justice in action

Each day keeps getting more and more interesting. Yesterday I spent all morning at the Dalit Resource Center (DRC), which works to empower the Dalit (outcaste) community and has the ambitious goal of eradicating the caste system. Today I visited the Social Action Center, which does community organizing with various labor groups. Plus, I've also been getting to visit with a lot of the students, who are quite friendly. And to top it off, it's been raining, so even the temperature is bearable!

Although untouchability was "outlawed" by the Indian constitution decades ago, like racism there are some things that exist in people's hearts and minds that cannot be legislated away. Many upper caste people still believe that contact with a Dalit is polluting, and justify harsh treatment of Dalits in order to maintain their own "purity."

The DRC has lots of approaches to improving the situation of the untouchables, including those you would expect, like legal advising, advocating with the government for better laws, educations and trainings, etc... But they also have a strong focus on promoting Dalit arts and culture as a means of liberation. This fits with some of the readings I recently did on racism, particularly in the context of colonization and southern Africa, where many of the indigenous cultures were wiped out. If a community can take pride in its arts and culture, then its people have more dignity and a strong identity of their own. They don't feel the need to supress their own culture and try to fit in with those who are trying to dominate them. So, the DRC organizes cultural festivals where te Dalits can display their own forms of folk music, dance, and drama with pride.

One particular symbol of the Dalit community is a type of drum called a pariya. For many upper caste persons, instruments made of leather such as drums are polluting, so they refuse to play them. The director of the DRC told me that he encourages people of all castes to beat these drums as a sign that they are liberated from the caste system. The goal of the center is not to uplift just the Dalit community, in order for them to be in a position to then dominate others, but instead to free all persons, of all castes, from the need for social hierarchies.