10 hours ago
Social media flooded with racist comments after Air India crash, but Indians are speaking out
Warning: This story contains details that some readers may find distressing.
In the wake of the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad that killed 241 people, social media was flooded with racist comments mocking the victims.
Comment sections on news stories about the crash were filled with stereotypes and caricatures about the passengers being Uber drivers, delivering butter chicken and running 7-Elevens.
"It was the curry chicken to blame."
"The pilot just had some Indian street food."
For Pree Shah, in New York City, the racism that confronted her after the plane crash was "shocking" and "difficult to stomach".
"One of my family friends went to the medical college where the plane crashed," Ms Shah told the ABC.
"It's personal for some of us and hits close to home."
The 25-year-old said instead of being sensitive and compassionate, people online were knocking down "an already emotionally hurt community".
"There is no acceptable time for racism but this especially feels like a 'read the room' moment," Ms Shah said.
Uber, the smell of Indians, Indian food, and Indians being "scammers".
Varsha Yajman from Sydney has seen "the same four jokes" play out online time after time.
Ms Yajman said she believed an increase in online hostility towards the Indian community was related to the growing intolerance to immigrants in the United States following Donald Trump's re-election.
"The US's current ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] method feels like a reflection of what a lot of people across the world want," the 22-year-old said.
Both Ms Yajman and Ms Shah said the comments perpetuated harmful stereotypes about Indians.
"People are commenting jokes about Indians being scammers, smelly and useless," Ms Shah said.
And this, she said, only just scratched the surface.
Some of the comments went much further than racist stereotypes and wished actual harm to Indians.
"Thank god there will be less immigrants in England. This just in: few houses are up for rent," one user commented on a Facebook post.
The sheer volume of racist comments against Indians online is not new.
It was an ongoing phenomenon in countries like Australia, the US and Canada, said Sukhmani Khorana, an associate professor in media and migration at the University of New South Wales.
Dr Khorana said those posting the comments were "harking back to orientalist and colonial stereotypes".
"They are dehumanising Indians by saying the loss of a couple of hundred doesn't matter, given there are so many around the world," she said.
Only one passenger on board the London-bound jet survived the crash.
And yet, many online mocked his survival, some even questioning if it was all fake.
The majority of the racist comments Dr Khorana read were posted on Facebook and X.
"They have been reported, but still not taken down," she said.
She said this was the result of social media companies failing to put safeguards in place.
"We need more transparency around who is deciding what 'community standards' are and how review decisions are made," she said.
In January, the Center For The Study Of Organized Hate (CSOH) in Washington DC published a study on anti-Indian hate on X.
It found that X, under the ownership of Elon Musk and following the administration of Donald Trump, saw an "unprecedented outpouring of anti-Indian racist hatred against Indians".
The ABC contacted Meta and X for comment.
Dr Khorana said racism against Indians and South Asians needed more attention from legacy media, social media companies and online safety regulators.
"Mainstream media need to do better with article headlines and comment moderation," she said.
At the crux of this issue, Dr Khorana said, people must remind one another that "we are all human".
"It's important to treat someone as human," she said.
"Race is a socio-historical construct, yet racism arises precisely because it is considered a biological and fixed difference which becomes the basis for dehumanisation."
