This found its way into my paper. Still a rough draft... but what a lovely rant.



There is a culture which belongs to the Dalits. It is made up of drumming for funerals, being discriminated against, wondering why the religion you are upholding is the one holding you down. I have been told that the people living in the worst of conditions are happy with their lot in life because they must have done something to deserve it in a previous life. There is a woman whose job it is to pick up human excrement all day from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. She has been doing this job for 25 years and is working to pay off a debt she owes to a family for her child’s wedding. Her husband is dead and he drank too much anyway. She is old and her back hurts and all day she runs after little kids going to the bathroom in the street. (film Shit…) I do not believe that this woman is content with her life or that she thinks it is owed to her. For 3,000 years the upper caste has been using a religious sanction to justify the caste system. Everyone under this method of living suffers differently except for the Brahmins who do not suffer at all. It is now illegal in India to single out someone because of their caste and treat them unfairly. Lower caste people are expected to be able to come forward to the police, but are too afraid, too poor to go through trial, and worried that he or she will be ostracized from the group and no one will support them. Dr. ___’s explanation of the problem reminded me of what happened constantly in the United States before the Domestic Violence Act was instated. Women would go to the police to lodge a complaint against their abusive husband and would not be given protection. More times than not the woman would be sent home to an angrier husband. If the trial made it to court she was forced to testify in front of him, experienced prejudice from the judge, and even if a restraining order was given, it would not be upheld. Similarly, men and women from lower castes are scared to break their silence. They are dependent on their jobs and cannot leave them for a trial because they have to support their family.
My reasoning is that if this is the culture of the Dalits; what is their cultural mindset? I have been told they are okay with it, but I am encouraged when I read about Ambekdar and other Dalits who have fought the system. Telling ourselves that the Dalits are passive, abuse accepting people is another lie to make the rest of the world feel better. I refuse to believe that lie. Who are the people saying this and what is their cultural mindset? How have they transformed themselves so they can live peaceably in India and not look hard at themselves? No one is content when they are starving, put down, and made to feel ashamed of themselves for something they could not help; their birth. “Dalits must enter into the modern exploited economic system so they can exploit it.” (Bhota Document) but will they ever be given the chance? The people belonging to the lower castes make up the majority of India’s population, yet are treated as the minority.