accents

Last year during the Halloween contest I remember a very interesting instance. Students were lined up in their costumes awaiting being announced, but there was one kid didn’t seem to have a costume on. When it was finally his turn to say what he was, he began talking in an Indian accent. The whole crowd laughed really hard and seemed to really enjoy his costume. He ended up being one of the winners.

The kid’s costume had caused some discussion around school. I had heard many people who didn’t think what he did was wrong, and praised him for how genius his idea was. But I also heard many people who thought what he did was stupid and racist. The clashing opinions caused arguments among my peers, to which one person in an argument asked me what I thought because I’m Indian.

I am staunchly against fake Indian accents in general. Personally, I do not find any humor in mimicking the way that someone talks. Doing an Indian accent for laughs is synonymous to mocking the people who actually speak that way, people who have learned English in addition to their own language. Indian people with accents do not deserve to be seen as funny simply because they speak differently from what is viewed as the ‘norm’.

But it’s interesting that mocking Indian accents is so prevalent in society, most notably in media. Some ‘humorous’ Indian accents I can recall are in Disney: Ravi from Jessie and Baljeet from Phineas and Ferb. Ravi and Baljeet are both seemingly normal characters (actually not entirely because they both follow the ‘smart asian’ stereotype but that’s another issue), other than their accents. Their accents are used as nothing more than a device to entertain the audience. In fact, the kid that plays Ravi in real life and the man that voices Baljeet have no accent at all. It’s crazy that Disney chooses to perpetuate the stereotype that Indian accents are funny to a young audience.

But the problem is not just with mocking Indian accents but rather mocking any non-european accent. When we hear a British or French accent, we think it is beautiful and elegant, while when we hear a Chinese or Nigerian accent, we think it is funny and unintelligent. The reason for this is the problem of racism that is so deeply ingrained to our society. It is most definitely racism that causes us to view the accents of white people more fondly in contrast to the accents of people of color.

I hope people realize the implications of making fun of accents and change how they view them in the future. But as of now, I don’t really see that happening, considering the amount of support and laughs that the kid had received during the contest.