As a woman of color, I’m no stranger to dealing with racial micro-aggressions on an almost daily basis, from people pronouncing my name incorrectly to people touching my hair uninvited.

All of these behaviors are problematic and upsetting — and manifestations of white supremacy — but one of the micro-aggressions that really gets to me is when someone asks me, “Where are you from?” followed by, “No, where are you really from?”

I have been asked variations of this question more times than I can count, and after a while it starts to feel like the people asking this are actually saying, “You aren’t from here, and you don’t belong here because you’re not white.”

Being asked this repeatedly can be incredibly hurtful for people of color, but there are ways you can respond that will leave you feeling empowered.

In this video, I share three ways you can respond to questions about where you’re “really” from and some tips for people who want to ask about another person’s culture in an inclusive — and not racist — way.

Watch now!

The post What to do When People Keep Asking Where You’re *Really* From appeared first on Ritu Bhasin.

Whenever I do a keynote speech or a workshop, I always make a point of sharing a bit about myself, including the fact that I am a Sikh. I ensure that I use the correct pronunciation of Sikh, and so inevitably after my presentation someone will approach me to say something to the effect of, “OMG, I had no idea that I’ve been saying Sikh incorrectly all these years! How do you say it again?!”

In one of my previous videos, I talked about the frustration that those of us who have names that seem harder to pronounce — or put another way, aren’t “white sounding” — experience when white people in particular try to give us nicknames or change the pronunciation of our names to be easier for them (a manifestation of white supremacy, by the way).

But as BIPOC, our names aren’t the only words that get mispronounced. It also happens to the names of our cities, holidays, cultural practices, and even our faiths — hence the reason why “Sikh” and “Sikhism” continue to be mispronounced.

In this video, I share the correct pronunciation of my religion and why it’s so important that we, as Sikhs, reclaim the correct pronunciation in order to interrupt this racist micro-inequity.

Watch now!

The post Language Matters! Why I’m Reclaiming the Correct Pronunciation of Sikh appeared first on Ritu Bhasin.