Meghalaya woman faces racial abuse in Delhi: 'Fellow Indians made me feel like I don’t belong here'
In the video, the woman expressed her sadness, saying that what hurt her most was being made to feel alien in her own country.
A Northeastern woman recently took to social media to call out the racism she faced in Delhi after being subjected to two separate incidents of racial abuse in a single day. The woman from Meghalaya, who goes by the username @__insolitude on Instagram, shared that she was targeted twice in one day, first in Kamla Nagar and later inside a metro station.
“I went to Kamla Nagar for some work. I was walking, and then there was a bunch of grown-up men, around three or four. They were sitting on their scooty, and as I was passing by, one man said, 'Seng chong.' As soon as I heard it, I turned back and looked at him, and then all of them started to laugh. My brain couldn’t process what I just heard, and they were looking at me and laughing. Still, I kept quiet and walked to the shop,” she shared.
Still shaken, she decided to stay quiet and continue with her errands. But minutes later, while taking the metro, another man hurled a racist slur at her, calling her “Ching Chong China.” “That was the second time it happened in one day. I just stared at him and didn’t say a word,” she said.
The woman expressed her sadness, saying that what hurt her most was being made to feel alien in her own country. “I’ve been to different countries, but they never made me feel like I don’t belong there, I am not welcomed there. But today in my own country, fellow Indians made me feel like I don’t belong here,” she said.
“It breaks my heart. My only mistake is that I am born in India and I look like this, and I don’t look like the rest of the Indians. They make fun of me and they laugh at me just because I look like this,” she continued.
In the caption of the post, the woman wrote, “To the guys in Delhi who thought ‘Ching Chong China’ was a joke — you didn’t just insult me. You insulted every person who’s ever felt ‘othered’ in their own country. India is diverse. Our faces, our languages, our cultures — all valid. You don’t get to define who belongs and who doesn’t.”
“I cried today tomorrow it could be you or it could be worse than what I experienced. Let it be a reminder: racism thrives in silence. I will not be silent And I prefer to end this Racism with “Love not Revenge” because that’s what My parents have taught me,” she added.
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Social media reactions
The video has struck a chord online, with many expressing anger and solidarity.
“As a fellow Indian I'm ashamed and downright disturbed as to how common this blatant racism has become,” one user wrote.
“I’m deeply sorry you had to endure such discrimination in our nation’s capital. I hope people will gain some compassion and understanding, but with each passing day, these stories of shameless individuals who mock others, believing it makes them superior, scream that change is far from coming,” commented another.
“The racism we face in our own country is unmatched and those who tell us to ignore it are the first to cry when they’re mocked abroad,” said a third user.
(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)
