Storytelling Our Most Potent Superpower
i grew up in two cultures
american and south asian
both have taught me some key lessons
the seminal one
they’re my people and they’re others
my people look like me
my people speak like me my people live
their lives like me
my people are citizens like me
i was born in america which makes me
american
my parents from india which makes some
claim i’m indian
i wear this turban sport this beard
which identifies me as somebody who
follows the sikh religion
to many who do not know that religion
they claim to know my origin story
better than i do
and
as a teenager
i got to see my birth certificate for
the first time while getting my password
renewed
and i got to notice my race for the
first time
according to the department of human
services in washington dc i’m white
i know what all of you thinking he’s not
white
[Music]
apparently
white people have this skin color
and black people have the skin color
race is one of the most
incredible and also human-made stories
we live in this world
and one of those incredible stories
is a story of black and white people
a story
that has been used to subjugate
kill
enslave millions of people across
centuries
this is the power of stories behind
labels and words we live by every day
stories
created out of our perceived differences
we are falling prey
to the plots of these stories
including me
as a young boy
i spent part of my childhood in india
with my parents
and i remember
some of my childhood friends
referring to africans as hapshis
hapshi in my native tongue punjabi means
monkey
i knew this was not true but i did not
correct my friends
my loved ones and family to this day
refer to babies as being beautiful
with special emphasis on their lighter
skin tone
my father
took out matrimonial ads for me without
me knowing about them in newspapers
seeking fair-skinned women for me
years later as an adult i was house
hunting in new york city
with my british born and bred wife who
by the way i found on my own
i confided in her
that i did not want to live in
predominantly black neighborhoods
because i associated those neighborhoods
with being unsafe
drug-prone and less educated
my wife did not see black people with
the same lands
as providence would have it we ended up
finding our first home in harlem
not because i overcame my stereotypes
but because we could afford that home
within our means
we live a few blocks from the home of
the famed and beloved early
20th century american writer ralph
ellison
his classic work is titled invisible man
i read this book in sophomore year in
college while i was going through an
intense identity crisis of my own
i’m an american
but everybody seemed to stare at me
strangers took liberty to call me names
genie
clown
some even laughed on my face
i felt like an outsider at ho
so i took off my turban
cut off my unshorn hair
shaved off my beard and i spent the next
decade trying to find my place in
america
pursuing dreams
navigating different identities
trying to fit in
to become invisible
eventually i found my place after 10
years
i chose for the first time in my life
to follow that religion i was born into
the sikh religion
that i finally understood
ask you to stand out for values it
cherishes
equality
freedom and justice
by now i was living
a few miles north
and working three miles north of new
york city
the month was august
the year was 2001.
we all know what happened on september
the 11th 2001.
it was a tragedy that was to have a
global impact
at home
it was one of our most vulnerable of
moments
we felt grief
anger
anxiety
patriotism
and a sense of retribution
so we went to wars
abroad and here at home
turbines
beards
and darker skin became new symbols of
anti-americanism
brown people
from arab
jewish
muslim
sikh
christian hindu and hispanic backgrounds
became targets of bigotry and
intolerance
some like myself
have been told repeatedly for the last
20 years my fellow americans
go back home
i’ve been called many many names
in those 20 years that changed by the
news cycle
my first response to this violence and
actions and words
is anger and frustration a lot of it
but deep inside i could relate to the
feeling of fellow americans who see in
me
the other
i spent part of my childhood
in india with my parents
and
there was a political conflict raging on
between the sick ethnic minority and the
hindu majority state
thousands were killed
on october 31 1984
following the assassination of the
indian prime minister by two sikh
bodyguards
a genocidal killing spree spread across
cities in india
six were hunted by their turbans and
long hair
countless were burnt alive
we had a mob that came to our home
on november 1st 1984.
we were some of the lucky ones
to survive and escape death that day
in the aftermath of this genocidal
massacre
i saw news headlines
announcing the killing of
hindus
at the hands of sikh militants
as a young boy
i relished in the killing of
fellow innocent humans
i realized my potential
as a young boy
to justify the pain and suffering of
those
i labeled as other
in the aftermath of
the attacks of 9 11 weeks months years
later
this realization was my guide
six
and fellow brown americans
were assaulted
arrested
driven off highways and killed by fellow
americans
just for looking like an outsider
in moments of fear
uncertainty and vulnerability
we accentuate
the otherness of fellow humans
we see them as
unidimensional characters
not one of us foreigners
maybe even the enemy
what we do in these tender moments of
vulnerability
is what gets to define us
and our character
it’s a struggle
it requires us to
reflect
and look in the mirror every day
and take stock of our actions
it takes courage
ten years ago
i had a vision of a new american
superhero
one with a turban and beard
taking on intolerance and bigotry
i illustrated this superhero
as captain america
fiona abudh
a photographer based in new york city
spent almost a year trying to convince
me to don the uniform of captain america
i’m skinny as you can see
i’ve been a perpetual outsider in the
eyes of many i did not want to stand out
any more
than i already do
on a beautiful summer day in june 2013
i stepped out as captain america on the
streets of new york city
i was nervous
sweaty palms
not knowing how fellow
americans were going to receive me
it turned out to be one of the most
amazing days or dare i say mission of my
life
i got hugs from strangers
nypd officers took photos of me
i got access to an fdny truck
i even
got invited to a stranger’s wedding
this is the power
of fictional stories
one moment stands out from that day
i was posing by this rock in central
park
and this young boy middle schooler
he saw me silently for 10 minutes
and he finally breaks the silence and
goes
what are you doing
i’m captain america for the day
no you’re not
why not
because you’re not white
my birth certificate would have been
great to work at in that moment
but i don’t carry that with me all the
time i should
so i told the kid
listen captain america is a fictional
character
he was created in 1941 we’re in the 21st
century captain of america can be black
hispanic and even with a turbine and
beard
he thought for a moment and goes
black yes hispanic maybe turban beards
now
this kid was being honest and authentic
he was transparent in his vulnerability
to pervasive stereotypes in american
culture i parted ways with him by
telling him look i’m not i’m not
offended by you or your words
but for the rest of your life you’re
going to have this image of me
skinny
glasses turban beard dressed up as
captain america which you will never be
able to voluntarily delete from your
head
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
this young american harbors the
potential
like you
me and everyone to let shallow
stereotypes
fictional narrative and lack of
awareness about each other’s stories
guide us into a world
witness to rampant bias prejudice and
racist acts
we need to create new stories that
reflect our uniqueness and differences
not in opposition to each other but as
dynamic ever-evolving selves working
towards a better version of who we are
the choice is ours every day
to manifest
our bias self
or
our superior self
thank you
[Music]
[Applause]