What Race Am I? Which Ever One Works Best.

 Thanks to an actress masquerading as a Duchess, the topic of racism has made global headlines once again. Her timing was good. The world needs to discuss the issues of race, especially as an increasing number of nations become increasingly multiethnic and as the last four years have shown, the nations that have taken pride in being multiethnic have seen a greater number of tensions between the various communities. Far Right Anti-Migrant views which were once regarded as the preserve of the mentally deranged a decade ago, have now become mainstream. It’s very clear that even if race is only skin deep, the feelings that people have towards people of a different skin tone go down to the bone.

If you understand this, one will also understand one of the basic rules of being an ethnic minority – namely, downplaying your ethnicity and trying to identify with the ethnic majority. In the USA, this was most clearly seen in last year’s Black Lives Movement protest, where you had Asian Americans siding against Black Lives Movement protest as can be seen in this Hassan Minhaj video explains:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_FE78X-qdY

In Singapore, this is seen in the Tamil minority community. You have Tamils who speak several Chinese dialects fluently but can’t speak a word of Tamil. In Thailand and Indonesia, the ethnic Chinese communities have taken local names. Mr. Chearavanont who runs Charoen Pokphand, one the largest animal feed companies in the world is actually Mr. Chia. When dealing with Americans, I’ve noticed that it’s always Americans descended from an ethnic group that always make it a point to stress that they are “AMERICAN” while the “White” Americans are more at ease about talking their ethnic origins. The Irish in America are particularly proud of their “Irish” roots.

What defines race? At the most basic, its often what you look like. In the decade that I lived in the UK; I was obviously Oriental. It was just a question of whether I was Chinese, Japanese or Korean. Officialdom in Singapore defines race as being what your father happened to be. When I adopted the Evil Teen (Who has since become the Fierce Adult), her race on her Singapore IC became, Chinese.

However, while there is a legal and physical definition of race, there is also a question of what race do we identify with. I, for example, am racially Chinese but my spoken Chinese is awful and I’m more likely to get myself understood in Hindi than I am in Hokkien. While I am physically Chinese, I don’t see myself as particularly so. I am just me. Or as a former client (who happens to be Gujurati Jain) said, “Are you sure Tang is Chinese, he sounds more Indian to me.”

Then there’s the example of “Bruce Lee,” whose first language was Cantonese and grew up in Hong Kong. Mr. Lee always played the “Savior” of the “downtrodden” Chinese people in his movies.

Interestingly enough, the “Perfect Chinese Hero,” is a quarter German and his mixed-race heritage played a role in his formative experiences, including being banned from martial art schools.

https://thesixfifty.com/the-time-lapse-the-secrets-of-bruce-lees-heritage-are-in-san-bruno-20b60fa7af6c

 

The Ultimate Chinese Hero wasn't pure Chinese

Many years later, there was “Barak Hussain Obama,” who became the 44^th President of the USA. Mr. Obama became known as “America’s First Black President.” However, if you look Mr. Obama’s heritage, he is merely black because his father was from Kenya and his formative experiences are far removed from the blacks who were born and raised America.

While it made political sense for Mr. Obama to identify himself as the “Black” President, Mr. Obama is in fact half white. His mother’s life story is actually fascinating when it comes to breaking racial boundaries. His mother, Ms. Ann Dunham was a white girl who grew up in the 60s (when racial segregation was very much legal and culturally accepted) and chose to have children with not just one but two men of colour (Obama’s stepfather is Indonesian)

 

The Black President was more Colourful

If you look at the racial mix in Mr. Obama’s family, you’ll realise that identifying him as a “black” president was actually disservice to the cause of civil rights. Sure, it gave the “black” community a hero but at the same time it limited the race debate to being a black versus white one and given that his successor ran on the platform of being an “Anti-Obama” we ended up with a larger white-versus-black issue.

Now imagine if he had been able to say that he was the first “multi-ethnic” and “multi-cultural” president. If only Mr. Obama had said “I am from every community.” Let’s hope that Ms. Kamala Harris, the current Vice-President understands that. She is promoted as the first “black” and “Indian” vice-president. Now, if only she could find a way of showing how a “black-Indian” lady can be happily married to a White Jew as a good example of racial unity.