Legendary Black Men/Women and Journey in the Path of Equality

               One of the qualities which has been deeply ingrained within myself is the pledge for equality and to oversee a society which treats everyone equally, by negating everything one gains by virtue of his birth. I never want to differentiate anyone by means of what he inherited by birth. I never pledge allegiance to one group, or I don’t work for a group. I would be very happy to see persons from different backgrounds – small, weak, marginalized etc. doing wonders in their lives. When everyone feels motivated, inspired to rise to the top; break the social barriers and reach the higher echelons, then we will be looked up as a just and equal society. I always like to have people reaching the highest offices from the lowest social strata. This is simply because, all men and women are born intrinsically equal; we all have the same spirit, same soul within each one of us but disillusioned, masked by different outward characteristics. When the veil is lifted, everyone is equal before the God. Attaining equality is the true indicator of progress of the nations and not discrimination and differentiation.

               The statue of Equality, built in Hyderabad should be a reminding force to create a just, equal society where everyone gets all the support required to succeed in their lives irrespective of birth credentials. The statue of Equality is the statue of saint Sri Ramanuja who is one such human manifestation to light the path of equality and bhakthi. He dedicated entire life to reformism and left no stone unturned in dispelling darkness from the minds and lives of people. Seeing His compassion towards the oppressed, His delighted guru honored him with the coveted title “ Em-perum- anar” - you are ahead of us. Sri Ramanuja named subjugated classes -Born Divine.

               It would not be wrong to acclaim Him as a legendary personality who revolted against the inhuman practices inflicted on the less privileged. He gave the secretly guarded mantra to the oppressed and allowed them to enter temples at a time when it was strictly forbidden. He was a great visionary and free thinker, who revived society on the grounds of universal salvation through Bhakti, compassion, humility, equality, and mutual respect. He spread the Divine message of God to the common man, irrespective of caste, gender, or creed. The Sri Vaishnava Sampradaya is a genius system designed as a dissoluble tie by Ramanujacharya to unite the heterogeneous population of the universe through mutual respect, equality and thereby, the whole world in one spiritual bond. The social philosophy of Ramanujacharya was designed to cross the boundary of the caste system and embrace the whole of humanity. He has thus been acclaimed as a great religious and social genius and has been rightly given the title “Bhagwad”.

        While this is the brief about the person adorning as the Statue of Equality, the coming up of this statue during our time is truly a great projection of the change churning out in the society. Two of the great visible examples of the time are there before us. Shri Ramnath Kovind, who is a dalit, Schedule Caste lawyer became the 14th President of India and rendered the duties with utmost professionalism. He was succeeded by Droupadi Murmu, a Schedule Tribe teacher, who went on to become the first President of India from a tribal community. Everyone should be extremely elated that persons from SC/ST strata went on to become the first citizens of the country. These two live examples of these times are enough to stir anyone to desire, aspire and reach wherever their dreams takes them irrespective of the innumerable virtual barriers with respect to caste, creed, race, religion etc. This is a true picture of equality one can see and the equality in action in the society which is represented by the emergence of the statue for the same.

           Once again, I am all for equality and always did everything in my prowess to enable the underprivileged, weaker sections of the society. Since a decade or more, I have been teaching the students from tribal communities and feel extremely happy to impart anything of value to them and spend time with those students. I have a lot of compassion for the weaker sections and teach the kids in Public schools for their empowerment, enablement and upliftment. Measures like these should invigorate these people to look beyond the masked veils and drive them to achieve anything in an equal society. These are the obstacles, blockades and barriers in the society which everyone needs to break for an equitable, fair and impartial environment. More than the visible differentiators, the barriers act at the sub-conscious levels which need to be cleared out. It requires practice, acceptance, and action to eliminate these subconscious biases. For eg. How many of us will not look down on a woman, a ST, someone from humble belongings but encourage her to scale higher positions. Let us overcome these inherent biases, grow ourselves and create an inclusive world.

                 Talking about the growth, if there is any positive indicator for evolution in the U.S., it is the upliftment of Blacks in U.S. I am presently residing in U.S. where African-Americans were originally brought as slaves. They are kind of untouchables in India but their evolution is the real parallel to the evolution of the most powerful nation in the world. The secret lies in the fact that when you want to grow and become rich, powerful; empower the weaker sections of the society. I am living in the state of Illinois, the land of Lincoln, who foresaw it more than 150 years ago. His greatest achievements are – successfully waged a political struggle and civil war that preserved the Union, ended slavery, and created the possibility of civil and social freedom for African-Americans. The Emancipation Proclamation, issued on New Year's Day, 1863, freed all the slaves in the states. He used the high office and powers to create the most remarkable and rewarding changes in society. Who must have assumed that after 150 years, there will come a first Black President from this very land.

                 The civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King Jr is another iconic milestone of this country. The civil rights movement was a struggle for social justice that took place mainly during the 1950s and 1960s for Black Americans to gain equal rights under the law in the United States. The country evolved on the basis of these many great men who laid their lives on duty to bring equity for all the people. Today, Chicago, Illinois and all other states in U.S.A are known for legendary black men who came to life from the dark days of slavery by virtue of emancipation, struggle to carve out a better world. It is a sheer coincidence that these legendary black men and women have been helping me out for the past few years and are continuing doing so. No one must have helped more than these people who preserve the level of this great field provided by the city, state. We are relishing the fruits from the trees sown by greats of yesteryears and there is a need to pass on these fruits to many successive generations. The best way is to plant a tree by struggling for equality and inclusion of everyone to create a story like mine.

             I will come up with more on these legendary black men and women of the U.S.A in a future post. Their upliftment, growth is equally important to me and everyone living in the U.S.A. as that of any marginalized section back in India. I use this medium to call for more meaningful ways to engage men and women of color in this country till they feel better about themselves and their lives. A person of color doing great things and holding the highest offices is always a happy moment, just like those from lower social strata assuming office of President in India.