How many times have you received pervasive looks from people when entering any form of public transportation? How many cautious stares have you received from people when entering the lift as the only different race there? How many discreet and implosive racial slurs have you heard behind your back and directly to your face? That, ladies and gentlemen is called RACISM. The very bane of our existence on this earth.The reason why hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed in the Holocaust. The very reason thousands of people in Rwanda in the Genocide have died painful deaths. The reason why a human being cannot live in peace in a foreign country.
Hello bloggers. The main theme for today's post is racism. It is a fact that irregardless of your race, if you are a foreigner in someone else's land then you will be subjected to every form of racism (verbal, physical or even spiritual). Being an African in a foreign country has exposed me to this racism. Some of them discreet ("I'm not sure if they have your people/ your color/ your skin here"), some of them direct ("...negro...") and some of them expressed through their actions (woman clutches her bag tighter if you so much as glance at her in the lift or when entering a crowded public transport/area they scoot away from you to avoid your skin touching theirs which would create a burn -_-) I wont lie by saying I face this on a daily basis but i do face this on a weekly basis Years of being exposed to this has made me conducive to these racial slurs.
The motivation for this post arose form my surveying of newspapers this morning and coming across a particularly eye catching illustration that showed a group of blacks/Africans huddled together in a corner and a Malay man running away from them screaming "Haaa...This is not 1Malaysia but 1 Pati who wants to destroy the country. Keep yourself away from Mr Charcoal". Describing the article wont do any good, why don't I just show it to you.
Incriminating exhibit A:
According to this amazing comic in a certain government publication (they know themselves), all Africans are depicted as charcoal like beings with big red lips. Hahaha an interesting fact I never knew about myself. Thanks for that inaccurate description you damned publication. Don't be confused: I am actually happy that the Malay Mail has decided to publish this article, I'm pissed about the government publication that published these comics. Worse still, they distributed these during a Taxi drivers gathering of some sort at Bukit Jalil on June 25th (Now we know where those racist taxi drivers get their motivation!). EVEN WORSE we are "charcoal" people. Hm.. another interesting fact i never new about myself. Bravo, you fucking publication!
Even though they promised to investigate this matter, its too late. The people have been brainwashed since June 25th and finding the person responsible for drawing this isn't going to suddenly change their already fixed perception of Africans. Sadly, the media's influence plays a large role in this matter. We, being gullible human beings believe whatever we see on the media without observing this for ourselves. Another thing is I don't blame the media for such racism. Put yourself in their shoes for a minute and imagine there was a particular race causing trouble in your country, you would want to warn your citizens about them right? thats the noble thing to do. What I'm complaining about is that they FUCKING generalize ALL Africans as being the same. The only African country that are causing trouble here are very well known, but instead of focusing on that SPECIFIC nation they ignorantly include ALL African Nations. That is not right.
That is all I have to say on this issue. Please bear in mind hat no-one is being blamed but the media's ignorance. The Malay Mail isn't being blamed, but the publication responsible for such a comic deserves to be sued by all the African Embassies here. No racism towards any nation here, its just my honest opinion.
PS: If you do feel offended by this article, its not my concern because the last time i checked, a blog is a place where i can post my feelings and opinions. If you don't like it, find some other pretentious blog to read.