The time I get salty...

Let's talk stereotypes, racism, and growing up brown.

Stereotypes.

When I was little my family sat around the TV and watched the Simpsons together. You know the show with the weird yellow characters? That show was the first time I saw another brown person on TV. You know who I'm talking about; you can already hear his famous line now. "Thank you, come again". Apu. Apu with his doting Indian wife and multiple children. Apu who owns the local supermarket and lives in a cheap apartment building. Apu was the only other brown person on television at the time, and here is the foundation for brown stereotypes. Apu's accent became the "Indian Accent," and it really isn't a flattering nor accurate accent. Do you know why? Because Apu is voiced by Hank Azaria, born Henry Albert Azaria in Queens. He's literally the epitome of whiteness (I am not saying "white" is bad, I'm just saying this guy is white, not brown, hence an inaccurate representation of brown people).

Yes, I know Simpson's is a comedy show and should be taken lightly, but the media has a HUGE impact on daily life, and Apu was definitely one of them. Hey, growing up, even I thought brown people talked liked that, even attempting to imitate it as some points. That was until I realized I was imitating a man mocking an accent. Then, I started listening to people. Not just their words but the way they spoke it, and it was beautiful. We gush over how British or Australian accents are, but some of the brown accents I have heard are beautiful. They sound comforting and welcoming, not harsh and high-pitched. They're so beautiful that, just like the way people attempt to have a British accent, I lowkey (or extremely highkey...) attempted to copy the way my brown counterpart spoke. It is just so sophisticated.

When people think about brown kids, the next thing they think about is smell. Apparently we smell bad, all of us. Some people say we smell like "curry" (fun fact: I didn't know what curry was for a long time, until I went to a Thai restaurant). Every single brown person smells like curry. I'm not saying that brown people don't smell bad, just not the majority. Every ethnicity has their smelly people. In short, everyone smells bad, and we should just make deodorant free. It'll save a lot of nostrils.

When Osama Bin Laden died, there was a huge wave of racist comments made at every brown kid in my grade. The problem other than racist comments being a bad idea? The comments were made towards the Hindu kids as well as the Muslim kids. I mean, if you're gonna be racist, don't be stupid. Just because I am brown does not mean I am a terrorist. Just because I have a higher account of melanin in my skin tone does not make me the niece of Osama Bin Laden. Also, while I'm at it, no, I am not related to the other brown kids in my class, and no, I will not date the other brown boy in our class because he is brown too. Please stop.

If you've noticed I tried to steer clear of using "Indian" or "Pakistani" to describe people. That's because once you're in America, all that matters is if you know that "chai tea" and "naan bread" are extremely redundant. There really is not enmity. I mean, some of my best friends are Indian, but their origin country doesn't matter to me because they still have a very similar culture to mine. They are just brown people. Also, people are gonna assume you're Indian anyways no matter how many times you try to explain to them you're not. (Some people don't know that Pakistan is even a country, so its 100x easier to be Indian, even though you can't go to India because the embassy won't give you visa- yeah, I'm still salty). So, here the brown community really has only one thing holding us all together: Shahrukh Khan. (Even if you hate him, you gotta love him).

Disclaimer: All bets are off when cricket is involved. Then, Pakistan is better, and no one can fight that. Or I'll fight you, I may be 5FT and ½, but I can take you.

Alright this post was strange and all over the place, but I hope you learned something new and opened your mind a little bit. Remember, it's all about accepting others and looking for similarities rather than differences. We all are the same on the inside. We all bleed red. (Unless, you don't. In that case, you might wanna see a doctor. I don't think that's normal)