America is going through a rough phase right now with people taking the streets to protest against the systematic racism, which has claimed thousands of lives over the years. Most recently, that of George Floyd.
Now, as the US fights against the age-old beliefs and an entire system hell bent on depriving a section of people of their dignity and the freedom of life, a debate has sparked in India.
Why are our celebs being hypocrites? And there are two narratives. First being, how are they finding the courage to support an anti racism movement when they have endorsed skin whitening creams in the past?
Many A-listers have been a part of ads that have endorsed brands which portray dark skin as something that needs to be ‘fixed’. Here are some examples.
Now this doesn’t make sense. You can’t support a community while blatantly saying that their skin colour is unwanted/inferior..
But a part of the problem is also ‘selective wokeness’, a phrase recently coined for people who speak against injustices, but according to their convenience.
So, you will find them talking about world issues, where stakes are lower and there isn’t much to lose. However, when it comes to problems at home, atrocities on the people of their own country, they choose to remain silent. For instance:
Karan Johar, Tiger Shroff, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Ravir Shorey had no comments when students in Jamila Milia were being hit inside the libraries, when houses were being burnt in Delhi riots and when people were being murdered on the streets.