Being Woman, Being Black: Kerala Chief Secretary Speaks Out Against Discrimination
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala: Sharing her struggles due to the alleged discrimination based on colour, Kerala Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan on Tuesday shared an open Facebook post explaining her pain sparking discussions concerning the issue.
Suggesting that color and gender-based discrimination still persists in society, the top bureaucrat explained how her complexion affected right from her childhood. “Heard an interesting comment yesterday on my stewardship as chief secretary – that it is as black as my husband’s was white,” Mrs Muraleedharan wrote on her post, pointing out her recent encounter with colour bias while asserting that she owns her blackness.
“Why did I want to call this particular one out? I was hurt, yes,” Muraleedharan said. The bureaucrat who succeeded her husband, Dr V Venu, for the post of Kerala chief secretary, said her administration and supervision were compared with that of her husband’s by a person’s comment that “it is as black as my husband’s was white”.
Muraleedharan says she first deleted her initial post as she got confused when a flurry of comments started flowing in, stating that she reposted it after some of her well-wishers suggested that it should be discussed in public.
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Sarada describes the last seven months were a relentless parade of comparisons with her predecessor for her, adding that she had become quite inured. “It was about being labeled black (with that quiet subtext of being a woman), as if that were something to be desperately ashamed of,” Muraleedharan penned. She noted that for many people black is as it denotes not just black the color, but it is not being good, malaise, the cold despotism and the heart of darkness.
The Chief Secretary further went on to question why black is being vilified, adding that blackness is the all-pervasive truth of the universe. She says black can absorb anything and it is the most powerful pulse of energy known to humankind. “It is the color that works on everyone, the dress code for office, the luster of evening wear, the essence of kajol, the promise of rain,” she wrote.
However, Muraleedharan recalls how she felt like a lesser person because of being dark-skinned as a child. She says as a four-year-old, she even asked her mother if she could put her back in the tomb and bring her out all white and pretty. The top government official then admits that she lived for over 50 years buried under that narrative of not being a color that was good enough, without seeing beauty or value in black. She says she was fascinated by fair skin, fair minds, and all that was fair and good and wholesome.
Notably, at the end of her note, Muraleedharan boasted about how her children, who gloried in their black heritage, kept finding beauty she could not find. She says her children taught her that black was awesome, helping her see its beauty.
“That black is beautiful. That black is gorgeous. That I dig black,” Muraleedharan concluded her post.
Many people in the comment section asserted that black is beautiful and a simple of fight, while some wondered why a person who has fought against challenges in her IAS journey to the top of the civil service is “carried away by a petite comment of an absurd mind.” The chief secreatary replied, “so speaks privilege.”
Notably, the Facebook post has sparked a discussion on still prevailing colour-based discrimination in society. Several people shared the chief secretary’s post, including Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, V D Satheesan, admitting the need to discuss such issues. Salute dear Sarada Muraleedharan. Every word you have written is heart-touching. It deserves to be discussed. “I, too, had a dark-skinned mother,” he wrote.
