Aza Y. Alam
Mar 21, 2021

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That is indeed telling. Quite apart from her appalling indifference to your feelings and clear discomfort at being regaled about her fathers' racism, I think that, as she did not pass the baton of conversation to you, in the 'give and take' of dialogue, demonstrates appalling arrogance and indifference.

In the spirit of sharing stories about parents, I would have told her about how my parents (from India) really considered Whites dirty. For my mother, it was a known fact in 1960's UK, that Whites often did not have a bathroom indoors, and so white women used perfume to cover their body odour. Their way of washing up crockery and cutlery was seen as another aspect of gross White dirtiness ! Such 'othering' perspectives about white people, could have been the slap in the face she needed to shut up about her father's racism.

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Aza Y. Alam

Exploring the entanglements of gender, race and class during this era of the Eurokleptocene. Let’s do better, one story, one learning, one comment at a time.