Len's News, Notes, and Stuff

Racism Isn’t Just White vs Non-White

Racism is a pernicious beast.  It rears its head in corners of society that, while not necessarily in the shadows, certainly isn’t where “we”, as a mainstream, would necessarily expect it.  I speak here as a Chinese Canadian, born here in Canada, with friends of all sorts who tell me stories of all sorts.

Usually when the issue of racism is brought up in North America, it is an issue of white vs black or vs asian or vs middle-eastern or vs south asian or vs whomever.  Essentially, racism is taken by default to be white vs non-white.

But that’s not really how racism works.  To believe that it is only white vs non-white would be to underestimate its perniciousness, its darkness, its robustness, and its relationship with the human psyche.

Humans must, at some level, categorize an Us and a Them.  It’s how we make sense of the world.  It used to be Us = those in our village and family.  Now Us = whatever we decide it to be.  Us could be an affinity group, for instance ecological activists, or those of a particular political bent, or those with or without money.  The Us vs Them distinction need not be based on anything intrinsic about people.

But it can be.

And often is.

There is, of course, white vs nonwhite racism.  But there is also yellow vs black racism.  There is yellow vs brown racism.  There is brown vs black racism.  There is yellow vs yellow racism.  There is brown vs brown racism.  There is black vs black racism.  And of course there is white vs white racism.

Our cultures are different.  White, yellow, black, brown, those are the different colors of our skin.  It is easy, however, to take as a proxy where we come from, what our ancestry may be, and extrapolate meaning and significance that is not there.  Wherever there is some difference, however small, it can and very likely is used as a distinction between Us and Them by someone, somewhere.

Asia is racist.  Europe is racist.  North America is racist.  I have personally seen or heard things in each of these continents to know that there exists some form and degree of racist thinking in some, or even most, of the population.  It isn’t a white vs non-white issue.

I was at a Chinese cultural event yesterday, and I saw a little girl about 5 years old happily scampering into the building.  Right behind her was a blonde lady – clearly not Chinese.  Yet, what I saw and heard in those few moments before I walked by led me to believe that the lady is the little girl’s adoptive mother.  Is there an Us vs Them in that family?  I don’t think so.

During the performance, which was admittedly a little long, the kids in the audience got restless.  Do you know what I heard all around me?  English.  The kids are Chinese, but they were born here in Canada.  Their parents speak to them in Chinese and they understand it, but they default to English.  Where is the Us vs Them?  In the darkness of the theatre, hearing their little voices speaking to their parents in perfect English, you would never have known whether they were yellow, white, brown, or black.

The need to make Us vs Them distinctions runs deep in human nature.  That’s just how it is.  But we are sentient, intelligent beings capable of thought and choice.  We choose the distinctions that we make.  There is no reason for the distinctions to be based on skin color, language, or heritage.  There is no reason for distinctions to be made based on race.

But some people still do.  Many people do.  It is not, in any way, limited to those of us with white skin.