The diversity of racial discrimination
Posted on November 12, 2018The issue of racism has always been included in our book list, but it seems that there is no detailed discussion for this, at least not about the discussion of racial discrimination worldwide. Speaking of racism, people always think of discrimination against black people in the white world, but other people of color are rarely mentioned.
Apparently, this colonial expansion product does not exist only between blacks and whites, There are various situations and of racial discrimination. However, it seems that apart from discrimination against black people, other people of color’s roles and different types of racial discrimination are missing, or people choose to turn a blind eye, but the concept of white-centrism brought about from the colonial process is worldwide.
Concerning colonial expansion, I read a literary novel called Heart of Darkness, which records the story of Captain Marlowe talking about the Congo River on a ship docked outside London, and also about the European colonization’s story. In addition to Marlow’s own African experience, Marlow’s story tells the story of a white colonist named Kurtz whom he met during his career in Africa: an idealist that will bring “civilization progress” to Africa. The sect, who later fell into the greed of the colonists. The colonial process described by the Heart of Darkness is only a part of the entire colonial expansion. At that time, the claws of this infinitely expanding desire also extended to the rest of the world, causing varying degrees of destruction of countless people and ecology. The cultural influence is also protracted, and that period was called the The European Domination of the World.
White discrimination against “other” races
Since Lincoln launched the civil war to fight for the peaceful rights of the black slaves, the status of African-Americans in American society has gradually increased since the various affirmative movements of the 1960s. With the “weapon” of racism, blacks always occupy the moral high ground for whites. In these years, all social events involving whites and blacks in the United States ended up with white racial discrimination. However, whites’ discrimination against other non-white races is rarely discussed. Much content about discrimination is only divided into black and POC, and the emphasis is on black. Should the discrimination of its type of race be taken for granted?
For example, the issue of discrimination against Asians. It is well known that the famous Chinese stars in the NBA, Yao Ming, and Jeremy Lin, suffer discrimination from the media and other athletes. Hollywood’s customary whitewashing campaign removes racial diversity. If such a remarkable person suffers such severe discrimination on such an open platform, then what about every ordinary Asian who lives here?
Discrimination chain – mutual discrimination between nations
The inevitable current society is still controlled by Western civilization to varying degrees. During the expansion, white-centrism and racism are rooted in people’s hearts. Even more frightening is that although this concept is unreasonable, it causes varying degrees of harm to people around the world. However, apart from racial discrimination between blacks and whites, whites discriminate against other POC, and the world of non-white races is still prevalent concerning mutual discrimination (for example, they will have superiority because they were colonized), and even Discriminate against their own people. Non-white ethnicity discriminates against each other. Simply put, these people are still stubbornly implementing every aspect of the chain of discrimination while they are being discriminated.In the three months I arrived in the United States, I was amazed at the power of this consciousness, but it was inevitable. What I didn’t expect was that this most severe discrimination came from non-white/non-“Europeans” and even from my people. They still believe that the more connections they have with white people, the higher their level.
Sometimes racial discrimination arises from cultural barriers/political factors. In the United States, as a large immigrant country, immigrants from all over the world are included, as if they provide opportunities for people from all over the world to discriminate against each other. In fact, it is only a place for real contacts of people from across the globe. Even in the United States, there are various kinds of racial discrimination among different ethnic groups in other countries. It is often because people lack understanding between each other, and they are caused by unwarranted hatred by inherent stereotypes or political propaganda. Should we choose to turn a blind eye to this kind of discrimination between “other” races?
Discrimination against their nation
When you discriminate against others, you also approve the racial discrimination from others against you, and fundamentally identify that your race is inferior and even discriminate against people of the same nationality. A companion from Africa once told me that this kind of discrimination is very common：“Discrimination all over the so-called “third world” is extremely prevalent! When my mother was growing up in Ethiopia, she experienced a lot of negative comments because she was dark skinned and since Ethiopia was not colonized and many people there have lighter skin than those in Sub-Saharan Africa, she was teased and sometimes called a slave.”Moreover, my Chinese companion told me that she didn’t like the Chinese and that she practiced her high-level concept in her daily life. These are very frustrating, and it can be seen that this national inferiority complex is deeply embedded in people’s minds. So how do people speak in the face of discrimination against their own people?
As ordinary people, are we also strengthening these discriminations more or less? The issue of the diversity of racial discrimination is very complicated. Should we consider these “annoying” problems as designers?
As a designer, how much can we control? How should designers find their initiative?