Ethnic identity - Malayalee

IN the United States, applicants are asked to identify their ethnic identity – Caucasian, Black, Asian American/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, etc. After that the subcategories like Indian, Chinese, African, etc. Every ethnic group is identified and everybody proudly calls themselves, Indian American, African American, Chinese American, Italian American, Irish American etc. 

Every human being has an ethnic identity. Some people in the US claim a multiethnic identity - my mother is Italian-American, my father is French-American, etc. Nowadays due to a lot of mixed marriages, Indian American grandchildren also claim multiethnic identity. 

In India, we have several identities - North Indian, South Indian, Punjabi, Kashmiri, Bengali, Tamilian, Malayalee, etc. Then there is caste identity - Brahmin, Dalit, Scheduled Tribe etc. There is also trade identity. 

In Kerala, identities are on different levels. Aside from regional identities, religious identities, and cast identities, among the same religion, there are various divisions, like among Christians there are Catholic, Orthodox, Jacobite, Malankara Catholics, Knanaya Catholics, Knanaya Jacobites, Pentecostal, Jehovah’s Witness, and Seventh Day Adventists, etc. Then there are family identities, every family has a name, some claim to be famous, some claim to be rich and some claim to be historic.

Ethnicity means people having a common language, culture and body of traditions. The most relevant ethnic identities are Nationality, Race, Minority, Family, House, Tribe, Clan, Folk and Religion, Most people are proud of their ethnic identity. Even though Malayalee origin is Kerala, where we must be called Keralites, the identity we often use is Malayalee. Even though this identity came from our mother tongue Malayalam, Malayalee means people with origin in Kerala. 
What are the characteristics of a Malayalee, let us analyse that.

Malayalee means a Malayalam-speaking person but means much more than that. The first characteristic is that the origin is from the State of Kerala. Whether Muslim, Hindu or Christian, a Malayalee identity is the same for everybody, so it is not a religious identity, not even a language identity. It is used as an ethnic identity. The actual identity we should use is Keralite, which people never use. Keralites are known as Malayalees, also in a short form called Mallus.

World Malayalee Council was inaugurated on July 3, 1995, by us on the last day of the three-day first-ever World Malayalee Convention to create a Global Malayalee Community able to cooperate and communicate for generations upholding the ethnic identity of Malayalee. Unfortunately, several breakaway groups with the same name and similar names were later formed, some claiming to be the original World Malayalee Council. The original World Malayalee Council, formed on July 3, 1995, is still active and has the right to use the original logo.

The original Malayalee migration outside India was to Malaysia and Singapore and currently fourth and fifth or even sixth generation Malayalees live there. They all still use their ethnic identity as Malayalee. The same is the case for the second and third-generation Malayalees in other countries like the US, Canada, Germany, the UK, Austria, Switzerland, Asian & African Countries and the Malayalees working in the Gulf countries. 

Humanity has its characteristics and each race has its unique characters. Rumours, gossip, jealousy, anger, revenge, hatred and love are common characteristics of humanity even though every ethnic group complains that it is more among them. 

Malayalees help each other a lot and that is the reason why Malayalees are seen the world over, not because of individual smartness or effort. 

There is a story about the comparison of Malayalees to crabs, when they are exported, they are put in a jar with no top and they can never jump out because if one tries others will pull it down. It has happened to me also. I tried to help a lot of Malayalees, and the very same people tried to pull me down and hurt me. That is a negative characteristic of human beings. We need to create a global Malayalee community that thinks, talks and acts positively, helping and supporting each other. We need to teach our children good things and talk to them about the great Malayalee tradition of mutual help and love of people with communal harmony.

Let us uphold the great friendship and mutual support of Malayalees and the great ethnic identity of Malayalee for generations to come all over the world.