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[Atlas]

Before I came to China, I was sitting in the office of a manager of mine and we were chatting about it. He told me some appalling stories of racism and language he had to put up with on a daily basis in New England. I've lived between North and South all my life, and in fact, i saw more racism in the north--i dont know why, maybe less diversity, or maybe more derogatory humor, or something else. In fact, in the South, my city was actually quite diverse and progressive in terms of equality and multiculturalism, including subcultures. But racism still exists, certainly, and my manager was right when he said that I was in for a new experience of what it feels like to be in the minority.

Particularly in a place like Mainland China, racism is the norm, it seems: the expected social devaluation of outsiders. I literally cannot walk down the street without a person mocking me, pointing at me, taunting laowai, hello after I pass, snickering, gawking, leering, commenting, intruding, and otherwise pointing out the foreigner, and for some reason, finding it funny. (probably masking insecurity because they dont know what is happening in their once-isolated, comfortably homogenous world and unexamined, unchallenged worldview). Foreigners have been coming to Shanghai a long time, but so have the rural people from China's hinterlands who have never seen a non-asian. I'm not looking for racist episodes either, it's an issue I'd rather not think about.

I thought I was basically sensitive to racism back home, and I thought I understood it. I never believed it was a thing of the past, but I know it belongs in the past. I asked my manager how do you keep from just fighting people every day when they deserve a punch in the face? (and believe me, it's an impulse i resist now more than ever, maybe every day, ignoring the impulse to just punch every obnoxious, racist idiot who says something about me for the benefit of my hearing). My manager was right. He told me then that you have to rise above it, and at the time I thought I knew what he meant. But now, in the face of such common racism, I understand. Controlling your desire to defend yourself, and learning to ignore people who dehumanize you with a look, really does make you rise above, makes you a better person, not only to yourself, but better than them as well. You learn to occupy a plane they can't reach, you develop a resilience of civility they cannot steal from you, and you learn to see their contempt for what it really is: fear and insecurity, a separation which they need but no longer really have. You might even pity them as they attempt to objectify and dehumanize you. But they can't dehumanize you if you don't surrender to their perspective. Nor must you adopt a converse, culturally-superior attitude to do it.

So when I return to the States, to the other side of the color barrier, I take with me a new respect for the burden people must carry in a so-called civilized society. I won't make light of racism again or dismiss it so easily to the past. Nor will I allow it to define me or the people I meet. At least, that's my hope.

Has anyone else experienced different attitudes about race from being abroad?

[yaramaz]

I was surprised by how quickly I was identified as a foreigner in Turkey, given the generally European look of the population. Also, I have dark hair, which marks me out as less foreign than other, well, foreigners. I had Turkish students who looked Irish or Russian or German or Bengali but still I was stared at on the streets, with loud whispers of yabanci! and loud Hello Hello lady whats your name my name is Mustafa!s. For two years! It was widely assumed that as a foreigner I was easy, drunk, and incapable of learning the language.

Given that I bought Turkish clothing, had my hair cut by Turkish hairdressers, and bought my makeup and jewellery in Turkish shops... how was I so blatantly and easily identified as an Other?

I'm back in Canada for the summer and I find I still avert my eyes when facing people and I take great pleasure in the realisation that no one even notices I exist.

[been_there]

interesting that you should note that the southern part of the US is less racist. An old Appalachian-American friend of mine once noted the same thing and said that the explaination was that, because of the Civil War there, the South had been forced to confront it's (collective) racism, whereas the North had lived in comfortable and realatively untouched stasis with the inherent racism untouched.

Yes, I said inherent. I, too, have been pointed out as a Laowai, Querrie, gui-lo, Haoli, gaijin and more. The thing is, that in China, I get abuse for not being Asian; in Kosovo I'm the UN (I'm not, but there you go), Even when I was in Manhattan, when I told people I lived in Brooklyn, they looked at me and giggled.

Here's my own personal theory that can be taken or left: Humans are 99.999% the same. Hell, we share 99% of or DNA with chimps, so the differences in skin color, eye shape and hair that look SO huge to us are practically UNINTELLIGIBLE when looked at from, say, a dogs perspective. We have to MANUFACTURE differences to make ourselves stand out from the mass of humanity; to preserve our individual SELVES. And I know, in Japan and China the concepts of individuality are plural, but even then the concept of US and THEM serves the purpose of making artificial seperations so we are not lost in a sea of humanity.

Selah.

[kev7161]

I've (sadly) encountered a few racists back home in the US who just say whatever they feel like when they see a person who is "different" than themselves. I could never understand HOW they could do this. I'm sure I've had a few racist thoughts in my mind from time-to-time (although my thoughts are usually focused on an individual, not a whole group), but just as a matter of intelligent PRINCIPLE, I would never vocalize these thoughts to anyone that cares to hear them (or can't help but hearing them).

That is what caught me off-guard the most here in China. Although my China is so very limited, I know when people are talking about me - - OUTLOUD! I'm sure they assume I don't speak the language, but what if I did? What do you do or say, those of you that speak Chinese? Couple the comments with laughter and pantomiming (a large stomach, usually) and I think . . . OH MY GOD! They don't even realize the behavior they are exhibiting. And then I realized, racists back home are so caught up in their own bigoted, superior world, they don't understand how idiotic they sound when they make the jokes or horrible comments.

I know that when I go home, my attitude will be completely changed. I won't put up with the comments and I will defend those who aren't around to defend themselves. I'm sure I will have one or two less friends as well.

[struelle]

[Roger]

Methinks the quality of treatment we get varies with time and the political atmosphere. And, perhaps, being foreign residents in this culture causes us to experience certain adversities DIFFERENTLY from how tourists or chance visitors experience them.
A traveller is exposed to more different folks than a resident, and a bad impression can easily wash off when an unusually nice encounter follows. As employees, we are kind of rooted here, like plants that cannot run away from grazing cows - we get eaten.
We often feel their attitude ought to have changed because they have the rare "opportunity" of getting a chance of rubbing shoulders with us; however, we don't necessarily realise that our presence here causes not a little friction among them too - there is jealousy, for instance. And over time, jealousy becomes irrepressible.
Also, I feel the general outlook towards foreigners has changed since I arrived here. Initially, people were more curious and spontaneously welcoming; these days they are constantly mocking us.
Add to this the widely-held impression that most of us arehere on overpaid holiday at their expense; many students and colleagues actually believe we don't deserve what we get.
Their own mediocre English performance in fact corroborates their judgment even if their judgment is erroneous.

[Lyov]

I find this to be an interesting post because having lived in China and now in Mongolia I have experienced many of the same things. What struck me most about coming to grips with racism was the pure subjectivity of the concept. Living in northern China my students told me how the southern Chinese were short and lied alot. Living in S. China they told me how the Northerners are tall, ugly, smell bad, and drink too much. The Chinese hate the Japanese and don't really like Koreans. Koreans have deep rooted issues against the Japanese and the Chinese. The Mongolians don't like the Chinese, or Koreans, and have some issues against the Japanese. Americans generally have some African issues, Mexican issues, and frequently make fun of the Canadians (and lately the French)
To me it all boils down to the idea of the outsider. This idea that they are trying to dehumanize you I think is false because you are not human. All these people have word for human, or the people and you don't share those words, you speak a different and come from a different world. When speaking to them you may say I am a human in their language but they will be thinking No, you are an outsider. The idea of skin color as a defining feature of racism is not accurate, one can be too black, too white, too yellow, too red. I think in the end it is that you are not part of my family, my people, my culture, you don't share my code of beliefs or ethics, you are an outsider.
This is ethnocentrism, thinking the ways of my people are the best ways, and outsiders are inferiour because they don't share in this. I imagine you are raising in their esteem by trying to civilize your self and become one of them but your ends will not reconize your beginnings. This concept is not only universal it is also necessary for without the belief that ones one people and their way of doing things is the best the culture looses continuity and breaks down. Look at S. America for an example, when the white man first came they fit into a vision of a white god arriving by sea, so they were seen as superior and the white man used this to destroy them.
There are a million examples of how ethnocentrism benifits the culture as a whole and as many example of how a culture can be damaged by believing that something from the outside is as good or better than their conventions. Just look at the American internationalism that is sweeping the globe and if you think that is good we will argue more.
Finally as a person you represent the microcosm of this entire principle. Things from the outside are dangerous. A solider who has learned to question the right of the military to kill will hesitate to pull the trigger and may die because of it. When swimming in the sea of China you are a concept, not a person.

Strength in Unity

~Lyov

[Roger]

[Lyov]

What I meant by American internationalism is not that american are particularly international people and yes I agree that other places would take that title. What I meant was the sweeping trends of other countries being more like america, eating their food, wearing American clothing, listenting to American music. The Mcdonaldization of the world. Now I don't want this discussion to move to how bad Mcdonalds is, it's just the general trend that recieves the label of modernization that I find to be ill-fitting to much of the rest of the world. I don't find this to be good any more than the missionaries of the past. This current movement could be called economic missionaries, trying to convince people to change their long held spending habits due to a dream from a far off land.

All clear?

~Lyov

[Xin]

Both racism and bigotry are matters of the heart which are learned, not genetic.

What are we teaching?

[ntropy]

Molodets, Atlas. A superb post. I went through the same thing a decade ago in Asia and it was so minor to what minorities daily experience in my "civilized" home country. It really opened my eyes. I think there should be an international fund to send all bigots (the worst are those who deny it; we all are) someplace to experience this way of thinking for a minimum of three years.

[Dr.J]

Lyov has made a good point.

I get frustrated when people use the word 'racist', as if human prejudice and discrimination is somehow limited to discrimination based on physical features, or that discrimination on those grounds is somehow different to or worse than discrimination due to sex, age, belief, or whatever else.

Perhaps it's just because physical features are so obviously a groundless reason for discrimination, that it stands out more.

Personally I don't really seem to take racist comments to heart. There are plenty of ignorant people in the world, and I don't see it as anything special if one happens to make a racist comment, because the rest of the time they are making ignorant comments about everything else in the world. It's just a random expression of their ignorant state of mind, and not related to me personally.

[jeddahteacher]

Discrimination is a rather good thing:
Main Entry:discernment

Date:1586

1 : the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure : skill in discerning
2 : an act of discerning
synonyms DISCERNMENT, DISCRIMINATION, PERCEPTION, PENETRATION, INSIGHT, ACUMEN mean a power to see what is not evident to the average mind. DISCERNMENT stresses accuracy (as in reading character or motives or appreciating art) *the discernment to know true friends*. DISCRIMINATION stresses the power to distinguish and select what is true or appropriate or excellent *the discrimination that develops through listening to a lot of great music*. PERCEPTION implies quick and often sympathetic discernment (as of shades of feeling) *a novelist of keen perception into human motives*. PENETRATION implies a searching mind that goes beyond what is obvious or superficial *lacks the penetration to see the scorn beneath their friendly smiles*. INSIGHT suggests depth of discernment coupled with understanding sympathy *a documentary providing insight into the plight of the homeless*. ACUMEN implies characteristic penetration combined with keen practical judgment *a director of reliable box-office acumen*.

[Lyov]

It has become vogue now in certain academic fields to deny race completely. There are certain physical differences certainly but after a myriad of attempts to define what the differences are the concept of continuous variation was born. The concept goes that if one were to walk from the coast of Europe to the coast of Asia they would observe a gradual variation of the human populations and see that one group of people are not different enough to be classified as a different race because they bare similarities to their neighbors who are similar to their neighbors ect. It is only when one takes the supersonic jet across the ocean that one will be errouniously lead to believe that the people are so physically different as to be classified as another race. People are 99.99 percent the same and the different aspects are largely subjective.
Ever heard of the Black Irish?


~Lyov

[Roger]

Glad we are now past the discussion of "racism" and "racists". Of course, I do label Chinese "racists" when they single me out for a special, normally negative, treatment such as finger-pointing, touching, making derogatory remarks about, or laughing/snickering in my presence.

BUt it has little to do with the physical differences between them and me; it has more to do with their identity and their impression of me having a separate identity. You will find plenty of examples in history to corroborate this point: people identify ALIENS less in terms of skin colour or head measurements but in terms of LANGUAGE, NATIONALITY or TRIBAL AFFILIATION.
And that is bad enough. The CHinese acting so weird rally around other Chinese in order to distance themselves from non-Chinese; once they are left to themselves they segregate into their provincial identity groups.

In an international context, people would have to learn to overcome their antipathies to speakers of other tongues, members of different ethnic groups and holders of different passports. In fact, it should matter nothing at all what we look like, where we come from, what we believe in, nor whose army would protect us; all that is important is what we are able to contribute.
And whether our host society can appreciate this!