A couple of weeks ago a petition to “Save Dharun Ravi” appeared to get wide circulation amongst the Indian and Indian American community. The group on which I first saw this is not given to any kind of political commentary, petitioning or action. In spite of the seeming broad-mindedness of the original appeal :
“Instead
of drawing lines in the sand and taking sides, let's come together as
people and prove that we can make tough decisions and show some
compassion, understanding, and sympathy.
Please sign
this if you believe that equality and tolerance should be
achieved through honest, open communication and not through a vicious
and vengeful prosecution that only serves to fuel tempers and
alienate us even further.”,
I questioned the motives of the re-broadcasters:
RST: “There are tens of thousands of other innocents in US jails and on death row, why
does this one in particular deserve my attention and the withdrawal of that
attention from the more general problem? Why is it more important to appeal one
_flawed_ instance of justice than to overturn the systemic racial and class bias
in US Justice?
If this was some poor Appalachian white boy, a Hispanic gang-banger or an inner
city black would any of us give a shit? Have any of us given a shit? I haven't
so far, why should I start now?”
To which, a response was
H8': “First
they came for the Hispanic gang banger and I did not speak out. Then
they came for the Applachian white boy and I did not speak out. Then
they came for the inner city black kid and I did not speak out. Then
they came for Dharun Ravi and I said,
why should I
start now?”
I thought there seemed to be some
misunderstanding, and tried to explain:
RST: “My point, and Niemöller's,
is precisely the opposite of how you seem to construe it. If you wait
to protest until they come for you (or someone "sufficiently"
like you - are not most other human beings sufficiently like you?) it
is TOO LATE. You should speak out against injustice when it starts,
you should protest injustice when you first become aware of it, and
you should make yourself aware of it (by distrusting the MSM,
authority, the official line; by being skeptical of what you hear) so
as to not be caught unawares. By all means go ahead and sign the
petition to Obumama pleading for Dharun Ravi if you are so moved,
but I fear that we, the Indian community, will only come across as
insular, ignorant, idiots for attempting to use our clout over such a
triviality.
Unless ...
Unless we use this as a starting point for getting involved in something bigger than ourselves, to see this incident as a reason to question authority, use this incident as a catalyst to inform ourselves of the institutional racist and classist biases and to show that we do also care about Hispanic and Native American men sentenced to death on trumped up charges and planted evidence, that we care about black men sentenced to death in spite of contrary genetic evidence.”
Unless ...
Unless we use this as a starting point for getting involved in something bigger than ourselves, to see this incident as a reason to question authority, use this incident as a catalyst to inform ourselves of the institutional racist and classist biases and to show that we do also care about Hispanic and Native American men sentenced to death on trumped up charges and planted evidence, that we care about black men sentenced to death in spite of contrary genetic evidence.”
H8': “What you are saying seems to be that there are so many injustices out there so if one doesn't take up cudgels to oppose all of them, one has no standing to protest when one is stirred by a particular "sufficiently close" injustice.”
RST: No, what I am saying, by way of analogy, is that prevention (of an epidemic) is better than amelioration (of individual cases).
H8': “Tate,
If you have the time, you can give attention to every innocent. I would like to do the same, but probably won't be able to find the time.”
RST: The right wing strategy on this and every other issue is to force us to dissipate our energy and bandwidth on individual cases (and states), and it explains your apathy, “I can't do everything, so I will do nothing.”
H8': “Honestly, this one got my attention only because of the Indian origin, and it is a college close to my current home, where children of many friends study.”
RST: Nuff said?
H8': “I agree I would probably not give my attention if he was of a different country or origin. But I am sure that for them, their friends/country folks must be doing what I am trying to do.”
RST: Ummm, see Martin Niemöller.
H8': “I cannot possibly "overturn the systemic racial and class bias in US Justice" ”
RST: I agree, neither can I; not as isolated individuals, but together perhaps, we can. And, “a good fight should be fought for its merits, not abandoned because of its unwinnability.” - which is what Krishna said to Arjun in the Gita (or should have).
H8': “But this small thing, yes I can do.”
RST: Wonderful! And you can do much more!
A
supportive friend rightly pointed out my high-mindedness in this and
challenged me to come up with an action on the broader issues I
raised that we as a community could participate in. But he
immediately cast doubt on the viability of anything beyond the
“Dharun Ravi” petition by wondering whether it would get any
traction within the Indian-American community.
The
answer to that doubt, I don't know. It will be determined by how
you
respond and act. Let's show that we can act from a higher principle,
that of human rights for all,
in the tradition established by Ashoka, promulgated by Akbar and
eloquently described by Amartya.
Inform yourself, involve yourself and ACT!
(Will send you to a post with links to 'action' websites.)
(Will send you to a post with links to 'action' websites.)
