For the past two weeks, the United States has been rocked by protests as people have taken to the streets in pursuit of racial justice. The story has captured the nation's attention and looks set to unseat a president, change the laws and culture of the country, and ultimately ring in a new chapter in American history - hopefully a fairer one.
The protests were kicked off by an act of horrific police violence against a black man. This was far from being the first time this happened. Instead, it is now a common occurrence in America. Or maybe it always has been... it's just that with the advent of mobile phones, we are now aware of it.
When I say "we," I am referring primarily, of course, to white people. I am a white person and although I have been aware of racial injustice since probably my mid-teens (we weren't woke enough to have anti-racist kindergarten classes then), the fact is that no white person really knows what it is like to be black.
That is, in fact, the root cause of many of our social problems. People do not understand what it is like to be on the other side of the divide. Men don't know what it's like to be women and women don't know what it's like to be men. From this tremendous gap in understanding springs a fount of hostility, anger, envy, and confusion.
The key is, of course, to listen. A good human being should aim to understand and appreciate different perspectives. Right now, it is heartening to see white people around America listening and participating. I sincerely hope that this results in real change.
My Problem with #BlackLivesMatter
So here is where we come to the slightly controversial part of the post. This is the part where a white person says, "I have a problem with..." and then everyone else says, "Shut the fuck up! You are the problem!"
I am not going to say #AllLivesMatter because even though they do, black lives are the ones needing saved right now in America. I don't want to derail that or overlook it in any way.
There is an important social discourse going on right now and, quite frankly, my white voice is not the most important thing. It is not people like me that need to be heard at the moment. This is a time to address racial problems in the US and the complaints of a random white person are honestly not that important right now.
But I do have a problem, and it is actually something that I think is worth discussing here and now.
The View from Asia
Ever since the #BlackLivesMatter protests kicked off in the US, they became world news. What a surprise, right? The coronavirus was world news until it hit America and then all anyone could talk about was how bad Trump fucked it up. Everything, it seems, quickly revolves around America.
A few days ago, I saw pictures and videos of people across the world protesting in solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter movement. At first, I thought, "That's nice." But then I started to think about it more.
What struck me was an image of protesters in South Korea. "Why are they supporting the anti-racist movement?" I wondered. I lived in South Korea for years and I don't think I ever saw a person who wasn't insanely racist. They hate white people, black people, Middle-eastern people, Japanese and Chinese, and just about anyone else. I even remember a random Korean person telling me, "I hate Mexicans." He had never even met a Mexican person before!
Of course, if Korea has suddenly switched from pro-racist to anti-racist, then great. However, I suspect there is another issue here.
Is Whiteness Racism?
For years, I've been rolling my eyes at ignorant commentary that equates white people with racism. And I don't mean to suggest for a minute that there aren't lots of white racists. Of course there are. Just watch the news.
However, the idea that only white people can be capable of racism is wrong and - ironically - sort of racist. I've lived my whole life in Asia and I encounter racism every day. I do not mean to identify with any other group of oppressed persons. I don't know what it is like to be a black person in a mostly white society, nor do I know what it is like to be Asian in a black society. All I can do is listen to other people and learn about their experiences.
The sad thing is that their experiences tell them one thing:
The white man is the devil.
Unfortunately, conversations around things like racism happen primarily in the West, where most people are white. You do not talk about racism in China or Korea or Thailand. Because they do not talk about it, they think it does not exist there.
But of course it does. Racism exists everywhere and it is not perpetrated exclusively by white people - or even mostly by white people. In fact, at least among white people you have:
- really racist people
- quite racist people
- not very racist people
- slightly racist people
- very open, loving people
In other countries, however, they don't necessarily have that spectrum. There are just racist people and more racist people. Almost no one in China thinks they are racist, yet few of them want to live next to a person of another race, fewer would want "a foreigner" in the family, and almost every Chinese would happily point and stare and laugh at such a person in the street. But they believe themselves to be racially superior... so how could they be racist? Right? Right?
That's the problem. Racism is worldwide but we have skewed the meaning to be "anything and everything white people do and nothing at all done by others." If a white person is a victim of a crime that was purely carried out because of his skin, it is not racist, but if he acts too nicely towards a person from another race, he guilty of a microaggression and thus racist.
The funny thing is, though, that no one in the West thinks, "Maybe in China the Chinese are racist towards black people and white people." But they are racist - much, much more racist than us.
Some people defend this saying that these places are just not there yet. They are not multicultural. They are not racist; they are just not familiar with racial sensitivity. Yet, of course, this leniency would never be extended to, say, an old white lady in the north of Sweden who group up in the whitest place imaginable. It is pure hypocrisy and double standards.
So what's the problem?
You might be thinking, "Why are you complaining?" We're fixing racism right now.
No, you're not.
At best, you are making things a little better in one part of the world. However, you are assigning a huge amount of blame to a vast group of people spread across the world. Not all white people are bigots, contrary to white you may read in The Guardian or hear from you super-woke friend on Twitter.
I used to live in China and each time I left my house I was pointed at, stared at, mocked, talked about, laughed at, photographed, and utterly dehumanised. I was only able to rent certain apartments, monitored at all times, and subject to weird and racist laws. When I went from my city to another one, I was supposed to report my movements to a Chinese person. I was arrested, beaten, and jailed because of my race.
Do you know what it feels like to be arrested purely because of your race? Maybe you do. It happens. There are a lot of black people right now hoping that these protests will make them less likely to be arrested (or worse) by racist cops in future.
But I'll tell you one thing: It fucking sucks when you are treated like shit because of your race, but you are still considered the racist one. When I was in China, I would walk home from work and endure the idiotic, racist comments. When I got home, I would turn on my computer and go online to see things like: "Dear white people, you need to stop doing ...." or "Fuck white people, seriously! I'm sick of..."
Yeah.
How to Not be a Racist
When I was in Korea, people were often very racist to me. If I complained about it online, people in the West would call me a racist. They said, "You can't call all Koreans racist. They don't know any better. You're judging them by your standards. That's racist."
I replied: "You think we should apply different rules to different races... and you're calling me racist? Also, 'they don't know any better' is pretty fucking racist, too."
The thing is: We live in a big world of different races and cultures. Everyone has the capacity for racism. It comes from the fact that we are a tribal species and we have only just learned how to get along with each other. We are still figuring out how to not be dicks. In Asia, that means simply allowing a person with different skin to walk the streets but in the West it means much more. We've actually gone a bit crazy with our woke culture and the fact that "where are you from?" is now genuinely viewed as a racist question.
I remember complaining about Korea one day and someone gave me some good advice:
If you are going to say something about Korean people, replace "Korean" with "black" or "Jewish" or Mexican" and see if it sounds racist. If it does, it's racist. Simple. Don't say it.
And he was right. I would say something like, "Man, Korean people are so rude!" This seemed true at a time when I was constantly being pushed and spit on and mocked in public, but of course I was still just generalising unfairly.
I wish that more people would take that lesson and apply it. Instead of saying, "White people are so fucking racist!" or "I fucking hate white people!" or "We need to end whiteness!" then perhaps people ought to ask, "Is that also racist?" After all, replace "white" in those sentences and they are undeniably racist.
Pursue Equality, Not New Racism
I am not one of those assholes who thinks that white people are about to go extinct. In the West, we are not in danger. White people generally hold the power and wealth - even though, importantly, that is not actually distributed among all white people. We are not in danger right now.
However, the fight against racism cannot just become a new sort of racism. It cannot become anti-whiteness. We cannot let people truly believe that white folk are somehow monsters.
Yes, we used to have slaves - but so did every other race.
Yes, we can be racist - but so can every other race.
The only difference is that white people are being held to account by others and by themselves. We make efforts year after year to be less racist, yet all that happens is we further convince other people that whites are somehow naturally more racist than anyone else.
But here's the thing:
White people may be racist... but at least we are way less racist than all the other races.
Yeah. That's a tough thing to deal with right now but very true. It's time to turn this protest movement into a global war on racism and shift it away from a war on whiteness. There is nothing wrong with being white. Don't let the images of inbred white supremacist fucks and neo-nazis make you hate white people (or be ashamed of your skin if you are one). We are the same as everyone else - no better, no worse, no more innocent, and no guiltier.