Chinese + racism

 Growing up in Malaysia, I learned about how to navigate myself among the different races from young. Being told by adults that I should never offered pork to Malays and beef to Indians was quite important, not because we should respect them, but we are afraid of the retaliation, as what happened in 513 incident.

So, from young, I was told its we against them. But, it quickly get complicated. My cousins, are what we would called a "banana" here, yellow on the outside, white on the inside. It is a derogatory term which subtly insults any Chinese who cannot, or would not, learns and speaks mandarin. Some of them are quite proud to speaks English. I didn't understand the logic behind this distinction.

Somewhere between high school and primary school, my sister started getting mocked for her slightly tan skin tone as compared to mine. My mother finally shared with us, that when she about to married my father, my grandparents were not happy about her genetic profile, below average height and dark skin tone. My grandfather even objected the union. Suddenly I realize, racisms are so deep rooted. My father, who works as a mechanic, had a workshop just in front of where we used to live as a kid. Because of my sister darker skin tone, she was very popular among the Malays customers, who tends to have a darker skin tone compare to Chinese. 

All these, subtle, yet pronounce different treatment, is why Chinese people can be so indifferent, to many suffering of others. If you always find more differences, than similarity with others, even those whom you share the same language. It is dangerous.

Situation in China now, where fair skin, big eyes are all the hype, we are not only imposing unrealistic beauty standard, but we also encourage racism. Why? Because beauty, in all shades, and sizes, should be considered. We should impose more appreciation towards inner beauty and talents. Once that is achieved, there should be less racism.