Prof. Ravi Shankar is a published poet, and a faculty member at the Central Connecticut State University. On July 10th this year, he was arrested on false charges, and detained for more than 30 hrs in a NY detention facility while being hurled with racial epithets. His record only had an unpaid speeding ticket, but he was being arrested as he ‘fit’ the description of a 140 pound caucasian male, while being a 200 pound, East Indian male.

After being produced before a magistrate after 30 hrs of detention and being denied access to a phone call or a lawyer, he was let go as the original lookout notice was for a person of different physical description.

While, we do sympathize with Shah Rukh Khan being stopped for questioning because of his name, or race, or Prof. Gates fiasco – which was not anywhere close to a case of racial profiling (in my view, after reading the facts of the case in the media), the case of Prof. Ravi Shankar  can be judged the worst possible experience among the three, and something we need to understand and analyze, because of the unjust experience he had to face, for no fault of his and the insults that a few cops intoxicated with their power in the situation took unnecessary advantage of.

We decided to follow up with Prof. Ravi Shankar and fire him a quick set of questions, to see what his thoughts were and how his experience could help from avoiding someone else go through a situation like this. It’s also quite disturbing to see no media focus on an individual whose basic rights were completely ignored by the cops, and someone with a respectable job and background had to spend 30 hrs in a detention facility.

If there was one thing that you would do differently, on the day you were arrested on false charges, something that you have control over – what would you do differently?
I think I would have reacted both initially and subsequently differently towards the police officers. Feeling like I had done nothing wrong, I was still being completely cooperative. Nonetheless I was perhaps struck subconsciously with a sense of righteous indignation that coupled with longstanding apprehension of cops based on my experiences with them as a youth in Northern Virginia made me come off as less than completely deferent. This feeling was not helped by their bellicose manner and barked commands, which veered ultimately to racial slur. I called them ’sir’ and ‘officer’ but once I tried to give them my card, a new dimension of disgust crept into their dealings, and some class quotient seemed to enter. They were, if anything, more barbed and authoritarian after they found I was a professor, as if they wanted to put me in my place. I should have perhaps kept my head down and pleaded, but I’m not really even sure if that would have helped. One other thing I would have done immediately is call a lawyer. With my one phone call to my family, I should have instructed them to contact an attorney right away to help get me out of there. I had no idea that another thirty-odd hours was waiting to ensue.

What could your family have done to prevent you spending nearly 30-hrs in detention?
They did all they could because they were not given any information. My wife kept calling Central Booking and was told that I hadn’t been processed yet and that they wouldn’t take any request seriously until it had been at least 24 hours. They can keep you for up to 72 hours for “investigation,” so a day is nothing to them. They should have contacted an attorney who would have gotten me out earlier. It’s obviously one of those things that you don’t want to broadcast until you know the circumstances, but in a case like this, you need to be sure that you know what you’re allowed legally. Once inside there was little I could do and we were privy to such subtle moments of psychological barbarism as the officers telling us sometimes the files were dropped or shuffled intentionally, that the only order down there was lack of order and indeed in such chaos, in seeing those who had been brought in after me be called and leave for their arraignment while I waited and waited and waited, my perception of time altered forever and I grew despondent. At that point, there was no one I could communicate to except myself and even the occasional two hours meditation sessions only went so far. I wanted to keep my wits and senses about me anyway, being in there with 35 other guys.

Assuming that, you did not have communication problems (related to accent), were the cops fair enough to give your explanation any weight, or was there no opportunity to express yourself?
No – my attempts at explanation were taken as subordination and they didn’t want me to ask any questions or defend myself in any way. I was told to be quiet and listen, was made to go through a sobriety check that I passed only to be administered a breathilyzer as if they were always going to give it to me, and was called an “idiot” and a “sand nigger.” It was beyond shabby treatment but in that situation you have no rights and anything you say to provoke or further inject rancor into the encounter will only result in bad things for you in the short term.

Have you received a formal apology from anyone or any invites for beer summits with Mayor Bloomberg?
No – many friends contacted the NY Commissioner of Police and I will lodge a formal complaint with the CCRB (Civilian Complaint Review Board) but I have received no notice from any NY institution or person. Even the NY Times demurred on running the editorial. I am weighing my options now and having conversations. Mayor Bloomberg is surely too busy basking in Plaxico Burress being put behind bars than to have beer with me, but I would accept any invitation, for beer, wine or chai. I would be glad to discuss my experience with any politicians or social organizers who are willing to listen, especially if it can result in a change in this policy of racial profiling. According to the Rand Corporation , 89% of traffic stops by the NYPD in 2006 were for non-whites. Nearly 90%! That’s mind-boggling. I would love to help investigate why this is and what part Indian-Americans and others can play in making this less the case. What happened to me happens regularly to a mostly African- and Hispanic-American underclass and they don’t have the chance or venue to advocate for themselves. Having experienced this, I do and I want to shed light on this epidemic. From Professor Gates to Shahrukh Khan there’s something happening that needs to be openly discussed.

Are there any important lessons you learned from this ordeal?
Keep an attorney’s number in my wallet. Count each moment as invaluable because hours yawed into days while I bid my time on a concrete bench and I never missed those I love more that time. And Metro North is always, always the better option.

———-
Ravi Shankar is Associate Professor and Poet-in-Residence at Central Connecticut State University and the founding editor of the international online journal of the arts, Drunken Boat .

He has published a book of poems, Instrumentality (Cherry Grove), named a finalist for the 2005 Connecticut Book Awards, and with Reb Livingston, a collaborative chapbook, Wanton Textiles (No Tell Books, 2006).

He currently serves on the Advisory Council for the Connecticut Center for the Book, reviews poetry for the Contemporary Poetry Review and along with Tina Chang and Nathalie Handal, he edited Language for a New Century:  Contemporary Poetry from Asia, the Middle East & Beyond (W.W Norton & Co.). He is a recipient of a Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism (CCT) FY09 fellowship in Poetry, an occasional commentator on NPR and will have two chapbooks of poetry coming out in 2010.

© Sidhu for Über Desi, 2009. | Permalink | 18 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: NYPD, Racial profiling, Ravi Shankar

*This is the concluding post of a two post series. We will have a short Q&A with the man who introduced this coffee to the world, R. Miguel Meza. We will talk about the lack of Indian coffee blends in major American coffee producers like Starbucks and Folgers and also briefly delve on how “Monkey Parchment Coffee” is doing its bit in helping the local economy of Chikmagular*

No “kaapi” at your local Starbucks?
img: via Flickr

A few quick blurbs:
-”Monkey parchment coffee” is one of the most expensive blends of coffee in the world produced in Chikmagular near Bangalore in India.
-The coffee is made from beans chewed up and spit out by those sneaky macacas.
-Making use of these beans which were essentially considered a loss earlier, has not only cut down on losses but started a whole new mode of employment for the locals.
-The reason you don’t find any Indian coffee in your local Starbucks or elsewhere in the US – lack of awareness of Indian coffee in the West and the watered down quality because of concentration on mass production.
-With the improving economy and the shifting of labor to urban areas, the Indian coffee industry seems to be in a crisis mode in terms of labor.

Thanks to R. Miguel Meza of R. Miguel Coffee for taking the times to answer our questions.

UD: Most of our readers are very familiar with India, and most of us have never heard of this particular method of producing coffee even in folklore. How did you discover it?

Meza: I first heard of this coffee from the India coffee board while I was in India earlier this year. Later through the India coffee board’s assistance I was able to obtain some from a grower who had produced 50 lbs of it from Jan-Feb.

UD: At $250 per pound, we’re guessing it won’t be available at our local Starbucks anytime soon. Who is your target audience for this brand of coffee and where can they buy this coffee?

Meza: Currently this coffee can be purchased only through our website. Our target market is customers who are interested in trying the best and most unique coffees. Those who wish to taste the cutting edge of coffee production and a glimpse of what the future of coffee may hold. production of all the coffees we work with is very limited. Most were produced in qty less than 100 lbs. less than what a Starbucks store would go through in a week so don’t expect to see similar coffees to these anytime soon.

UD: Can you briefly speak about how this venture being beneficial to the locals of Chikmagular?

Meza: In particular to coffee estates in the region this (venture) offers a new way to earn additional income through coffee that would have otherwise been lost or wasted due to the monkeys stealing the cherries as they please. It also requires trained workers to collect the spit out beans from the forest floor throughout the estates which could potentially create additional jobs for the production of this coffee type.

UD: We don’t get to see blends from India in major chains like Starbucks. Why is that? Is it because of a general lack of awareness about Indian blends? As a Roastmaster and entrepreneur in this field, what is your view about the global perception of Indian coffee blends?

Meza: Indian coffees are used heavily in many blends but have never penetrated the market as a single origin coffee. Part is lack of awareness, part is quality. Not only of most of what is produced but more importantly the quality of the coffee that goes to the export market, particularly the united states.

Almost without exception the Indian coffees that we see in the US are mediocre at best, and because of this most roasters or consumers who have tried it may not pay it much mind. There is world class coffee being produced in India but because there is no demand for Indian coffees and most importers and roasters have never experienced these coffees no one is searching them out or working with growers to improve quality further as is done in often in other countries.

The main reason for these less than spectacular experiences people have had with Indian coffee is due to bulk of the coffee produced. Most is of the robusta species which in the specialty coffee scene, the us in particular is usually avoided. Although India does with out a doubt produce the best robusta coffees. Even the arabica species, the preferred coffee of the specialty industry is generally of less than great quality because of widespread planting of high yield, disease resistant varietals that produce a less flavorful cup than those grown from more traditional cultivators. Very little of the area where arabica is grown provides an ideal environment for producing top quality arabicas. Largely the altitudes are too low but some areas around Chikmagular and in particular around the baba budan giris and possibly other areas are capable of producing great arabia coffee.

Much of the production of coffee seems geared toward the commercial market and not the specialty market and this is largely reflected in harvesting and processing of most of the coffee. With careful harvesting and creative processing even the hybrid varietals can be far more intriguing coffees. The Monkey Parchment provides a good example of this as do other coffees i have tried in the past year. Of course better attention to harvesting and processing requires more labor costs which necessitates the coffee sell for a higher price, at the moment difficult to command for most when there is currently little interest in Indian coffee in the specialty market. Hopefully though this will change in the future and both price and quality will spiral upwards for Indian coffee. Which I certainly hope happens otherwise Indian coffee could be in jeopardy in the future. Already labor is getting harder and harder to find to harvest coffee as most of the younger generation moves to cities like Bangalore to take better paying jobs. Unless the prices go up and growers are able to pay higher wages coffee may no longer be economically sustainable.

UD: Any future plans to import other exotic Indian coffee blends?

Meza: Yes. India is one of the growing areas i intend to focus much of my attention on in the near future as there exists still a lot of untapped potential. India also has small amounts of two other species of coffee Liberica and excelsa which haven’t been of much commercial significance for the past century largely due to their low yields and being difficult to harvest, but taste radically different from the arabica and robusta and once processing techniques are optimized for these species could be interesting future treat for consumers to try.

I hope next winter to travel again to India and oversee the production of some coffees that are harvested perfectly ripe from heirloom varieties like kents and the better quality hybrid varietal called Sl9 which is sparsely planted across the country. hopefully by focusing on the estates that have these varietals and and the ideal environment for arabica coupled with differing processing methods and modern packaging and faster delivery we will be able to introduce some Indian coffees to the Us market that surpass anything that has been seen here or elsewhere before.

Producing unique exemplary coffees that will delight customers and can demand prices that justify their further production I think is the first step in helping India establish a solid presence in the specialty coffee market.

© Santosh for Über Desi, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: india, monkey parchment coffee