UNTOUCHABLES

There is something missing here. It is in what isn't said in the comments. It is in the picture.

The caste system of India has five levels. The Untouchables are at the bottom. So deep is their concept of themselves, as I understand it, so embedded into their minds their lack of worth only a few have risen above their lowly status for the centuries India has revered their caste system. We learned this in elementary school. And now we are looking at a photograph that tells the story and makes the words we've read, and the news stories we've heard have a body to attach meaning to. Now I understand better. These people mean nothing to the other castes. The Untouchables are the shit carriers, and get the shit beaten out of them leisurely by those who don't give a shit about them. The Untouchables have to carry shit, and eat shit to make a shitty life in the worst shit India has to offer. Now that's some shit.

The picture of an upper caste man brutally beating an Untouchable woman in public asks me, "What am I gonna do about this? What can I do?? I don't like seeing women beaten, but if a whole culture, an ancient culture sees this as their norm, and acceptable what can an outsider do? What help do the activists in India need from Westerners? - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories