https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-09/coronavirus-intensifies-anti-foreigner-sentiment-in-china/12128224
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-08/salisbury-councillor-targeted-in-racist-coronavirus-attack/12133078
Let me get this out of the way: discrimination is unacceptable under any circumstances, be it spitting on people, denying services to people based on their skin colour, crossing the footpath to avoid people on how they “look”, refusing to sit next to “certain people” on public transport, being heckled in public areas.
However I find it interesting that people of all races are (only) finding out racial discrimination now, be it white people in China, black people in Taiwan, non-Han Chinese people in “Western countries”.
I have lived with discrimination all my life. I have never been a majority anywhere. I will probably never know what it feels like to be in a majority.
Being a minority is my natural state. Even in places where people perceive that I’m in a majority.
As a Malaysian-Chinese, the perception that SJKC’s would be my “natural” environment. But I was a “banana”, yellow on the outside, white on the inside. Speaking English at home. Growing up with Enid Blyton books. Even worst, I’m a Christian: white man’s religion. In an environment where the majority of my classmates spoke Mandarin or the “dialects” at home, worshipped non-Abrahamic faiths (if any), read Chinese Wuxia novels.
Until I was Primary 3, I was unable to communicate with my classmates, because I literally couldn’t speak their language. English is my first language; so as my parents, and my grandfather’s diaries are in English. My family history shows that we’ve been speaking English longer than some migrants in Australia, where I now live.
Teachers in SJKC we never far away from reminding me 你是华人不会讲华语你不觉得羞耻吗？I tried so hard to fit in: follow Chinese entertainment, read Chinese novels. But no matter what I did, I would never be “one of them”. (Sound familiar?)
In secondary school it was only slightly better: half my cohort was from SJKC, the other half from a English speaking SK. While I found better camaraderie with the ones from SK, I despaired at their misconceptions and ignorance of the “Chinese speaking” groups. For their part the SJKC groups found me handy when English assignments were due, as I could literally speak their language, but the feeling that I got was that I was an “outside” to be exploited. (Hmmmmmm……….)
I don’t want to sound like my time in Primary and Secondary school was all bad: there were good people, good classmates, some of which I still keep in touch to this very day, good teachers, even if I’ve forgotten their names but only remember their faces.
But no child should have to go through what I did.
I am grateful for having had the opportunity to learn the language, but I learnt Mandarin as a 3rd language. Because of my skin, nobody goes “Waaaahh, look at Tim speaking Mandarin and ordering food in Chinese”. (Apparently, I’m supposed to have woken up one day and magically be able to speak Mandarin)
On the other side, no one goes “Look at this Asian guy speak perfect English and writing a technical document without error!”. Never mind that many “native” speakers have lower English standards. (it still drives me nuts the number of times I see “paid” written as “payed” and “dual” written as “duel” after all these years in Australia!)
So I laugh a white skinned people who cry “discrimination” when they come/settle in Asia. When yellow skinned people feel “inequity” when they are in “the Western world”. No matter how good you are with the language, how much you try and be culturally same as them, you will always be an outsider. When one is in a majority, and suddenly is in a minority, then they realise how the REAL world works.
The irony of all this is, Australia is where I feel the most comfortable in. I’m not part of the majority here. Many Malaysian friends/relatives have the impression that Australia is a land where discrimination is rife. I’m not saying that there is no discrimination in Australia, but it says volumes that I feel more accepted in “racist Australia” than supposedly “my natural state” in Malaysia. (When they’re not asking me to “go back to China”)
Even if I “went back” to China, I’ll still be discriminated against. Only the delusional think the 华人don’t discriminate against the 华裔. Heck, even those “Chinese speaking” Malaysian-Chinese face discrimination when they further their studies in China/Taiwan. And apparently I’m supposed to “balik Tongsan”. Never mind that I’m 5th generation in what is now Malaysia. Never mind that my great-great grandfather was in Sarawak (however defined) before James Brooke.
White/Black/Brown/Yellow/Green/Purple/Orange people don’t have a monopoly on discrimination/being discriminated against. I find it hilarious at the whole hysterical “poor me; look I’m being discriminated against because COVID19”.
When one is used to a position of priviledge, the equality of the real world feels like oppression.
If it takes a pandemic/COVID19 to show:
a) What it feels like to be a minority, for the majority of the population
b) People are dicks
c) Don’t be a dick
I, for one, welcome our new overlord.
