{"id":346,"date":"2025-07-01T10:29:06","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T10:29:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inkofimpact.com\/?page_id=346"},"modified":"2025-07-01T10:29:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T10:29:06","slug":"not-welcome-here","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/inkofimpact.com\/?page_id=346","title":{"rendered":"Not Welcome Here"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A Northeast Indian Woman\u2019s Battle Against Racism in Her Own Country<\/em>
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When Lily moved from Imphal to Bangalore to pursue a degree in fashion design, she believed she was stepping into a more modern, open-minded world. Instead, she found herself othered<\/strong>, stereotyped<\/strong>, and constantly reminded that even within India, she was seen as a foreigner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI speak Hindi, I carry an Aadhaar card, I vote. But people still ask me if I\u2019m from China,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her face didn’t fit their idea of \u201cIndian,\u201d so they mocked her accent, questioned her nationality, and reduced her identity to a racial slur\u2014\u201cchinki.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Discrimination in Broad Daylight<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

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It began with the stares\u2014long, uncomfortable, loaded with judgment. Then came the comments: \u201cDo you eat snakes?\u201d \u201cYou people are easy, right?\u201d Even auto drivers and landlords refused her service, saying things like, \u201cNortheast wale ajeeb hote hain\u201d (People from the Northeast are strange).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once, while shopping in a local market, she was told she should carry a passport if she wanted to live in \u201csomeone else\u2019s country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Racism Has Many Faces<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

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The discrimination wasn\u2019t just verbal\u2014it was systemic. Her college offered zero cultural inclusion<\/strong>, professors often ignored racist remarks made by other students, and job recruiters dismissed her with polite disinterest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When COVID-19 struck, it got worse. She was accused of \u201cbringing the virus from China.\u201d Strangers would yell \u201cCorona!\u201d when she walked by. The fear of violence became real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIt wasn\u2019t just ignorance\u2014it was hate,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Finding Community and Courage<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Isolated but determined, Lily joined forces with other students from the Northeast. They created a digital collective called \u201cWe Belong Here\u201d<\/strong>, where people shared their experiences of racial discrimination, city by city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The platform quickly gained traction, drawing attention from national media. Lily also started speaking at diversity seminars, writing columns, and engaging in campus policy reform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Her message was clear: \u201cWe are not guests. We are not outsiders. We are Indian.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Her Fight Continues<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

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Now 25, Lily works as a creative designer in Delhi and actively consults with student groups across the country to build safer, more inclusive campuses for Northeastern youth. She also mentors young women who move out of the region for work or education, helping them navigate urban hostility with confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI don\u2019t want sympathy. I want safety. I want representation. I want us to be seen beyond our eyes and our accents,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Why Lily\u2019s Story Must Be Heard<\/strong>
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Racism within India is often dismissed as ignorance or casual prejudice, but its effects are long-lasting and damaging. For thousands from the Northeast, every metro city is a new battleground\u2014for belonging, for dignity, and for basic respect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lily\u2019s story is not just about racism\u2014it\u2019s about reclaiming identity in a country that refuses to fully accept its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At Ink of Impact, we believe the fight for social justice must include confronting the racism that hides behind jokes, stares, and slurs. Stories like Lily\u2019s are not rare. That\u2019s exactly why they must be told.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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A Northeast Indian Woman\u2019s Battle Against Racism in Her Own Country When Lily moved from Imphal to Bangalore to pursue a degree in fashion design, she believed she was stepping into a more modern, open-minded world. Instead, she found herself othered, stereotyped, and constantly reminded that even within India, she was seen as a foreigner. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-346","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inkofimpact.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inkofimpact.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inkofimpact.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inkofimpact.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inkofimpact.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=346"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/inkofimpact.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":347,"href":"https:\/\/inkofimpact.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/346\/revisions\/347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inkofimpact.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}