Back in the ’80s, we Indians didn’t really care about racism. Well, it’s not so much like we didn’t care – more like we didn’t really know much about racial slurs that originated from the west. That is when people like Preeti Sagar came up with Nursery Rhymes records that had songs like ’10 Little Nigger Boys’.
No, seriously. Look at this.
In her defence, she didn’t write it. The rhyme was actually based on a 19th century poem titled ‘Ten Little Niggers’ possibly written by Frank J. Green in America.
Here’s the original cover of the rhyme book.
Later, around the year 2000, T-Series, the record company that owned the rights to Preeti Sagar’s records, decided to update their collection to tap into the VCD market. That’s when then-model and now of Comedy Circus fame celebrity, Purbi Joshi was roped in to be the face of the poems.
And then this happened. 16 years later, this video found it’s way to the front page of r/videos on Reddit.
Now, this might not bother you if you’re blatantly ignorant about the context behind the use of the word ‘nigger’, or if you’re a wannabe ‘rapper’ who thinks it’s cool to introduce some racism into their daily vocabulary, you know, to ‘up the street cred’. But please, oh please people, it’s not cool to say ‘nigger’. Read up on it, lest you end up on Reddit’s r/videos page being accused of being racist.