Why Dalits embrace Buddhism and not Islam

Often a question arises for a Dalit  - If Hinduism treats them as outcasts, then which religion would they chose. The options for some are Christianity, some are Islam and most are Buddhist. So why choose Buddhism. It is not my intent to insult any religion and I am only outlining what is already said in religious books. I also apologize if this post comes across as offensive or divisive. 

On closer inspection of Islam, one thing that is disturbing is the Islamic Hadiths that talk about the whiteness of the prophet. If you look at this link it talks about all the Hadiths extolling the fair complexion of the prophet to a great extent 

https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Qur'an,_Hadith_and_Scholars:Muhammad's_White_Complexion

Even in today's world, Islam has different sects and some Muslims are treated inferior to others. Though this might be a generalization, Arabs have a history of looking down upon people who are from Africa and the subcontinent (even if they are Muslims). Read up on evidences of maid torture to learn more.

Another disturbing thing about Islam was that there are specific verses that talk about owning slaves in a war and mistreatment of non-believers. Owning slaves is never a good thing. Irrespective of whether it is a powerful Dalit or Brahmin or Muslim or whatever, you cannot be allowed to hold slaves. Slavery is bad no matter who does it. 

The Buddha was an enlightened soul who gave up everything to extol the virtues of peace and kindness. He never spoke about war, never spoke about having slaves. He spoke about compassion and peace, even to his worst enemies. 

Jesus was in many ways similar, but there has been caste discrimination of Dalits by caste Christians. This usually does not come out but I have seen numerous instances in villages where caste Christians belittle the Dalits and commit atrocities on them.

In today's India when Dalits look upon the ills of Hinduism and decide to leave the Hindu fold, Buddhism should be the only logical choice. Buddishm was most appealing to Babasaheb because his teachings fall right into place given our geographical and cultural context. 

Time for a Dalit introspection

There needs to be a time for Dalits to introspect. There are several issue plaguing Dalit society from within. Let us compare with an example - Most African American kids take pride in their aggression. They want everyone to know that they are from the hood or the ghetto. There is a similar feeling amongst Dalit youth of today.

Revolution can be aggressive but attitudes and lifestyles cannot. Dalits need to be militant to protect themselves against unwanted aggression by caste Indians. However, they should refrain from self destructive habits.

Babasaheb Ambedkar did not want to take up an aggressive path. When he chose his religion, he chose carefully. Buddha stood for non violence and peace. He was careful not to espouse wanton violence. However, today among the Dalit youth alcoholism and alcohol fueled aggression are rampant.  Dalit women face the brunt abused not only by non-dalits but also by some Dalit men with these aggressive mindsets.