(Originally published on Thanksgiving day 2013)
That astute thinker and commentator on issues of race - Russell Peters, who also happpens to be a comedian, said something very interesting in one of his routines. He said, "The whole world's mixing. There's nothin' you can do about it. Eventually we're all going to become some sorta hybrid mix of Chinese and Indian. Its inevitable. They're the two largest populations in the world. So you can run from us now, but sooner or later..." you know. Yea, you know, you pervert. As funny as that sounds, its got that weird ring of truth to it. Maybe 300 years from now, we might all be ... beige. However, what strikes me is that Russell Peters, who has half Indian DNA, has never spoken about the racism so prevalent in the second largest democracy in the world.
My country has probably the largest socially and culturally sanctioned institution to systematically segregate people on the basis of color and race - Arranged Marriage. Now before you start arguing with me that times are different now, I would just like to say, that compared to the number of marriages where color (almost always only of the bride's skin) is a criterion, the number of marriages where color is a non-issue pales in comparison (pun intended). As sensory biologists, we often joke as to how poorly the human visual system fares compared to other animal systems such as cephalopods (squids) or stomatopods (mantis shrimp). But at the back of my mind, I tell myself, "Thank you God that humans only have three types of color-receptive cone cells in the retina." Just imagine what would ensue if humans had 16 types of color receptive cones like that of mantis shrimp. In India, this is how it would translate to in terms of matrimonial columns in newspapers and websites:
I haven't included it, but I'm pretty sure if evolution had gone that way, there would be an Ultraviolet component to skin color in addition to being "FAIR and LOVELY". Now there's a problem of multispectral proportions!
Its thanksgiving, and I have many things to be thankful for. But one thing I will always be thankful for is that I am proudly, unabashedly brown. And contrary to what some people say about being "Color-blind" (which is not going to happen thanks to the three types of retinal cone cells in our eyes), I say, be color-joyful. Rejoice in your skin color. And rejoice in the diversity of other people's skin color. Color very often means culture - so enjoy one another's cultures.
I know many untoward things have happened since the First thanksgiving, but I do know that on that day in 1621, at Plymouth Plantation, a group of 90 brown folk and 53 white folk gathered together at the table to share a meal together, celebrating God's provision.
Does your thanksgiving table celebrate skin-color diversity as the first one did in 1621? How far have we come? Think about that.
Happy thanksgiving Y'all!
That astute thinker and commentator on issues of race - Russell Peters, who also happpens to be a comedian, said something very interesting in one of his routines. He said, "The whole world's mixing. There's nothin' you can do about it. Eventually we're all going to become some sorta hybrid mix of Chinese and Indian. Its inevitable. They're the two largest populations in the world. So you can run from us now, but sooner or later..." you know. Yea, you know, you pervert. As funny as that sounds, its got that weird ring of truth to it. Maybe 300 years from now, we might all be ... beige. However, what strikes me is that Russell Peters, who has half Indian DNA, has never spoken about the racism so prevalent in the second largest democracy in the world.
My country has probably the largest socially and culturally sanctioned institution to systematically segregate people on the basis of color and race - Arranged Marriage. Now before you start arguing with me that times are different now, I would just like to say, that compared to the number of marriages where color (almost always only of the bride's skin) is a criterion, the number of marriages where color is a non-issue pales in comparison (pun intended). As sensory biologists, we often joke as to how poorly the human visual system fares compared to other animal systems such as cephalopods (squids) or stomatopods (mantis shrimp). But at the back of my mind, I tell myself, "Thank you God that humans only have three types of color-receptive cone cells in the retina." Just imagine what would ensue if humans had 16 types of color receptive cones like that of mantis shrimp. In India, this is how it would translate to in terms of matrimonial columns in newspapers and websites:
"VERY WELL settled Chennai based clean shaven, traditional nadar christian boy, 34/5'5" seeks well-mannered girl with high moral values of same caste. Skin color requirements as follows: HSB - Hue: 19° Luminance: 88 Saturation: 20%, brightness: 97%, a = 11, b = 12; CMYK - Cyan: 2% Magenta: 18% Yellow: 19% Key (black): 0%"
I haven't included it, but I'm pretty sure if evolution had gone that way, there would be an Ultraviolet component to skin color in addition to being "FAIR and LOVELY". Now there's a problem of multispectral proportions!
Its thanksgiving, and I have many things to be thankful for. But one thing I will always be thankful for is that I am proudly, unabashedly brown. And contrary to what some people say about being "Color-blind" (which is not going to happen thanks to the three types of retinal cone cells in our eyes), I say, be color-joyful. Rejoice in your skin color. And rejoice in the diversity of other people's skin color. Color very often means culture - so enjoy one another's cultures.
I know many untoward things have happened since the First thanksgiving, but I do know that on that day in 1621, at Plymouth Plantation, a group of 90 brown folk and 53 white folk gathered together at the table to share a meal together, celebrating God's provision.
Does your thanksgiving table celebrate skin-color diversity as the first one did in 1621? How far have we come? Think about that.
Happy thanksgiving Y'all!
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