Are We Racist?
J-on
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Monday, April 12, 2010
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By Ng Min Xi
I noticed something funny about this whole racism business.
In the west, the Blacks are being marginalized for being the minority and for their skin color, but in Malaysia, the Chinese who so happen to have fair skin are part of the minority.
The funniest part is that the Chinese are always worried that they are being racist.
Thinking about it made me question the word itself. We use it so commonly but most of us don’t even know what it means exactly. So I asked myself – what is racism?
During the dinner I just had with some of my friends, a Chinese called an Indian, “Oh Lang”, meaning “black man” in Hokkien.
And the response? A smile and a swift comeback that the joke was getting old.
Such quid pro quo of racist remarks seem unforgivable to others, but we all knew each other better than that. Some call us ignoramuses but others see us as just friends making fun of each other.
What about you? Was that racist? Are we ignorant? Or perhaps we are just open-minded.
Back from the brief digression, racism can be briefly defined as “discrimination or prejudice based on race”, according to the American Heritage Dictionary.
When was the last time you judged a person solely based on race? I know I didn’t, and I can even tell you why.
Imagine this scenario, you are walking down a dark and lonely street and you see a bunch of scary looking Indians, the first thing that runs through your mind is – I don’t want to be here.
Now imagine that the bunch of scary Indians is Chinese or Malay. Get my point? Most of the time, race does not matter when we deal with situations and interactions with people.
The problem comes in when we add it by ourselves. When was the last time you thought to yourself, that person did that because he was Chinese or Indian or Martian? Chances are you did that often.
Now let me ask you a final question, who decides what is racist?
From an outsider’s point of view, I say racist statements every day. But people who know me would never think of me as one.
My point is that racism is not someone else’s problem, it is your own. I look at racism in only two ways, one as a joke, perhaps unnecessary to some but whom are you to judge?
The other as something practiced by ignorant people, and in this case, I just tell myself that I am above ignorance.
When it all breaks down, the only person to define racism, is you.
