Zijn Aziaten racistisch?

15 januari 2006    Lees de reacties   

Hoe blanker de huidskleur van Bengaalse meisjes en vrouwen, hoe beter. Onderzoek naar huwelijksadvertenties wijst op een voorkeur van mannen voor een lichte huidskleur, terwijl vrouwen hun teint graag omschrijven als ‘licht’ (ujjal shaemborno). Fazlul Alam vraagt zich af of aan deze afkeer van een zwarte(re) huid racisme ten grondslag ligt. Nee, want racisme houdt in dat de ene groep een andere benadeelt vanwege hun etniciteit en huidskleur en Bengalen oefenen volgens Alam geen macht uit jegens ‘zwarten’. Wel vergeten Bengalen in Bangladesh en als immigrant in westerse landen graag hun etnische identiteit om zo verwant mogelijk te lijken met “our historical oppressors, the whites.”

We hear a lot about racism in the European countries that the white people are racists. We have heard of race riots in Europe, North America, and now hearing about similar events taking place in Sydney, Australia. Funny though that we the Bangalees are not sure which group our ethnicity should stick to. Are we supposed to be with the blacks in such riot situations, or with the whites? We do not know because we do not consider ourselves ‘black’. Similarly, most Asian people would not identify themselves with the blacks because they are not Africans. Even if someone tells us that they would group all non-white people “for analytical purpose” as “blacks”, we would not accept it.

At the same time, we the Asians fight racism once we go to live in the white dominated countries of Europe, Australia, Canada and United States. Laws have been framed in many of these countries to end racism so that ‘black people; are not deprived and discriminated against.’ We the Asians, though hating to be called ‘black’ gleefully join the ‘blacks’ to demand ‘positive discrimination’ to get favourable treatment in jobs, housing health care. But we want to remain Asian, and would not tolerate being called black!

Why so ? It is so, may be because we feel closer to the white people than to the blacks. Look at the Asian society as a whole, not just Bangalees of Bangladesh and those of West Bengal. We present ourselves on media with “make-up” that makes us look ‘whitish’ if not ‘white’. Many of the women in the urban centres are getting used to “make-up” and cosmetic applications that are hiding their typical Asian skin colour.