jan 20, 2016: gave a talk at the women’s council of RIT meeting, followed by a screening of the first 20 minutes of A Thin Wall. in my talk i was able to question the “exotic” nature of the indian partition by bringing up a question i was asked by Carol White Llewellyn during an interview at RCTV. she had asked me how people seemed to be living in relative peace prior to partition, but once partition was announced everything descended into chaos and horror. how could such a “switch” happen? i was still thinking about that when i came across rose hamid, the woman who was ejected from a trump rally where she stood in silence, wearing a t-shirt that said: “salam, i come in peace.” in an interview with CNN she said that it was her sincere belief that if people get to know each other, one on one, they will stop being afraid, and will be able to get rid of all the ongoing hate in the world. she explained how people around her were quite lovely initially – they were sharing their popcorn with her and she had great conversations with them. but when trump began to speak, the crowd’s mentality changed. it was a vivid example of how hateful rhetoric can incite a crowd and (pretty quickly) create a dangerous mob. that’s how the switch happens.
