{"id":812,"date":"2025-03-23T07:45:52","date_gmt":"2025-03-23T07:45:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/?p=812"},"modified":"2025-04-14T13:48:16","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T13:48:16","slug":"india-aleenas-on-our-algorithm-how-this-dalit-christian-is-using-her-words-to-talk-about-caste-and-oppression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/india-aleenas-on-our-algorithm-how-this-dalit-christian-is-using-her-words-to-talk-about-caste-and-oppression\/","title":{"rendered":"INDIA: Aleena\u2019s on our algorithm: How this Dalit Christian is using her words to talk about caste and oppression"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Aleena, 29, is well known in the world of Malayalam poetry\u2014her award-winning book, Silk Route, was published in 2021\u2014but since June last year she has been more than happy to offend, defend and needle people on the Internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The author moved to Kochi a few years ago from her village in remote Kerala for better opportunities as someone who uses words, but it\u2019s been in the last few months that she got a wave of followers on Instagram (@iseesomeletters)\u2014almost 37,000 now. \u201cI think I got a lot of hate from savarnas (privileged castes) in the past few months and maybe as a result I might have got followers too,\u201d says the writer in a phone chat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aleena\u2019s account stands out not only because of her in-your-face Dalit perspective but because she talks about the countless undocumented Dalit-Christian perspectives that seem to be lacking in intellectual discourse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of Aleena\u2019s videos are littered with hate comments, and her DMs, she says, are filled with casteist slurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One video is when she reads out an excerpt of Babasaheb Ambedkar\u2019s Annihilation of Caste: \u201cThe Hindus criticise the Mohammedans for having spread their religion by the use of the sword. They also ridicule Christianity on the score of the Inquisition. But really speaking, who is better and more worthy of our respect\u2014the Mohammedans and Christians who attempted to thrust down the throats of unwilling persons what they regarded as necessary for their salvation, or the Hindu who would not spread the light, who would endeavour to keep others in darkness, who would not consent to share his intellectual and social inheritance with those who are ready and willing to make it a part of their own make-up?\u201d The video has now close 5,000 likes, over 300 comments and more than a 1,000 shares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many in the comments accuse Aleena of being provoking and underhanded as she refused to share her opinion on it. \u201cI think it was pretty self-explanatory,\u201d
she says and gives out an exasperated laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we ask her about comments such as: \u201cOf course, if Ambedkar says it must be true. Now go collect your rice bag and milk powder,\u201d which is one of the comments that she replied to, she says, \u201cMy friends often tell me not to reply to the really nasty messages, or casteist slurs, but as someone who has grown up with these slurs I think I reply because I am trying to heal my inner child. I am speaking for all those times that I couldn\u2019t as a child because I did not have the vocabulary or because I was just a child. I am not cruel but I am definitely not going to get deterred by savarna bullies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her tongue-in-cheek humour coupled with an almost serene expression as she reads out similar quotes and poems, and makes reels that seem to send those who disagree with her over the edge, confesses, comes from her grandmother. As urbanisation reached Aleena\u2019s tribal village and many of her kith and kin were being bought out of their land, it was her grandmother who stood her ground and refused to sell it off. \u201cAs a child I remember people coming to our home and quoting her an amount for our land but she would say to them, \u2018Forget my land, I will not sell you a cup of my land\u2019s soil\u2019,\u201d says Aleena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With regard to what the Dalit-Christian-Bahujan-Adivasi is facing today, Aleena feels there are two very important stakeholders who need to step up. \u201cThe government must step in and let there be a caste survey that includes Christians. They are afraid, because if they do it they will have to give the Dalit Christian a quota. Conversion to any religion for that matter cannot be used as a way to disenfranchise people who need to be given a seat at the table of progress,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, she also recognises the role played\u2014or not\u2014by churches across India that further perpetuate the caste system. \u201cEndogamy in the Christian community, where people do not marry outside their caste, is one of our biggest invisible evils. I feel here the Church and Indian Christian structures need to step in and tell people clearly that this is not something that can be tolerated, even if we go back to what Christ practiced in his lifetime,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aleena is currently working on another book, and says that the move to Kochi has enabled her to get the kind of exposure that city Dalits are perhaps blessed with, but also remarks that it was her paradoxical reality of growing up in a largely Dalit community, with a religious mother and a Marxist father, which has informed her strength. \u201cTo be honest I never realised that there are so few like me when I made my Instagram account. I was really taken by surprise at the reaction I have been getting but at the same time I think people fail to realise the strength that a Dalit girl\u2014who can never pass as a savarna because of the way I look\u2014can take,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aleena seems to be signing off with a warning shot\u2014or perhaps more of a \u201cBring it on!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: Mid-Day<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aleena, 29, is well known in the world of Malayalam poetry\u2014her award-winning book, Silk Route, was published in 2021\u2014but since June last year she has been more than happy to … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-news"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d-150x150.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d-300x169.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d-768x432.jpg","large":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d-1024x576.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d.jpg","hitmag-landscape":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d-1120x450.jpg","hitmag-featured":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d-735x400.jpg","hitmag-grid":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d-348x215.jpg","hitmag-list":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d-290x220.jpg","hitmag-thumbnail":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d-135x93.jpg","bdpp-medium":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d-640x480.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"ambedkarsociety.org\/assa","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d54a4e1d0f529f0b1d16c3f7071a5b44?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"Aleena, 29, is well known in the world of Malayalam poetry\u2014her award-winning book, Silk Route, was published in 2021\u2014but since June last year she has been more than happy to … ","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["Featured News"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":116,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":5,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d.jpg",1280,720,false],"medium":["https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d-150x150.jpg",150,150,true]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"ambedkarsociety.org\/assa","author_link":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/author\/papayawhip-dragonfly-555722-hostingersite-com-2-2\/"},"magazine_blocks_comment":2,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d54a4e1d0f529f0b1d16c3f7071a5b44?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"Featured News<\/a>","featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d.jpg",1280,720,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d-768x432.jpg",735,413,true],"large":["https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d-1024x576.jpg",735,413,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d.jpg",1280,720,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d.jpg",1280,720,false],"hitmag-landscape":["https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d-1120x450.jpg",1120,450,true],"hitmag-featured":["https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d-735x400.jpg",735,400,true],"hitmag-grid":["https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d-348x215.jpg",348,215,true],"hitmag-list":["https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d-290x220.jpg",290,220,true],"hitmag-thumbnail":["https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d-135x93.jpg",135,93,true],"bdpp-medium":["https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Aleena-marcy-a_d-640x480.jpg",640,480,true]},"author_info":{"info":["ambedkarsociety.org\/assa"]},"category_info":"Featured News<\/a>","tag_info":"Featured News","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":916,"href":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812\/revisions\/916"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ambedkarsociety.org\/assa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}