A HUGE race row has broken out in India after two black British cheerleaders were called "n*****s" and BANNED from performing at a cricket spectacular.
Dancers Ellesha Newton and Sherinne Anderson were stopped by an Indian organsier as they were about to go on stage.
Ellesha, 22, told The Sun: “An organiser pulled us away. He said the people here don’t want to see dark people. The n ***** word was used and they said they only wanted beautiful white girls.”
Sherinne, 25, added: “This kind of thing has never happened to us – not in Europe, not here, nowhere.”
The girls were among 12 dancers who arrived a month ago for a stadium tour to promote the big-money India Premier League Twenty20 tournament.
The disgraceful snub came ahead of Kings XI Punjab’s opening match at Mohali. The girls claim they were barred by a staff member from pre-match show organisers Wizcraft International Entertainment. Ellesha, of Islington, North London, said: “We were crying. I could understand if it were the crowd but they were very receptive.”
The tournament has attracted stars from across the world, including Aussies Ricky Ponting and Shane Warne. The row has hit the front pages in India and been on all the news channels.
A spokesman for Wizcraft said: “Our employees are trained to deal with our international clients. If there had been any racial discrimination, I would have received a complaint. But I know nothing of it.”
Sherinne and Ellesha in Mumbai. Picture by Gajanan Dudhalkar
Mumbai, May 22: Ellesha Newton and Sherinne Anderson, the two cheerleaders who have alleged racial discrimination at an IPL match, revealed today that the “N-word” was used against them by an employee of Wizcraft International, an event management company.
Wizcraft, which was at the time handling the cheerleaders for actress Preity Zinta’s Kings XI Punjab, has called the allegation “baseless”.
In an exclusive interview with The Telegraph, Ellesha said in the presence of Sherinne: “He used the ‘N-word’ and said the crowd doesn’t like girls with dark skins.”
In a strange, if tragic, coincidence, Ellesha’s mother, Sonya, is a racial equality officer in the UK. “She ensures people from different ethnic groups and nationalities are not discriminated against,” she explained with a wry smile.
If Ellesha would not use the word, when called at Portsmouth her mother said: “What is especially disgusting is that they used the word ‘nigger’.”
Standing at 5ft11, the statuesque Ellesha, who started learning to dance at the age of two, recalled how that person had stopped the two of them from going up to the podium at Mohali before the match started on April 19. “This guy put his arm in front of me and stopped me. ‘You are not allowed in… go back’, he said.”
Both girls dismissed the argument that the “crowd doesn’t like girls with dark skins”. Sherinne added: “The crowd was brilliant and cheered us a lot.”
The girls were allowed back at the intervention of Jorge Aldana, the director of Fierce Performance Production which had brought them over from London as part of a team of 12. But after the second match, their contract was terminated.
Ellesha, who has big, expressive eyes, is a quiet and disciplined girl who keeps a little pink diary, to which she refers every once in a while to refresh her memory. “I am the more sensitive of the two, and I was glad that I was wearing dark glasses. (But) that day, Sherinne was more moved. I could see she was crying.”
The athletic Sherinne is the more vivacious of the two, sporting a Victoria ‘Posh’ Beckham-like long-in-front-short-at-the-back hairstyle. “I guess it was the mixture of embarrassment and anger. The crowd was already in, we were on the pitch, and suddenly in front of all those people we were asked to leave. And because of the way we looked,” she said.
That was the state in which Aldana, who held a news conference today with the two girls to tell their story that The Telegraph had revealed on May 20, found them. “I told them (Wizcraft people) that their attitude was wrong. It equalled an Indian being called a Paki in the West,” he said.
The nightmare haunts them still. Ellesha said: “I was working for a choreographer yesterday or the day before, and every time he looked at me or spoke to Aldana, I had a feeling that he’s going to say that ‘she can’t stay for she is dark’.”
Aldana, who takes pains to make it clear that his relations with Preity are cordial and that she called him after the news became public, said his company was trying to get the girls work in Bollywood.
“I did not put in a written complaint (about the incident) because I thought it will be amicably sorted out and the girls will receive an apology, but no,” he said.
The girls were too shocked to think about lodging one and did not know whom to complain to. The human rights commission is the body to which a complaint such as this can be made. “Now that Wizcraft is denying the incident and making us sound like liars, we will like to make our point,” Sherinne said.
Wizcraft had said yesterday: “We would like to clarify that these are baseless and false allegations that have been made against us…. At no point has the company endorsed or supported discrimination against individuals on the basis of gender or nationality.”
The girls do not recall anyone else from Wizcraft having discriminated against them during rehearsals or at any point other than the incident at Mohali. But there might have been an undercurrent of bias.
“There was another girl in our team of mixed descent. Her mother is from Barbados and her father from Mauritius. Everyone kept asking her whether she was Indian. She was with me on my podium, but then during rehearsals she was removed to another podium, so that all of us who have coloured skin were divided,” Ellesha said.
It’s not that they are entire strangers to racial bias. “Back home there is an underlying feeling and, maybe, I have had to work harder for everything.”
Ellesha recalled that her recruitment for a show in China was cancelled because the client wanted something different. “But never have I been so discriminated against.”
Sherinne felt the same way. She remembered one instance in London when she had a feeling she was not part of a dance because of the colour of her skin.
Ellesha’s mother said that 90 per cent of the people she worked with were Indians. “(Seeing) how offended Indians were when Shilpa Shetty was discriminated against on Big Brother, why do they feel that others can’t be offended too?” Sonya said.
New Delhi, May 24: In response to the racism charges levied against them by two cheerleaders Ellesha Newton and Sherinne Anderson, event management firm Wizcraft International, has filed a case of defamation against agent Jorge Aldana and the two cheerleaders.
Wizcraft also said that it had contracted an Indian agent Akhtar Fazel for providing cheerleaders. He in turn had contracted Aldana, the director of Fierce Performance Production. The company stated that it was an obvious attempt to extort money.
Newton and Anderson said earlier said that they were asked to come off the Mohali stage on April 19 because of the colour of their skin. “We faced racial discrimination from the event management company Wizcraft which asked us not to perform because of the colour of our skin,” Elisa said.
Newton also told mediapersons, “It was okay when we reached the stadium. It was when we were going to take our positions that some of Wizcraft’s employees asked us to leave. We were surprised and asked them why and they told us it was because of the colour of our skin.”
Jorge Aldana, Art Director of Fierce Performance Productions, who had recruited the two women along with 10 others, said the incident took place before the Kings XI’s first match in Mohali. The team is co-owned by actress Preity Zinta.
“Ellisha and Sherinne were in a state of shock and were crying outside the stadium. They told me that a man from Wizcraft had stopped them from entering the ground,” Aldana said.
“We are stuck here presently and need money for our airfare to return to UK but the company (Wizcraft) has not responded to our messages in this regard,” she added.
As the reports of this alleged discrimination came to light, CEO of Punjab Kings XI Neil Maxwell immediately rebutted the allegations and termed the charges baseless.
The event management company also said they had “utmost respect for professionals hired”.
Really? What in earth makes you say that? If it turns out to be "an obvious attempt to extort money," as claimed, it looks to me like the girls are going to wind up in the slammer.
Nevertheless, if you really feel strongly about the bet, send $5 to my Paypal account, fwsweet@backintyme.com. If their story holds up in court, I shall send you $10.
Incidentally, my skepticism is not because I am unfamilar with racism in India.
Mary Lee and I have a friend, a historian of racialism who, like us, also happens to be a stage performer. But he looks very African American. About ten years ago, on a trip to India where he was invited to speak at a conference, he was denied accommodation at the conference hotel itself. He contacted the organizers, they talked to hotel management, and he got his room along with an apology. Then, just last year, he was invited again, same conference, same city, same hotel, and he was denied accommodation again!
My skepticism is because the original story smelled funny. No details. No second source. Also, the Sun is notorious for not checking facts, usually running stories along the lines of Elvis having a bat-child with a Martian mother.
Last edited by fwsweet on Tue 27 May 2008 17:48; edited 1 time in total
Joined: 19 Jan 2006 {Posts: 223 } Location: Southern California
Posted: Tue 27 May 2008 17:36 Post subject:
Quote:
Incidentally, my skepticism is not because I am unfamilar with racism in India.
Mary Lee and I have a friend, a historian of racilalism who, like us, also happens to be a stage performer. But he looks very African American. About ten years ago, on a trip to India where he was invited to speak at a conference, he was denied accommodation at the conference hotel itself. He contacted the organizers, they talked to hotel management, and he got his room along with an apology. Then, just last year, he was invited again, same conference, same city, same hotel, and he was denied accommodation again!
Interesting story about your friend, Frank. What's ironic is that I've seen many Indians that are around the same shade or very much darker than African-American.
What's ironic is that I've seen many Indians that are around the same shade or very much darker than African-American.
Yes, and since the hotel was in southern India, where many people are quite dark, we asked him about it. His understanding was that the problem was not his skin tone. It was the fact that he was African American, and they thought he was some sort of drug dealer.
“An organiser pulled us away. He said the people here don’t want to see dark people. The n ***** word was used and they said they only wanted beautiful white girls.”
This caught my attention, Living in a country with a large East Indian population , I am well aware of their fascination with light skin especially Caucasian.
There have been many times in the past where Caribbean Cricketers , if they are winning a game have been racially abused and had things thrown at them.
Time will tell if this was an attempt to extort money, but reading some of the things they experienced, i can say it sounds familiar.
It was the fact that he was African American, and they thought he was some sort of drug dealer.
(Ducorps Too's head now explodes...to bad there's no exploding-head emoticon )
And you can thank 'Gansta Rap' for that notion!
That's just like when an AA traveler recalls when he went to Africa ('the homeland' ) to explore 'AFRICA' and lo and behold stumbled upon a hip-hop/atheltic wear store in one nation called N%$$#r's.
The owner approached the AA traveler beaming (while the WAs in his party were agog) and said, in a proud manner, 'We are N&%%#$rs too!
Quote:
While in Lilongwe, Malawi, I came across a store by the name of “Niggers.��? That’s right “Niggers.��? The other riders, who were all white, could not wait to inform me of this to see my reaction. Initially, I thought that it was a very bad joke but when the other riders were adamant about the existence of the store, I had to see it for myself. What I found was a store selling what the owner called Hip Hop style clothing. It was manned by two gentlemen one of them asleep. Talk about living up to or in this case down to a stereotype. I asked the guys what was up with the store name. After hearing my obvious non-Malawian accent and figuring out that I was from America, the man thumped his chest proudly and said, “P-Diddy New York City! We are the niggers!��?
My first reaction was to laugh, because many things when isolated can be very funny, but it quickly dawned on me that this was so not funny at all. It was pathetic. I did these bicycle trips across the USA and through the Mother Land in honor of one of my good friends, mentors and fellow African American, Kevin Bowser, who died on 9/11. Here I am, a Black man riding across the world on his bicycle in honor of another Black man, riding home and what do I see? Some Africans calling themselves Niggers! They were even so proud of it they put it on their store front to sell stuff. When I relay the story to folks back home in Philadelphia, most of them laugh too and rationalize it by saying, “well, we can say it to each other,��? or “there is a difference,��? or even “they just spelled it wrong—it should have been ‘niggas’ or ‘niggahs.’��? Gee like that would make a difference.
The issue is not the spelling. I was wrong. We are wrong. There is no justification for an infraction of this magnitude. The word –and the sentiment behind it—is flat out wrong! We have denigrated and degraded ourselves to the point that our backwards mindset has spread like a cancer and infected our source, our brothers, our sisters, our Mother Land. I have traveled all over the world and have never seen a store by the name of “Jew Devils,��? “Spic Bastards,��? “Muff Divin' Dykes,��? or anything like that-Only the store Niggers!
I am to blame for this. Every time I said the word I condoned it, by not correcting others, or rationalizing it; gave it respectability, by looking the other way when others said “hey nigga what’s up?��?; allowed others to see it and ultimately, when I purchased CDs, DVDs, T-shirts and other stuff, I enriched it. I now see the error in my ways and I am so sorry Black men and women. The flame that we called entertainment, that was only to warm and entertain us, now engulfs us and scorches our own self esteem. If a child only knows to refer to men and women as niggers, bitches, pimps and hoes, then what is he or she to grow up thinking of themselves and others as he or she gets older?
This is no joke you can see my site http://www.contribute2.org/ and read some more stories. The bottom line is this I rode over 12000 miles on 2 continents through 15 states and 13 countries and broke 2 bikes in the process to get to a store in Africa called Niggers. I am willing to step and admit my part in the havoc that we have wrought on our mindset but I think that we all are to blame.
http://www.blackstarnews.com/?c=135&a=1546
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) to explore 'AFRICA' and lo and behold stumbled upon a hip-hop/atheltic wear store in one nation called N%$$#r's. 
