Dear Readers,
The words “I can’t breathe” is reverberating and echoing all over the world. I’m referring to the last words of George Floyd just before his death. This brutal incident has led to mankind’s most prolific movements like Black Lives Matter and Justice for George Floyd gain immense traction worldwide whilst it has also sparked America’s most violent protests in recent history. For those of you who didn’t know, there was a similar spine-chilling incident in 2014 when another African-American man Eric Garner also faced the same type of police brutality which led to asphyxiation and he too had uttered the exact same words before he collapsed and died.
The root of it all? Racial Discrimination. It is one of humanity’s most disgusting aspects that I just cannot digest. I too join the fight against discrimination and voice out my support towards the Black Lives Matter movement and wholeheartedly wish that George Floyd gets the justice he deserves so that he didn’t die in vain and also shall be remembered as the HERO whose death led to concrete changes in the history of mankind. But today I use this opportunity to dig deeper and make you all aware of the most pathetic ways in which we discriminate against people and hope that I too can BRING IN CHANGE. I have developed my very own #ABCD Classification System based on my experiences to help individuals remember with ease and constantly increase their self-awareness levels to avoid discrimination of others.
A - Affluence: I never came from an ultra-wealthy family, we were always a middle-class family. The name and fame of my late grandfather Dr DG Benakappa and mother Dr Asha Benakappa often gave people the wrong message that I was very rich. I have personally witnessed the shift in behaviour when the same group of people, who would once treat me with a lot of dignity, would slowly start to dominate me!
B - Body Type: This type of discrimination has been happening to me for as long as I can remember. We seem to have developed a very wrong STANDARD OF BEAUTY & HEALTH. We discriminate against people on their BODY SIZE, COLOUR, FEATURES and perceive what we want to without even putting ourselves in their position.
C - Caste, Community, Creed: I belong to the Lingayat community but have always AFFIRMED, time and again that my religion is HUMANITY. But despite being so liberal, I have seen groups of friends who are so well-knit because they all belong to the same community and appear very SUPERFICIALLY CLOSE to people of other communities. But during testing times, I have seen them tell me “He’s from XYZ community, let him seek help there itself!” My question is: Was this even FRIENDSHIP to begin with?
D - Demographic Origin: Discrimination based on the geographical location a person hails from. I’m talking about the PETTY BEHAVIOUR that we tend to exhibit to people from rural areas. I feel more connected with people hailing from these areas as I feel that their MORAL VALUES and GENUINENESS hasn’t faded away.
We are all human beings! PERIOD! That’s where the line exists and that’s where we need to redraw it! Everything else is just something that WE CREATED and can BE DESTROYED ONLY BY US! Let’s STOP DISCRIMINATION on all LEVELS, both CONSCIOUSLY and SUB-CONSCIOUSLY and bring that change NOW! Dog lovers consider a dog as a dog and love it unconditionally. Why can’t we do the same with HUMANS?
With Regards,
Adarsh Benakappa Basavaraj
‘The Coach’
