Kicked off Beantown Cast Out Caste Photo Campaign – a project for Porchfest
Thank you to everyone @ Porchfest who participated/wants to participate in our photo campaign to Cast Out Caste! I read these affirmations as a poem for this campaign during our Open Mic.
I am leading a photo shoot here in Beantown to support the campaign to end Untouchability and Caste.
But, let’s get real: for any form of discrimination to be wiped out, there must be zero tolerance for all forms of discrimination, be it gendered, sexually-oriented, religious, racial, classist – and those are just the hot topics. If you think deeply down, you will see all forms are insidiously connected to state control and personhood.
Your participation in this campaign will bring to light one of the oldest systems of oppression in human history: The Caste System. This is the subject matter of my friend Thenmozhi Soundararajan’s next documentary feature: TOUCHABLE: The Journey from Untouchable to Dalit – the trailer and her words on untouchability
There are 200,000,000+ folks in India that are marked from birth as outcastes and untouchables (that’s equivalent to the entire population of the US) – much of it akin to our Nations’ dark history with racial segregation and violence. This form of abject discrimination is not officially treated as a world human rights catastrophe!!!
Right now, even as I write, in India, every hour 3 Dalits are murdered, 1 is raped, and 1 Dalit house is torched, all because of the caste-label. But India is not held accountable for these atrocities on the global stage. In making this film, we are bringing light to the issue in hopes of fueling a global movement. YOU can be a part of this by participating in our PHOTO CAMPAIGN!
I am doing this to (1) Put and END to Untouchability and Caste (2) promote my friend Thenmozhi Soundararajan’s (director) fundraising efforts for their beautiful feature documentary called TOUCHABLE: The Journey from Untouchable to Dalit. Brave Film.
We are all touchable, no? Let’s help show it.
I will be taking photos of anyone interested in participating. Come find me. Basically, I will have you hold up one of these lovely posters, put on an intentional face and snap a pic. These picture portraits will be published on the Dalit Nation blog.
Thank you for your support ♥ Pampi