Hot Topic: Race

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa. You do not talk about race, Jasmine!" I hear some of you shout from behind the screen, whilst some of you crack your knuckles to prepare yourself for the controversial shitstorm that is this blog post. Just kidding. I'm not going to make this controversial, even though everything is. I was inspired by the whole Zimmerman case, which I've been following since the very beginning. If you don't know what the Zimmerman case is then here you go. But in a nutshell, armed white man shot unarmed black teenager. White man is found not guilty. People are outraged because if this was the other way around—armed black man kills an unarmed white teenager—you bet that man would be imprisoned, and any substantial evidence would be useless.

Let's get to it:

Now, I'm no politician. I'm not going to argue with you about the Stand Your Ground law in Florida. I was not in the courtroom and I do not know the story 100% because I'm sure the only one who knows about it would be Zimmerman himself. But the whole trial got me thinking. Is race an integral component to decision making? May it be in court, in a job interview, when determining a partner or a friend, and so on? Is your race going to hinder or give you an advantage at certain times?

I believe so.

I'm not saying that one race is better than others. I just think that some races have had the privilege of flourishing faster than others, and then using that as an advantage. It's no argument that in the past few centuries, White people have been very influential in terms of science, arts and mathematics. I'm not going to get into history, but it's basic sociology that White people have been a dominant culture. I'm not complaining because they've given us a lot of brilliant minds to learn from. But it's the assumption that a certain race is inferior to others that bothers me.

African-Americans have the stereotype of being rough, uneducated criminals. East Asians and Indians are cheap and extremely smart. Jews are greedy, the Brits are snobs, Arabs are either oil tycoons or terrorists, Africans are dying (or already dead). Americans are crass, South Americans are all drug lords, Canadians are incredibly kind and say "eh" a lot, Europeans traffic women. So it doesn't matter where you were raised; may you be a 3rd generation Indian born and raised in Argentina, you will forever be an Indian. How and where you were raised is not a factor when you meet someone new. All they see is your skin color.

It's not something you can get rid of. You can post multiple posters and start a plethora of campaigns trying to stop racism but that's just not possible. To ignore another person's race is to undermine the entire heritage and history the race has to offer. The first thing you see in someone will always be their race, because there are 7 billion people, and it's interesting to see someone from another part of the world. It's not wrong to notice race, but it is wrong to treat someone differently solely because of it. 

The racist remarks about my Asian appearance have been made clear when my sisters and I were in Amsterdam and a few people came up to us and yelled, "GANGNAM STYLE!" to which all three of us responded in unison with, "WE'RE NOT KOREAN!" Or the fact that I can't walk around anywhere in Melbourne without a White person saying, "Ni hao?" I don't know what they're trying to achieve with that. What, should I stop and start a conversation in Mandarin with them? 

It's also annoying when I try to apply for an internship somewhere and I have to think twice about putting my last name, which would clearly indicate that I am not a white person, and that means I no speak good Engrish. And when they realize that I do, they look at me incredulously and say, "why is your English so good?" Well I'm sorry, but should I fit your prejudiced stereotype of what Asians are supposed to sound like? Well next time someone asks me that condescending question I will answer them with a, "對不起, gue gatau gue harus ngomong Inggris putus-putus like this". BAM. Three languages in a sentence, go and do that, you unilingual bigot.

I guess it's not entirely possible to eradicate racism, because honestly, most of the time it is accidental. Racial stereotypes are engrained into our minds like a children's fairy tales, and we can never fully shake that off. So all we can do is give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Because one asswipe from one country does not represent the entire population of said country; just like how you yourself is not the perfect reflection of your nation. 

At the end of the day, we all laugh, smile, cry, and experience pain, regardless of where we're from. We're all just human beings with a different colored coat. I got mine in downtown Jakarta back in 1994. Where did you get yours?