Quote:
Originally Posted by MMM
We are talking about Japan and skin tone. Why does that have to be about you and your skin tone and me and my skin tone? We are not arguing about your race or your gender. You are not being asked to defend who you are, just the arguments you make. There is a separation there.
I have never regulated someones ability to discuss a topic on these forums by what their race and gender were (unless it was something that was a question to a Japanese native, but even then there are people non-Japanese qualified to answer many questions).
You quit reading that post of mine, and in my opinion that was an error on your part. I responded to all of your points up to that time in that post.
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And you've proved my point exactly.
Please, just put any bad feelings or annoyance or anything negative aside for a second and just open your mind and listen to what I'm saying. I'm black. You're white. I'm talking to you about my race, when I've been discriminated against in history and most certainly in this lifetime. I've suffered internalized racism. And I'm telling you that I feel uncomfortable because of that.
Tenchu: I'm glad you're in Thailand and having that experience. If you hadn't, perhaps you wouldn't be able to relate to what I'm trying to express right now. I most certainly do think that white people can suffer racism. I live on an island of mostly African diaspora. There are very few white people. I've seen them discriminated against countless times. My own father has been extremely racist towards white people. I've had white friends tell me they feel uncomfortable walking down the street. It's a pain that people can share because we're all human beings.
I don't think this is something only black people feel. No one likes to be alienated, no one likes to feel oppressed. It's only because we were on the topic of "saying white skin is more beautiful than black skin" that I was so strongly defending the black perspective.
I can't forget what color I am, just like you can't forget you're white in Thailand. It's because society is alienating us. I won't bring up race until I see racism, as I won't bring up gender or sexuality unless I see sexism or homophobia. I personally feel that yes, having discussions like these does just separate us as people more, because we have to make it obvious that I am black and you are white.
But how else can we stand up for ourselves? We have to talk about it.