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This thread is about the article "Are we racist?"
Are we racist?
Yes we are. It's just so ingrained is us to look down on people who are dark, who are poor, who are below us in social standing etc. etc. It is just appalling & I frequently feel ashamed & embarrassed. How do we get round a cultural attitude that is almost sub-conscious?
It is scary to see that people instinctively put themselves on a racial scale. If South Asian people, or "brown people"as they call themselves look down at darker ones, does that imply that they look up at "whiter" races? that they consider themselves inferior then?
Why is it so difficult to shed old beliefs that are debilitating and embrace new ones like "all men are created equal" that are so empowering and liberating?
Bayb.
Why is it so difficult to shed old beliefs that are debilitating and embrace new ones like "all men are created equal" that are so empowering and liberating?
Bayb.
It is scary to see that people instinctively put themselves on a racial scale. If South Asian people, or "brown people"as they call themselves look down at darker ones, does that imply that they look up at "whiter" races? that they consider themselves inferior then?
Why is it so difficult to shed old beliefs that are debilitating and embrace new ones like "all men are created equal" that are so empowering and liberating?
Why is it so difficult to shed old beliefs that are debilitating and embrace new ones like "all men are created equal" that are so empowering and liberating?
It is a mix I think of looking up and looking down if you know what I mean. We are on the one hand convinced of our superiority - morally, culturally and intellectually and on the other hand there is a bit of sucking up to the white man as well. That may be the result of having been colonized but also perhaps comes from the great regard we have for pale skin. Being pale equates beauty which in turns denotes success and wealth. I guess it's the reverse in the west where being tanned denotes wealth and success.
That is the baggage human race comes with,I think.Hopefully with each successive generation the disparities in the mind will be dispelled.Education is a great leveller and a powerful tool to change focus and reset priorities.In many countries there are other prejudices too.
Michiko I find the fairness argument interesting. I agree that prejudice associated with skin colour is unacceptable. But when it comes to perceptions of beauty it gets more complicated...also because perceptions of beauty are not necessarily prejudicial. People in the west are considered beautiful if they are tanned. Millions are spent on holidays that involve nothing apart from lying in the sun acquiring a tan. Is that so different from me using an umbrella in the sunny climes of India to avoid a tan? Ultimately the idea of beauty is 'socio-economic'. In India a fair complexion is associated with better off people because they can afford to stay home avoiding the tanning sun. The desire us to be rich...and therefore fair etc. In the west tans indicate wealth...that allow the person to take expensive holidays in the sun! Ofcourse all this is so subtle and sub-conscious that the link between finances and beauty is not ever immediate or obvious.
When I was in London some years back, I observed an interesting thing - if there was a vacant seat next to a white person and one next to a black person, an Indian would ALWAYS choose to sit next to the white person. Always!
Michico and Wobi make very good observation.This color divide is so ingrained in the south Asian Psyche that most are not aware of it or will deny it. I have hear south Asian parents in the west tell their kids, they can marry an Asian, or white but a black is a big no. I have also heard parents in India tell their kids , marrying a white is like going up a step in the social ladder, but marrying a darker Indian or heaven forbid a black person is a social suicide.
What beats all logic is that South-Asian immigrants to the western world don't realize that being people of color, they have a lot in common with the Black community. It is not as though South-Asians in England or America or even Canada for that matter, have not faced their own share of racism - but they complain when they are victims of any prejudice but have no problem doling out the same treatment to members of the Black or even the Hispanic community!
Unbelievable that we still need to have this discussion in 2012. It should be obvious by now that a man (or woman) should be judged not by the color of his/her skin but by the strength of his/her character. Essentially the skin is a thin, superficial covering, with pigment in varying proportions depending on race. When you cut it, everyone bleeds red. Human anatomy and physiology are essentially similar across ethnicities, with perhaps minor contrasts, and at the end of the day, we are all one race, the human race. Children are not born racist, they seem to learn this somewhere along the way. I guess racism is a type of phobia, born of ignorance, and appears to take generations to stamp out. But stamp it out, we must. OK, now I'm ready to run for Senate...
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