A Little Editing Can Go a Short Way

The word 'Harijan' - coined by 15th century poet-saint Narsinh Mehta and popularised by his fellow Gujarati, 20th century politician-saint Mohandas Gandhi - has been out of favour for decades. Calling a swathe of the citizenry 'children of god' because of the discrimination they have faced, and continue to face, can be seen as patronising, even derogatory. But if one is to refer historically to, say, the three publications edited by Gandhi - Harijan (English), Harijan Bandu (Gujarati) and Harijan Sevak (Hindi) - between 1933 and 1948, does one stop mentioning these titles, or mention them with censorial asterisks? This question pops up since Joe Biden is getting brickbats from the usual suspects (Republican-supporting media) for using the 'N' word - no, no 'net-zero' - last week.

POTUS described 1940s-1950s baseball legend Satchel Paige as a role model, going on to say that he had 'adopted the attitude of the great Negro - at the time pitcher in the Negro Leagues - [who] went on to become a great pitcher in the pros...' And before you could say 'Et tu, Joe Crow?' Fox, a noted equal opportunist, edited the clip, removing the reference to 'Negro League baseball' prevalent from the 1920s to 1951 comprising African-American teams, and lambasted Biden for being a closet racist. A little editing, even in non-Nehru-obsessed America, goes a short way.