I felt as if I were Isaiah, not Ilaiah.” I like to imagine that this is the moment Kancha Ilaiah became a writer. “That day in my notebook, I wrote my name in full in the form that Isaiah’s name figured: Ilaiah Kancha, not just Ilaiah K. It sounded new. These are real problems for Dalit and Bahujan students on campuses today—this knowledge of how to just ‘be’ in spaces. Today, young Dalit and Bahujan people with some privileges are able to come to terms with their identities. 'From a Shepherd Boy to an Intellectual' by Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd.

Source: Huffington Post April 20, 2019 02:48 UTC