By Rei Tanotsuka, 1 September 2019
It’s not what colour people call each other that signifies the peril of racism, it’s the epithets assigned to each racial group that is problematic.
It’s not racist to tell me personally (since I’m Asian), that I am the most adorable little yellow monkey you have ever seen, if you think monkeys are highly intelligent, emotionally present creatures who you are prepared to prostrate yourself to.
If yellow didn’t translate to jaundice, peril or duplicitous, then irrespective of Oriental, Asian, Occidental, every one of the preceding labels is acceptable.
Let me reverse this.
If the rose was a type of flora that looked like it belonged to a Daddy Warbucks who had fallen on hard times, with a penchant for decorating the bush solely with bird droppings, would anyone be flattered to be labelled “English rose”?
Here’s something interesting written in the journal of a slave trade captain, Anthony Fox.
He kept an account of all the crew members working on the Snow Peggy ship and this is how he described them.
When it came to noting the complexion of his crew, he only had 2 categories, brown and black.
He put most people in the brown category, including himself. Then in the black category he put the Scottish, Irish, Genoa (Italian) and the Africans.
What does colour really mean?
I liken this to karate belt grades. A white belt exemplifies a certain skill set and so does black, this is the notion of the racial divide, using colour as a symbolic gesture of the underlying value or worth of the race.
To get rid of racism, if that is the aim, obliterating the color association does not diminish the wrath of racial segregation and hate. We have to annihilate the underpinnings of racial bias and we can only ever do that, if we all stand from a point of parity to begin the discourse with.
My core message
First, every race MUST SEE THEMSELVES IN PARITY with the others. We have no where near reached this level, but the highest racial unity so far, has been achieved by White people.
Asians and blacks are way off. We have too much internal venom for our own kin, that we can’t appreciate ourselves for our differences to unite as a strong collective. We precluded our rights to partake in a meaningful negotiation of what being Asian/Black or Brown means.
In terms of a nation, White people as a collective, will fight each other for a bigger share of the spoils, but never once doubt that they, as a race, deserve to rule, irrespective of whether they call themselves brown or black. This is the reason why Europe conquered so much of the world.
The coloured people are impregnated with the fear that their own kin is some how less worthy of governing them than the white group. Witness how Japan and South Korea stations US military bases with missiles all pointed to China.
America does not even belong in Asia and we deem them to have more street cred in the region than the locals. It’s not just the facade of pandering to the US either, the Japanese sincerely prefer to be ruled by America than China. Ditto with S. Korea, Vietnam, Singapore etc.
This video asks South Koreans about their views on the Japanese. click here to watch .
The following video is pretty accurate in the sentiments of the average Japanese person you will encounter in Japan. Most will acknowledge that there is anti China propaganda, but is it enough to dissuade them from forming disparate views on an entire demographic, all the while knowing that they are indoctrinated a certain way? Generally no. Confirmation bias reigns supreme. Asian Boss
How do they feel about the country that destroyed them?
Japanese on America. While most Japanese would not want to live in America, most have very favourable views of Americans.
The Koreans are more aware of America’s racism, so I would conjecture that their news media is probably more balanced than Japan’s.
But…..China is a Commie!
Nope, that doesn’t mitigate my point because Communism began in China from the 1920s , the continental wars began before that. If we look at the often touted invasion of Vietnam by China and then the subsequent invasion by France, we see the double standard.
All invasion is wrong. So both China and France are unequivocally wrong, but within the wrong, we need to look at the degree of error.
China turned Vietnam, back in the day, into a top Asian civilization when it invaded and colonised it. When China makes another nation it’s protectorate and part of its Tributary System, it still lets the local people run the day to day affairs.
Here’s a watered down version of Vietnam’s colonisation by Britannica Vietnam – Vietnam under Chinese rule
Under French rule, it was vicious. Not only was it similar to China in that locals had to learn the colonisers language and culture, but the biggest difference between France and China is, the French immediately resorted to plunder and pillage, leaving the locals destitute.
A system of enslavement was immediately installed which alienated any rights to revolt, while military might guaranteed that the locals received none of the fruits of their labour. The zero sum game was at play. China’s dominance ensures that the locals rose together once they denounce their sovereignty in favour of China’s rule. China invaded Vietnam 4 times, an absolutely abhorrent fact that can never be scrubbed clean, but only the last brutal Ming rule rivalled the French in exploitation.
Let me reiterate that both China and France are wrong, we are only arguing which nation is less egregious in the heinous act of colonialisation.
Yet ask any Vietnamese person and the majority will be positive about the French and totally hate the Chinese and argue that the Chinese were worse even though using an objective measure, it is contestable. The brutal Ming rule lasted 20 years, the brutal French rule, 60 years.
Ditto with Japan. China, never invaded or harmed Japan. America bombed Japan twice and is still bullying Japan, firstly with the Plaza Accord and now, with the forced purchases of agriculture to make up for America’s excess because China won’t buy anymore.
Yet ask the average Japanese, and you will see that out of the 2 countries that they secretly hate, they hate China with much more aplomb than America even though objectively, China has not at all harmed them in the same way the US has.
No Asian Unity
This is what I mean by lack of Asian unity. I don’t mean that the Brits don’t fight with the Americans, I mean when push comes to shove, all the Anglo Western nations especially, would galvanise against a rising coloured enemy despite being at odds with each other. White people are resilient because they NEVER DOUBT what being White means in terms of identity, honour and patriotism. It’s first and foremost to their kin.
How many times have Asians stood half as strong? Never.
We have participated in the gang rape of our fellow Asian when Western powers molested her. We stood back and marvelled at our contributory scars on her ravished body, and shook the hands of the stranger for defiling her and stripping her bare of innocence and dignity.
Always, always think for yourself. Don’t let propaganda sway you into accepting less, always look at the actions rather than listen to the belletristic song of the advocate who is telling you that the world is suffering from a revised oppression against the dominant order and in fact, it is the “minority” groups who are the aggressors. We are not there yet!