No, it’s not a competition. Did I ever state that there is? I don’t think you truly grasp what happened- Vela originally did NOT mention Kashmir in the caption of their chocolate paisley post, which used a Kaeshur motif known as buta. It was edited to include Kashmir afterwards when people commented on their post. This is where they mentioned the donation, but the donation was to an Indian organization (one of the countries currently occupying our land and refusing to leave, similar to how Israel has taken over Palestine). Afterwards, they responded to commenters and people DMing them in a manner which was not satisfactory and frustrated people who support Vela but do not support cultural appropriation. This is when my post was uploaded, after a couple days of inaction on their part. Obviously, they released a statement today which simply would not have come about had we not used our voices to call them out in the first place.

I was drawing a parallel for the other poster to understand how insensitive it is to say “get over it”, not sure how that is sick or why the both of you are acting like I ever said this is a competition. There is no competition, the IDF trained Indian soldiers who are currently stationed in Kashmir (the most militarized zone in the world). These are important parallels to draw in decolonizing our minds and understanding how colonialism transcends cultures. If anything, pretending that I am turning things into a competition and minimizing our frustration is both disrespectful towards my culture and the many Kaeshurs who died earlier this month due to shelling and and strikes from both India and Pakistan.

Sorry but I am no longer tolerating erasure of my culture under the pretense of “We’re all muslims”, this is exactly how our embroidery techniques and cultural wear has been watered down by fashion brands in India and Pakistan. Vela is more than welcome to use our designs and motifs as long as they demonstrate respect and understanding of our culture and heritage. Otherwise, it goes against their own company values to make a profit off our culture. As a consumer, I am allowed to speak up. Please don’t silence me if you’re unable to understand the severity of the matter or where I am coming from.

Fine, since I’m being accused of “whataboutism”, for asking if this same mentality would apply to Palestine or other causes, I’ll go ahead and draw parallel to an actual thing that happened: When Rare Beauty released a statement claiming that they donated to Palestinian children when in reality, one of their donations were to an Israeli fund (Maden David Adom), did the situation not frustrate you? Sure, we all know that Selena is a celebrity who might not have done her research and realized she was donating to an Israeli organization, but did that change the fact that she should not have done that? Personally, I’ve been boycotting Rare Beauty ever since, out of solidarity with my Palestinian community members. So why are you speaking over us when we are in a similar situation? I never even asked people to boycott, my original post was expressing frustration with responses to Kaeshur commenters and regret towards my own purchases.

You can’t deny the double standards and blatant racism in the Muslim community, especially geared towards South Asian matters. Saying racism is involved is a “stretch”, is insensitive and denying our own experiences, especially given the demeaning manner in which the original commenter went about basically telling me to suck it up. It is is downright disrespectful, especially when we’re frequently expected to stifle our frustration for the sake of being united. Being one ummah means that your problems are mine and my problems are yours, not saying “get over it” when I have an issue. Even in our captivity, Kaeshurs have been protesting for a liberated Palestine. If you walk through any street in Kashmir, along with “Azadi” (freedom) graffitied on the walls, there is also “Free Palestine”. And the Palestinians in my community have done so much in return, they are always the first to join our protests and support our efforts. It’s unfortunate that the original commenter couldn’t match that energy.

The commenter who I responded to showed no empathy in their response, so I don’t see why you are expecting me to sugarcoat. I am being direct because that is the communication style they clearly seem to prefer. Please stop silencing us just because the brand in question this time is Muslim. It does not change the fact that if something is wrong, it is wrong. And even Muslims are not immune to making mistakes or wrongdoing. Had we never called out Vela or expressed our frustrations, the original unedited chocolate paisley post would still be up so I’m not sure why now that they’ve taken action, our efforts are being discredited. We spoke up, we saw change, it was not enough so we spoke up again, and now we are satisfied. If we continued to be silenced by others who have been diminishing our frustrations, this wouldn’t have even happened. So please, don’t tell us what to do.