A2 RIHLA #4

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1. The National Geograohic article about "India's 'Untouchables' Face Violence, Discrimination" talks about how the Dalits, or the untouchables, are being discriminated against by people that are of higher ranking than they are. The reason they are being discriminated against is because people of the higher caste believe that the Dalits need to be put in their place. This caste system comes from Hinduism, a religion developed and practiced for more than 1,500 years.The caste system is simply a rank or status in which a person is born into. In class, we learned about Hinduism and its development. We learned that Dalits back then were shunned from society. In this article, we see that though laws have been passed, the violence and anger only seemed to rise.

2. If an outsider, such as I, were to learn about such atrocities currently going on in India, the reaction would be the same: shocked, appalled, and disgusted. The crimes committed against the Dalits were inhumane. which I believe, is the very reason why the Dalits were being treated that way, to prove that they are not humans. Crimes such as gang rape, murder, lynching, burning of the house, or parading someone naked are not done to such a large group of people around the world as much as they were done in the past. Anyone would come to believe that a war can errupt from the tension between castes.

3. The caste-system, discrimination, and segregation relate back to America's history with the African Americans. Back then, the African Americans were poorly treated even after they were deemed free by the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Abraham Lincoln. Many whites, mostly from the southern states, still felt hatred towards the African Americans due to their color. The whites believed that they were better people than the African Americans simply because they're white. The crimes the whites did to the African Americans are very similar to the crims being done to dalits. The higher caste people believe that they are also better than the Dalits simply for being born into a higher caste.

4. This article makes me think about the government in India. I understand that laws are being passed to try and protect the Dalits from any crime possible, but the police agree with the caste system; therefore, there is nothing being done to enforce the laws that would serve as protection for Dalits. What would happen to the Dalits if this continued on? Also, seeing that people of India strongly believe in such a system, wouldn't the high caste people's actions/atrocities affect where they will go in their next life? Wouldn't these crimes mean they will be demoted to a lower ranking, possibly becoming a dalit themselves? My question is whether or not the people of India take these into consideration. If anything, they are all violating the religion and system in which this problem arose from.

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