Don't get me wrong, Thailand is an amazing place but it isn't without its faults. It is an exceptionally racist society. Being racist isn't even frowned upon as far as I can tell.
I have lived in this country for close to 14 years. Most of my experiences have been good here. However I have seen some things that I can't believe are tolerated and in many cases even embraced. I have changed the names of the people that are in the stories but I can assure you, every single one of these stories are true.

why not name your cleaning products company this?

thankfully, the toothpaste company has evolved

This next story has to do with a couple of people that I have met while living in Thailand. They have many things in common: They are both intelligent, they are both dedicated, they were both qualified, and they both just happened to be black.

Martha

We start our story with “Martha,” she is from New York and has a degree in Marketing as well as a TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) certificate. Martha was employed at first for a temporary program that the area does to encourage people to get involved in learning a bit more English because the area I live in is one of the more popular travel destinations in Thailand. The attendees were mostly adults and they worked primarily in hotels or in the tourism industry to some degree. There were also police and medical personnel in attendance.

The problems Martha faced began on day one during the introduction ceremony, which was something I found to be completely unnecessary anyway but is a great opportunity for the organizers to get their photos taken for the newspaper. The hundreds of students are all in a great hall and the teachers (like me and Martha) were up front and we were being introduced to everyone. Everything went normally for the Thai assistants, and for a vast majority of the other teachers. What was shocking to me is that when Martha was introduced to the attendees, there was an audible chatter in the crowd... and then the announcer did something truly bizarre. She said

Martha is going to teach English and is also going to teach Ebonics, which is a language that is used by black people in America

huh? Was that necessary? Do you really think that is a thing? Martha was embarrassed because it was not mentioned to her that this would be said beforehand.

Martha told me later that she was approached many times by Thai teachers and students alike while they would tell her that they like particular rappers or hip hop artists. Martha had never expressed an interest in these things or even spoken about them at all. What they didn't know is that Martha is actually a quite accomplished cello player, and probably knows less about hip hop than your average Thai person.

I want to assure everyone that I am NOT Thai bashing here. I want you to keep in mind that there was not an ounce of malice in the way she was approached – they were being genuinely friendly towards her. This is seen as normal behavior over here although clearly it is not.

Martha later accepted a position at a local school but the assumptions and accidental harassment continued until she eventually quit and also left Thailand entirely.

My question is again: Who taught these adults that EVERY black American is an avid fan of hip hip and rap? Who taught them that all black people talk like they are from the hood? Alright, moving on...

LOUIS

I first met Louis at a restaurant and was introduced to him by a mutual friend. Louis is from The Ivory Coast and was / is extremely intelligent. He has an undergraduate degree in Education, a Master's degree in Communication and was working on a PhD when I met him. He also held the highest level of TEFL certificate that one can acquire and had several years of experience teaching English in Japan and Korea. He had also worked for the United Nations between graduate school and post-graduate school.

Louis also had a problem: He couldn't find a job in Thailand.

This is absurd because the country is filled with teachers that have very little in the way of qualifications to teach at all. I knew many teachers had no college education and just bought a fake degree on the streets in Bangkok. Please note: the government has kind of put a stop to this and now has what I believe to be too strict a policy in place and is actually damaging their education because of it. Many of the teachers I know have degrees in something completely unrelated to education – like myself for example. I have a degree in Business and the lowest level of TEFL certification you can possibly acquire – and this was from an online school that really doesn't fail anyone.

I had recently turned down several jobs when I met Louis so I contacted the people in charge of those positions and told them Louis' qualifications. They were very excited to meet him because someone with his background almost never applies for jobs in Thailand....I set up several interviews for him.

I didn't see Louis or hear from him for a while after that or from the contacts I had inside the schools. When I did finally see Louis he told me that when he sat down for the interviews that the interviewer was polite but by the end of the talk the “positions had already been filled and they are sorry.”

I know this to be bullcrap so I contacted one of the women in the school who finally told me the truth:

We can not hire black people because it isn't what the parents want to see.

This is just tragic to me and again begs the question: Why? Louis is far more qualified than anyone that has ever applied there. Isn't the education the most important part? Apparently not, appearance is far more important.

I saw Louis several years later when he was visiting Thailand (he is married to a Thai woman) and he told me about how he traveled all over the country looking for work and was only ever offered one job – as a Physical Education teacher at a school in Bangkok.

Louis is not athletic, he told me he has not played sports since he was 10 years old and he was never good at them. He is also small. So why do you think he was offered this position? Louis and I talked about it and we came to the conclusion that Thai administrators must believe that if you are black... you must know about (and be good at) sports.

Louis was a very strong person and never really got overly upset. He knew there was nothing he could do or say to change the national perception, even if it is wrong. His wife would get very upset and he had to calm her down and assure her that everything is going to be ok. I really admired his resolve.... I don't think that I could be so logical about the situation or remain as calm and collected as Louis was.

Speaking of sports....

other stuff

This brings me to another (brief) thing I witnessed: Professional Thai football (soccer) teams frequently have African players on them and they are applauded by the home fans but ruthlessly heckled by the opposing team (and I supose being mean to the other team's players isn't that rare in sports.)

I was at a game where our local team had an African striker who missed a penalty kick (he was almost certainly the best player on the team as well) and the home fans, HIS FANS started chanting “dom dom, glap baan” over and over.... This means “black black go home.”

kids were repeating what they heard their parents shouting at that game.

Here is a Thai commercial which was eventually banned (maybe we are making some progress?)

In summary I want you to understand that I know a lot of Thai people and they have nothing personally against anyone from any nation for the most part. Thai people are generally a LOT kinder than people from other nations, but I honestly believe that there isn't any real anti-racism movement over here and many times they don't really realize that what they are doing is actually quite mean spirited and offensive. I don't want this country to become a SJW playground but some education would be nice.

I have a feeling it is just because they form their opinions from perhaps music videos and movies – and this is acceptable for children... after all, I didn't know ANY Asians until I was in high school and based on movies I just assumed every Asian person was a ninja. These untrue ideas would quickly be reversed if they would simply employ people like Martha and Louis and let them do their jobs.

I guess this story has a kind of happy ending (not as cheery as the “Nancy” one) and unfortunately I have no idea what happened to Martha. She left before smartphones and facebook so I don't know where she ended up.

The soccer striker (his surname was Christian) went on to set a record for most goals scored in a season and then was offered more money by a higher club in Thailand.

Louis is now a professor at a prominent university in Japan, makes loads of money, and is regarded as one of the best English educators in the school system there. He is also still married to his Thai wife and they are quite happy there. I hope to visit him in the near future.