With the Covid-19 outbreak, India sees the outbreak of their racism against the northeast people yet again. In their attempt to call out racism, they have resorted to tokenisation and displayed their mayang fragility.
Recently, The Quint has released another video featuring Mary Kom with no mention of race/racism even for once. “The virus does not know colour, caste, or religion,” says Mary Kom in the video wherein she seems to be merely reading out a script handed over to her. Yet again, the video tries to push the agenda of “we are all Indians” and “not all Indians are racist” as we hear Mary Kom reads out (seemingly) “These people who discriminated against you don’t know their own people, but there are millions of people who are by your side.” Neither of them works in fighting racism, but both are traits of mayang fragility. As one continues, one can see The Quint appropriating the dreadful experiences of racial attacks as “teaching them (the racists) the best lesson they needed.” As if the traumatic experiences of racial attacks are a “teaching session for the racists.” If The Quint bothers to study more on racism in India, there have been hundreds of cases in mainland India. Yet, the racists have never learned anything.
Just a few days back, a racist mayang man spat on and called “coronavirus” to a woman from Manipur in Delhi. Now, a racist biker spat on another woman from Manipur in Mumbai. Even after the racial attack and murder of Richard Loitam and Nido Tanian, the racism continues. How can they expect that “This will bring about a good change in the attitude of such people”? It seems like the video has an agenda as it ends with the message, “will pave a way for the next level of national integration.” In doing so, The Quint uses one of mayang’s favourite token chinki faces, Mary Kom, to say what they want to convey. We have also seen Mary Kom’s hypocrisy at the time of CAA when she voted for it.
Mary Kom appealing in the mainland media when communities from the region are attacked racially is not something new. It is history repeating itself. Mayang media used Mary Kom’s face during the 2012 exodus of Northeasterners from Bangalore. At that time, she even said that she is thinking of moving to Bangalore with her family (1). Did it help combat racism in India? We have the answer, the answer is they spit on us.
Tokenism is a tool of the mayangs to put up a show that seems to favour us, but it actually benefits them. Simply put, “tokenism (2) is the practice of including one or a few members of a minority in a group, without their having authority or power equal to that of the other group members.” Racism apologists like Mary Kom are in plenty and are the favourites for the mayangs to use as our representatives (token chinki faces). Another group of such tokens is the cast of Axone (3). In a video by The Quint, the cast of Axone even mentions the case of Nido Taniam, calling it a racist attack. Do they know that Nido Taniam’s case collapsed in the court? The court denied that race was a factor in his murder (4). The issue with tokenism is not just about misrepresentation; it allows the mayangs to sell their idea to the racially marginalised group, using familiar faces and capitalising on it. It helps the mayang to sell the narrative that is comfortable to them and that does not question them. It helps in evading the deep-rooted real issue and focuses only superficially. Thus, the mayangs get benefited from it while the chinkies continue to suffer the same or even more.
Apart from using chinkies from northeast as tokens, there is another form of tokenism that the mayangs have their hands on. It is using another chinki, but not from northeast, to push their agenda. The Quint also has another video featuring Tenzin Dalha, a Tibetan born in Lhasa, speaking about the racism against northeast people. It is clear from the video that by tokenising another chinki, The Quint is trying to put the blame of racism on coronavirus by addressing it as “the new goon” and trying to project racism as a result of fear because “fear is the breeding ground of hatred.” It is not the first time that the mayangs are using this technique. Last year in December, “In Pune’s Pro CAA March, ABVP (5) Reportedly Makes Thailand Girl Pose As North-East Indian Citizen” In both these cases, the mayangs are trying to push their agenda through their racist act of tokenism. Regardless of their political leanings, Indians are racists.
In another case, when the mayangs do not have any “saleable” chinki, they turn a saleable mayang into a chinki. “For ‘Mary Kom’, we tried prosthetics and make-up to make my eyes look slanted – but it all looked gimmicky: Priyanka Chopra” (6). This very act of racist Priyanka Chopra is called ‘chinkiface’. Similar to ‘blackface’, ‘chinkiface’ is when a mayang does make-up to make themselves look like a chinki for a performance. Just like the former, the latter is racist and offensive. While the chinkies have been discriminated against for ages for the way they look, Priyanka Chopra’s chinkiface is celebrated, praised, earned fame and a lot of money. While the chinkies have been denied access to various spaces for food, shelter, knowledge, and many more, Priyanka Chopra gets to penetrate our spaces and culture and capitalise on it. Other than being racist and offensive, chinkiface is a way to capitalise on the sufferings of the chinkies, reducing our suffering into a money-making project for the mayangs.
References:
- McDuie-Ra, Duncan, 2015. Debating Race in Contemporary India. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 49.
- https://geekfeminism.wikia.org/wiki/Tokenism
- https://weretrospect.com/racists-and-their-apologists-the-quint-with-the-cast-of-axone/
- McDuie-Ra, Duncan, 2015. Debating Race in Contemporary India. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 112.
- https://www.indiatimes.com/trending/wtf/thailand-girl-in-punes-pro-caa-rally-forced-to-pose-as-north-east-indian-citizen-502761.html
- https://www.news18.com/news/india/for-mary-kom-we-tried-prosthetics-and-make-up-to-make-my-eyes-look-slanted-but-it-all-looked-gimmicky-priyanka-chopra-710106.html
WeRetrospect 
Ruth Chawngthu