The Prologue

George Floyd, Daniel Prude and Breonna Taylor are the names that shook the foundation of the liberal USA. Victims of racism, they lost their lives and re-ignited the Black Lives Matter movement that originated in 2013.

Among the three, the most disturbing and violent case was of Taylor. She was a 26-year-old emergency medical technician in Louisville, Kentucky, who was shot dead by local police officers in her own home. The police suspected of drugs piling. However, nothing was found. An American dream shattered and succumbed to the aspirations of a young lady, discriminated and targeted.

Racism is an ancient practice. It is present since man got civilized. But the most perturbing issue is its presence in modern times. The survival and the ideas of the prejudice still create the distance between the fair and dark skin colours. Unfortunately the roots are deeper and strong.

The Evolution

Charles Darwin sailed across several islands during the voyage, known as ‘Survey Voyage on HMS Beagle’, and studied various living organisms. It was an opportunity that resulted in fabricating the much revolutionary theory, ‘The Theory of Evolution.’

Darwin broke several Orthodox principles related to the evolution of living organisms and challenged the theological phenomena.

However, the theory not only guided the scientific spirit of research but also seeded the socialistic approach in the prejudices concerned with the long term bias, “Racism.”

Survival of the Fittest

Darwinism states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual’s ability to compete, survive, and reproduce.

Survival is the basic demand of a living organism to achieve social and natural objectives. Hence, it becomes critical to survive in an environment that is highly competitive and has scarcity of basic resources. In such conditions, Darwinism points out the phrase, Survival of the Fittest.

The phrase originated from Darwinism evolutionary theory as a way of describing the mechanism of natural selection. It is best described as, “Survival of the form that will leave the most copies of itself in successive generations”.

The Historical Perspective

The evolutionary theory was proposed in the 19th century which demonstrated a valid dispute among political gamut of various ideologies that were sprouting due to the social changes in Europe, especially the introduction of capitalism and the Victorian Age phenomena. However racism was sowed much earlier, since the origination of civilizations across the world.

Racism was validly studied through the Marxist perspective of historical studies. Before it the division of society on the basis of caste and colour was seen a natural and normal practice. Marxism provided an in-depth analysis of the social formation and the feudal system prejudices. The fairer race, whether the Aryan of the Vedic civilization or the much later Caucasians, always dominated the hierarchy of social control.

History has always been assessed according to the convenience of the historian as well as the political inclination. Interestingly when the new batch of historians surfaced backing the socialistic ideology, the structure of the ancient civilizations was seen with numerous cracks over its sophisticated surface. Socialism provided, with its own prejudices, the concept of class struggle, the proletariat, and the feudalism.

Eminent historian Romila Thapar discusses the various agriraian systems during the Vedic ages in her book, History of Early India. Since man learned to cultivate, food production and consumption became necessary. The pastoral outfit of profession was replaced by farming. It provided opportunity to the neo ruling class, known as feudal lords to control the production as well as it’s distribution.

The later Vedic period was an era of transition. The civilization was peeling off its cover and entering into a new phase that led to its end. Society was controlled by feudal aspirations and the proletariat, basically the sudras (low caste), were exploited on the basis of their origin and social status.

However, racism witnessed its crudest form during the imperialism. French, Portuguese, and British mainly controlled the power and formed colonies, and advocated slavery. Slavery designed a mind set of superiority among the exploiters. Still, few races are carrying this attitude and practising in present socio-political environment.

Slave Mode of Production

As it is said earlier that the seeds of racism was sowed when man learned to produce food. The control over production resulted in clashes. Society was divided. Parties or groups were formed. As groups prospered, the need for a ruler was also felt. Since the concept of ruler and ruled formed, also formed slavery.

Slavery, the mother of neo-racism, was the first and the crudest form of exploitation. It is believed that it existed among almost all the people. If we consider history through the spectacles of Economics, the whole struggle of classes would summarize to the production and the surplus product. The walls erected between the exploiters and the exploited were completely based on the production of agriculture.

The Epilogue

“Injustice anywhere is the threat to justice everywhere.”

Martin Luther King said these words during confronting the equal rights to the African-Americans who were denounced of basic rights. A great amount of time has passed since the civil war era, world has seen major changes. The post 9/11 world has been changed a lot in manner of political, economic and social advancements, but still the African-Americans in USA, Dalits in India, and minorities everywhere are not being treated equally. The lust to control power and the greed to snatch bread from hands is slowly turning the society into a hot gyeser. The holes are getting deeper and sometimes leak in form of the deaths of marginalized like Taylor.

Racism can never be eradicated in a fraction of time. Its roots are deep, ancient and thick. We just need to change our mindsets. We must discourage inequality. We don’t need Apartheid, we need a global village, a place equal to everyone.