I am a biracial Asian in the USA, and I am frequently mistaken for a white person. I grew up in an extremely poor household with both white and asian siblings, so I've lived "between two communities." Put simply, I think it's fairly obvious that white people in the United States are subjected to bizarre and cruel racist treatment that isn't easily expressed, but is made clear through various statistics, such as white people being three times as likely to commit suicide as most other races. I'll elaborate.
I have experienced racism many times in my life, both for being Asian and for being "white," and almost all of these instances were from other minorities. I've been called things like "ching chong," "Kim Jong-Un," "Mr. Chao," and of course assaulted and bullied physically. Whenever it was because I was mistaken for a white person (or simply a "light-skin"), I was able to navigate my way out of the situation by letting the other person know that I was Asian. I've been excluded from group activities for being "white," bullied, attacked, and more, and I've personally witnessed it happening to my siblings and white people in general.
My race card was simply an indispensable privilege. Yes, privilege. My white siblings had to— and still— live with the effects of racism and prejudice they cannot escape. One of my brothers attempted suicide as a child, with isolation resulting from being thoroughly outcast on the basis of his race being a contributing factor. These were problems that I was shielded from for being "Asian."
Although this is anecdotal, I have witnessed cases of systemic racism against white people. When I was receiving in-patient treatment for depression at a state hospital in 2019, the hosts of our group therapy sessions specifically told us that "minority voices should be heard first." The reason for this was that they "deal with racism in addition to other problems," and what this turned into was simply making the two white patients speak last. I was sick to my stomach every single session— here we all were, supposedly at our mutual low, yet we were expected to brazenly discriminate and marginalize people based on their race. It doesn't matter if minorities experience racism more or less— here were two people that hurt enough to want to die just as much as anyone else, yet they were told that their problems were not as bad simply for their "whiteness." I could feel the tension in the room and the way they looked away in shame waiting to speak. I still feel sick thinking about it, although I know that there was nothing I could have done— I would have been ostracized for speaking up.
In another case, I was given access to "Asian community resources," which included basic things like Asian-only scholarships, but also more broadly contacts with the "Asian Community." What would white people have been given? Would they have been given a community and a sense of belonging such as I was? Most assuredly not. The idea of a "white community" is so harsh to our ears that we can only write it with a sense of derogation.
All of this sounds fairly bad— I'm not saying white people aren't privileged, but I am saying that if I were white, my life would have been measurably worse. I have been victimized for being Asian— almost always by minorities. No doubt this is because they believe that because they are also a minority, they don't have to worry about being racist. After all, "racism is prejudice plus power."
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So why do I care so much about racism against white people? It's because I care about racism- I am an anti-racist at heart. In this case, the racism is both under addressed and an entirely taboo topic— to even insinuate that white people could be suffering in some way would get me ostracized, fired, or worse.
Anyway, excuse the jumbled rant. I've been thinking about this a lot because of recent events— I've brought up the topic IRL in the past and there's a surprising number of people with similar experiences. Interestingly, something I discovered was the racism that light-skinned Black Americans experience from their peers, and I've met several that really related to my experiences on the "racial fringe." Anyone else on Lichess that can relate to this?
I have experienced racism many times in my life, both for being Asian and for being "white," and almost all of these instances were from other minorities. I've been called things like "ching chong," "Kim Jong-Un," "Mr. Chao," and of course assaulted and bullied physically. Whenever it was because I was mistaken for a white person (or simply a "light-skin"), I was able to navigate my way out of the situation by letting the other person know that I was Asian. I've been excluded from group activities for being "white," bullied, attacked, and more, and I've personally witnessed it happening to my siblings and white people in general.
My race card was simply an indispensable privilege. Yes, privilege. My white siblings had to— and still— live with the effects of racism and prejudice they cannot escape. One of my brothers attempted suicide as a child, with isolation resulting from being thoroughly outcast on the basis of his race being a contributing factor. These were problems that I was shielded from for being "Asian."
Although this is anecdotal, I have witnessed cases of systemic racism against white people. When I was receiving in-patient treatment for depression at a state hospital in 2019, the hosts of our group therapy sessions specifically told us that "minority voices should be heard first." The reason for this was that they "deal with racism in addition to other problems," and what this turned into was simply making the two white patients speak last. I was sick to my stomach every single session— here we all were, supposedly at our mutual low, yet we were expected to brazenly discriminate and marginalize people based on their race. It doesn't matter if minorities experience racism more or less— here were two people that hurt enough to want to die just as much as anyone else, yet they were told that their problems were not as bad simply for their "whiteness." I could feel the tension in the room and the way they looked away in shame waiting to speak. I still feel sick thinking about it, although I know that there was nothing I could have done— I would have been ostracized for speaking up.
In another case, I was given access to "Asian community resources," which included basic things like Asian-only scholarships, but also more broadly contacts with the "Asian Community." What would white people have been given? Would they have been given a community and a sense of belonging such as I was? Most assuredly not. The idea of a "white community" is so harsh to our ears that we can only write it with a sense of derogation.
All of this sounds fairly bad— I'm not saying white people aren't privileged, but I am saying that if I were white, my life would have been measurably worse. I have been victimized for being Asian— almost always by minorities. No doubt this is because they believe that because they are also a minority, they don't have to worry about being racist. After all, "racism is prejudice plus power."
-
So why do I care so much about racism against white people? It's because I care about racism- I am an anti-racist at heart. In this case, the racism is both under addressed and an entirely taboo topic— to even insinuate that white people could be suffering in some way would get me ostracized, fired, or worse.
Anyway, excuse the jumbled rant. I've been thinking about this a lot because of recent events— I've brought up the topic IRL in the past and there's a surprising number of people with similar experiences. Interestingly, something I discovered was the racism that light-skinned Black Americans experience from their peers, and I've met several that really related to my experiences on the "racial fringe." Anyone else on Lichess that can relate to this?
