold a belief system. It did not matter that they were based on misperceptions or distortions of convenience, as long as people accepted them and gained a sense of order and a means to justify the cruelties to which they had grown accustomed and inequalities that they took to be the laws of nature. Do listen to what the 8 pillars represent!

They were complicit in their silence as they kept quiet or celebrated evils on humankind? The case of brown eyes vs blue eyes, did it teach us anything? Do you think prejudice or hate can be unlearned? Why was there a threat to the dominant group? Could that really happen?

Who would you think is the instigator of caste or race? Who do you think led the way when it came to the horrific segregation of people? Would you say the concentration camps were worse than what was happening with black enslaved Africans in America?