India

One of the first European colonies in Asia was British-controlled India. The British used their colonies to obtain abundant amounts of sugar, cotton, opium, tea, and spices to trade with other nations.

During the late 16th century, European powers began to notice the decline of the Mughal Empire. Taking advantage of the weakened state, the British East India Company invaded India. The Company Raj, or company rule in India, began in 1757 with a decisive British victory at Plassey’s Battle. However, their mismanagement of the colony led to the liquidation of the company in 1858. Control of India was then transferred to direct rule under the British crown.

Fabian Johanson*, a Carlmont student of Indian descent, explains that India was stripped of its culture and proud heritage by colonists. Johanson’s name has been changed in compliance with Carlmont Media’s anonymous sourcing policy.

According to Johanson, “They said, ‘Your language, and your culture and everything about your identity is disgusting because you have melanin. And ours is better because we speak English, and we worship a man in the sky whose name is Jesus Christ. And we also have no melanin, so therefore we are better than you.'”

The British’s predominantly fair skin and discrimination against darker skin tones set a stigma against Indians with darker features.

“Bollywood only casts people with lighter skin, and people with darker skin are usually the enemy of the show, or they’re just not cast all,” Johanson said. 

Being light-skinned is also the desired beauty standard, with makeup companies exclusively catering towards lighter-skinned people. 

“Makeup for lighter shades… offers bigger containers, but for darker shades, they’re smaller containers that are more expensive,” Johanson said.

Johanson has had personal experiences with colorism as well. 

“[My mother] grew up in one of those places that were a lot more whitewashed and a lot more racist than in other areas,” Johansen said. “I have darker skin than my mother, and from a young age, she was like, ‘Oh, your skin is wacky, we should make it white.’ That was kind of shoved down my throat.”

In addition to colorism, Johansen has also encountered racism at school.

“There was a kid in my sixth-grade history class who was weirdly racist towards other kids in the class and me,” Johanson said. “They saw a picture of Gandhi in our science classroom and said, ‘hey, you look like Gandhi, because you’re Indian.'”