種族歧視的近距離接觸 Racism

這個quarter 拿了一門marriage and family therapy必修的cultural/ethic issues in marriage and family. 開學沒多久因為課程的調動，很快的就談到大概是這裡必談的種族歧視問題。我一向覺得對這個議題很冷感。過多的情緒和不理智讓我把這跟政治一樣歸類到沒必要不想淌渾水的區域。很令人意外的是，課堂上在看完一個racim group exercise的紀錄片後，整個班級一面倒的認為片中naive的白人果然是很養尊處優的優勢族群，好不容易才鬆口體會到弱勢族群的他，是處理這個議題的好模範。

說不想管種族歧視，不表示我沒有見識過。不知道是不是因為我的自我認定不是在這裡建構的，我沒有太大的欲望去澄清、去抗議、或是攻擊。但是看著影片裡張牙舞爪的黑人、落淚的墨西哥人、想被叫做中國人又要被當美國人華裔美國人，我很訝異這些minority族群呈現的無論是言論或行為，竟然都沒有引起任何一點的討論。

我天真的提出不一樣的論調，陳述在種族歧視大傘下的進步沒有被看見與讚美，另外在為種族歧視發聲時，應該可以有更深一層的自省與改變，馬上就有非裔美國同學發出不滿的意見。最後的演變是，我"應邀"在全班前面和非裔同學對話。我努力的reflect她的個人經歷、受苦經驗，搞得似乎我變成是否定種族歧視的天真傢伙。我覺得我的意見被忽略了。整個重點變成導向非裔真的還是suffer from racism。我的意見似乎穿不過牆去，停留在，「大家都攜帶非法毒品，為什麼只抓黑人」的詭異論點。說詭異是因為整個重心似乎變成大家來比誰可以犯法不被抓。怎麼沒有人想，來比誰可以不犯法？

和老師事後來來往往寫了一些email。最後給我的感覺是，這是我生平第一次覺得跟therapist說話很無趣。我聽不到她的意見，但是隱約解讀了一些不知道是否正確的潛在定見，感覺上我的意見還是對她們來講不make sense吧。也罷。不想要耗費我的一生在美國的種族歧視上。這樣子來說，我是不是其實對這件事還有負面情緒阿？

把我的論點留作紀念。

While we address existing racism, we should also actively work on eliminating bad stereotypes by doing constructive and good behaviors ourselves.

It seemed to me that no one heard what I wanted to say because statements like this quickly provoke defenses from minority groups, so my main point bounces off a wall and is not heard.

A question I want to raise related to that is ... in this country, is there still any way to address a mere fact when the fact is about negative situation with a minority group without it being labeled as racism? From my experience here in the U.S., I haven't seen any so far.

African Americans in the States had an extremely difficult time during slavery. While the situation has improved a bit (at least no black slaves now), there is still racism today, not merely between black and white, but ANY two different ethnic groups.

We should keep a dialogue going and learn how to prevent us from falling into racism either intentionally or unintentionally. But at the same time, be responsible for our own behaviors and not blame whites for everything.

Do white people cause black people to be racist? No. Why? Because people outside of this county struggle with racism too. I could list a number of examples. In my country, for example, there is tension between ethnic groups, and not a white person to blame in sight. Is racism merely an issue of differing skin color? No. Look at tension between groups outside the U.S. (Rwanda, Pakistan/India) that are all from the same "race" but have other factors that distinguish them.

While African American voice the DWB racism problem, isn't it still fact that the African Americans who are stopped were actually carrying illegal stuff? Is it the goal in the U.S. to compete with who can get away with committing a crime? Why not set a goal to "let us be the first generation who commits no crime even if we suffer from DWB?" Won't there be a time when people start to realize, African Americans no longer carry drugs even though we have a tendency to wrongly assume they do?

Tiffany shared with me that a lack of educational resources cause African Americans to retreat to drugs. So until the educational resource problem gets solved (which is proof of racism) nothing can be achieved. I feel sad to hear this because I really believe there is more things people can do to improve their situation while addressing racism at the same time.

Taiwan is not a country where education resources are equally distributed either. However, lots of people strive for education achievement because that seems to be the only way they can change the lives of their families. And our education is NOT free. We have racism between people who came to Taiwan at different times (besides the native Taiwanese), Educational deprivation, unfair arrests by police, murders, you name it--we've had it too. They also speak different languages, also, which ,like skin color, is an obvious sign of who's "in" the group and who's "out".

Just to throw out an idea to brainstorm: Don't African Americans get free education till high school like white people do here? Is there any force keeping them from finishing a high school education? From my own school application experience in the U.S., I know minorities (except Asians) have an advantage of getting into big-name schools. (Asians are actively discriminated AGAINST because their scores are too high). Do African Americans make good use of that advantage?

My goal is not to use Taiwan as the ultimate counter-argument to say what African Americans fail to do. On the contrary, I want to encourage minority groups to work harder than the majority group. At the end, we are responsible for our life, not anyone else.