Hasan Minhaj Just Called Out Indian Racism And How Bollywood Promotes Obsession With Fair Skin

Popular Indian-American stand-up comedian Hasan Minhaj¡¯s latest episode of Patriot Act focusses on Asian obsession with color. In the 12-minute video he apparently talks about the ongoing protests against police brutality in the US and the murder of George Floyd. ¡°It is a mass mobilisation unlike anything I have ever seen before," he says in the video.

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Minhaj points out in the video that people in India have an obsession with colour. He calls out Bollywood celebrities for promoting fairness creams. Currently, many Hindi film industry celebs are being called hypocrites by people on the internet, as most of them were mute when cases of police brutality emerged during the Delhi riots and CAA-NRC protests or when people from the northeast faced racism and were called ¡®coronavirus.'

The same celebrities are speaking up when the same thing is happening in the US. Hasan Minhaj called out desis and said this is not just a ¡°black-white issue.¡±

He said Indians love black America but only on screen. ¡°If a black man walks into your living room, or wants to date, God forbid, marry your daughter, you call the cops,¡± he says in the video.

He pointed out that if someone in desi family is dark-skinned they become a butt of jokes. ¡°Look at kallu,¡± he says in the video, giving an example.

¡°Our Bollywood stars do skin whitening commercials, so we don¡¯t look black,¡± he says.

He then talks directly to people who immigrated there from Asian countries and are now US citizens. ¡°When you became an American citizen you don¡¯t get to just own the country¡¯s excellence, you have to own its failures. That is the deal.¡±

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Further in the video Minhaj tells people that activism on Instagram and other social media platforms is not enough now. To express solidarity and actually help, people need to donate and offer their skills to help the protesters.

He gives the example of Rahul Dubey, the Indian-American who sheltered dozens of protesters to help them avoid arrest.

Indian obsession with 'fairness' is well known but something we do not talk much about. Various matrimonial ads advertise for a ¡®fair (gori/gora)¡¯ eligible bachelor. It was only earlier this year that a ban on the advertisement of fairness products was proposed in India.

Given how desis or ¡®browns¡¯ themselves are at the receiving end of racist slurs and discrimination, it is indeed ironic when they themselves become an agent of racism, something Hasan Minhaj has tried to stress on in his video.