Seeing the World Through a Different Lens

Something instructive happened at the University of Ghana in December, 2018. Students of that university, incensed by the anti-Black sentiments reflected in the writings of Mahatma Gandhi, decided to removed his statue from its perch on the university grounds. All this happened after students became aware that while living in South Africa, Gandhi expressed sentiments which intimated that Blacks in South Africa were ‘savage’ and inferior to East Indians. Gandhi further objected to East Indians being classified alongside Blacks in South Africa. Gandhi is also reported to have called Blacks in South Africa kaffirs, a term which is as racially charged as the n-word in America.

Gandhi’s anti-Black racism does not in any way detract from the sterling work he did while fighting for the rights of his ethnic group in South Africa or from his successful opposition to British imperialism in India. Gandhi remains a giant in the antiimperialist chamber of heroes. His anti-Blackness however, clearly demonstrates the veracity of the claim that Blacks and East Indians, very often, do not see the world through the same lens.

In recent times, the rhetoric of three high profile East Indians in Republican circles in the US helps to concretize the difference in world view between East Indians and liberal foundational Blacks in America and the rest of the liberal global Black collective. Kash Patel, who was appointed to serve as the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), fired FBI agents who were photographed kneeling in solidarity with George Floyd protests. His promotion of a song released by January 6 rioters at the Capitol showed some solidarity with the right-wing rioters. And what on earth did he mean by his, ‘See you in Valhalla brother’ statement after the death of right-wing conservative race baiter Charlie Kirk?

Another high profile East Indian American, Vivek Ramaswamy, is on the radar of liberal foundational Black Americans for his downplaying of White supremacy. One wonders if Ramaswamy is still maintaining his ostrich-like comment about never meeting the bogey man of White supremacy in America after being told by Ann Coulter that she could not vote for him because he is East Indian. I also wonder how he felt when a student of Penn State University labelled him as a demon worshipper courtesy of his adherence to the Hindu faith.

Dinesh D’Souza, who has lost much of his popularity in Republican circles after doing a stint in community confinement for violating campaign finance laws, is also in the cross-hairs of liberal foundational Black Americans. His reference to former President Obama as grown-up Trayvon did not in any way endear him to Black Obama fans in America. His book The End of Racism was perceived as a downplaying of the impact of slavery on the Black family.

While it is true that a majority of East Indian Americans voted Democrat is the 2024 elections, it is equally true that East Indian support for Trump rose from 16 per-cent in 2016 to around 31 per-cent in 2024. This compares similarly with a jump in support for President Trump among Black Americans whose support for President Trump rose from around 8 per-cent in 2016 to between 15-20 per-cent in 2024. Statistically, it could be argued that there was a greater percentage increase in support for President Trump among Black voters. The voting patterns of the two ethnic communities however clearly show that a higher percentage of East Indians in the US support President Trump when compare with the percentage of Blacks on the Trump band-wagon.

Currently there are two Caribbean nations that are being led by persons of East Indian ancestry. It is interesting to note that both President Irfaan Ali of Guyana and Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar of Trinidad and Tobago support the US military blowing up boats suspected of drug running and the killing of personnel on board these boats. Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar has gone so far as to say that the American military should kill them all.

Prime Minister Persaud-Bissessar has also used her time at the podium during the 50^th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Governments in St Kitts to highlight what she considers as sticking points in CARICOM. Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar cited the support for sister parties rendered by some Prime Ministers in elections in the region. She also reiterated her determination to unilaterally pursue foreign policy initiatives which she felt would be in the interest of Trinidad and Tobago. Prime Minister Persad’s speech though interspersed with continued commitment to CARICOM, suggest that there could be some serious rifts developing in the Caribbean Community.

Afro-Caribbean leaders should ever be mindful that many East Indians have been conditioned by a caste system which historically associated dark skin with lower social status and purity. It is to the credit of the Hindu caste system that skin color is not the only determinant of caste privilege. There are dark skinned members of higher caste in India. A number of Indian deities including Kali and Krishna are also depicted with dark skin. This reality has made many East Indians more sensitive to the issue of colorism. Unfortunately, many Indians prefer to remained locked in a worldview in which Black or dark skin people are viewed as inferior.

Indians are an integral part of the Caribbean Community and they have made and continue to make invaluable contributions to the development of the Caribbean region. It would indeed be regrettable for East Indians in the Caribbean to break rank with fellow Afro-Caribbean nationals and leaders especially on issues that reek of White supremacy. We can only hope that the decision of the governments of Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana to side with deadly and destructive American foreign policy initiatives in Caribbean waters is simply a glitch in the usual consensus approach adopted by CARICOM leaders.

Lenrod Nzulu Baraka is the founder of Afro-Caribbean Spiritual Teaching Center and the author of The Future of Africa and the Caribbean: Challenges and Possibilities.