Key Points
Kerala Chief Secretary challenges body shaming with profound social media post
Receives widespread support from political leaders
Reflects on personal journey of self-acceptance
Highlights systemic colorism and racial prejudices
Her Facebook post came on Tuesday evening where she said, "Heard an interesting comment yesterday on my stewardship as Chief Secretary - that it is as black as my husband's was white. Hmmm... I need to own my blackness. This is a post I made today morning, and then deleted because I was flustered by the flurry of responses. I am reposting it because certain well wishers said that there were things there that needed to be discussed. I agree. So here goes, once again. Why did I want to call this particular one out? I was hurt, yes. But then these last seven months have been a relentless parade of comparisons with my predecessor, and I have become quite inured. It was about being labelled black (with that quiet sub text of being woman), as if that were something to be desperately ashamed of."
The Facebook post further reads: "Black is as black does. Not just black the colour, but black the ne'er do good, black the malaise, the cold despotism, the heart of darkness. But why should black be vilified? Black is the all pervasive truth of the universe. Black is that which can absorb anything, the most powerful pulse of energy known to humankind. It is the colour that works on everyone, the dress code for office, the lustre of evening wear, the essence of kajol, the promise of rain. As a four year old I apparently asked my mother whether she could put me back in her womb and bring me out again, all white and pretty. I have lived for over 50 years buried under that narrative of not being a colour that was good enough. And buying into that narrative. Of not seeing beauty or value in black. Of being fascinated by fair skin. And fair minds, and all that was fair and good and wholesome. And of feeling that I was a lesser person for not being that -- which had to be compensated somehow. Till my children. Who gloried in their black heritage. Who kept finding beauty where I noticed none. Who thought that black was awesome. Who helped me see. That black is beautiful. That black is gorgeousness. That I dig black."
On Wednesday, Chief Secretary Muraleedharan said that first she posted it and then she withdrew it, but when her husband V. Venu, the previous Chief Secretary from whom she took over, asked her to stay strong so she reposted it.
"I do get huge support from my children who are everything to me and they are my source of strength and I rely on them for everything," she added.
However, she is silent on who made this remark against her.
Among those who came to her support was the Kerala Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan, former State Congress President K. Muraleedharan, Ramesh Chennithala and numerous others.
Incidentally, Chief Secretary Muraleedharan is set to retire next month when this controversy surfaced.
