we're not all white

Lorde demonstrates how white people may want to fight against systemic racism by acknowledging her privilege and how problematic it is. Wow queen!

In circumstances other than this one, I wouldn't say that it is particularly brave to use your platform that reaches an audience of 5.51 million to speak out against the discrimination of people of colour. I'd say it was more of a moral responsibility. However, what makes this situation the exception is the existence of a phenomenon called the stuff.co.nz comments section. Lorde's ties to little old Aotearoa mean that when she tweets, whatever she tweets, it is likely to show up in a stuff.co.nz article on a slow news day. There, attached to the bottom of these articles or to their respective Facebook links, is this place that exists much like Dante's ninth circle of Hell exists just above it.

Let me be clear: this is not a condemnation of stuff.co.nz. This is a wail of anguish (and of rage) inspired by the readers of stuff.co.nz that believe their terrible, horrible, no-good opinions are worth being archived in the same place pictures of puppies are saved. But, I digress.

It is late early. I am tired. Most of all, I am angry. I am angry because of these people:

Jason, reverse racism is like the tooth fairy. It is a lie used by people to placate small minds.

Susan! What is an ethnic basket? Is my one made of bamboo or of rice paper?

Keziah... this whole mess started because a group of people didn't care about another race.

These people are also angry, but only because of three words... "all white people".  For some reason, when some people see this phrase, they forget how to read. They forget how to think critically. Certainly Jason, Susan and Keziah did. Somehow they missed the "are responsible for this system's thrive and fall" part of that sentence. I would say, and this is me thinking critically, that this is the part of Lorde's tweet that is the most important. This is the part of the tweet that does not blame all white people for the Charlottesville marches, nor does it "blame all the white people for everything that's wrong in the world" as Jason might think it does. It does not ask Susan to apologize for being white, and it definitely doesn't blame you for the actions of others, Keziah.

I single out stuff.co.nz commenters specifically because it's easier to grasp how pervasive the misunderstanding of systematic oppression is when the examples are from New Zealand. Confusing, I know. But we know that America has race-relations problems, we can see it in the media every single day; there are Nazis marching in the streets, for one. But New Zealand, sweet small New Zealand doesn't have neo-Nazis or the 'alt-right' or any such glaring examples that show us that we are ignorant of our privilege.

It is great that you are not actively racist, that you do not hurl abuse at me or other POC. It is great that the actions of ancestors do not bear any resemblance to how you conduct yourself now, in that you do not own slaves and you do not try to claim the lands of indigenous cultures as your own. Congratulations! However, these are not the only possible forms of oppression. Oppression can be passive. This is what Lorde is telling 5.51 million people, though in many more words. When you do not condemn the Nazis of Charlottesville for marching, you are oppressing people of colour. When you do not admit that the promotion of Nazi ideals is terrorism, you are oppressing people of colour. This is the systemic oppression of black people in the United States of America in live moving colour, and it is happening under the guise of 'freedom of speech'. The Declaration of Independence and the country that is supposed to protect its citizens is implicit in their mistreatment. That is institutionalized racism.

Put into a more local context, the denial that the actions of colonists some 180 years ago have anything to do with you is the kind of mindset that allows systematic oppression to thrive. This is what Lorde told us, Susan; "all white people are responsible for this system's rise and fall." Perhaps, because some people might not get past the phrase 'all white people' again, I should elaborate. The Treaty of Waitangi is the most important document in Aotearoa's history, and it has everything to do with our actions today. In terms of the future, look to New Zealand's 2017 general election, where the colonialists responsible for that Treaty are still trying to be corrected by all but two of the country's political parties. (For those that like to roll the dice, you get three guesses as to which parties they are. See the end of this post for answers.) The act of voting and participating in a general election is the most pure form of trying to change an institution and therefore the systems that form beneath it. Voting for Green Party because you want to see their 4 different policies regarding the Treaty of Waitangi put into action is an example of standing up to institutionalized oppression in New Zealand. You are using your power, your privilege as a voter to actively abate the oppression of Maori people.

It should be noted that institutionally-endorsed privilege is a heady though invisible power, and is misunderstood almost universally. I do not pretend to understand it completely, though I do somehow believe that I have the authority to write about it ad nauseam. One thing that should be understood is that privilege versus oppression is an all or nothing situation. A party that is 'passively' but systematically oppressing the other cannot then 'sometimes' be oppressed by the one with less privilege. Prejudice does not equal oppression; racism is a form of oppression, not prejudice. Basically, reverse racism isn't real.

Once more, with feeling: all white people are responsible for this system's rise and fall. Today's white people are not responsible for the actions of every other white person that has ever existed, including all that bad racist stuff. We are all only ever responsible for our own actions. What we choose to do with our own power is our business, but as it has been said before: with great power comes great responsibility. Thus, you are responsible for making well-informed decisions. Look to your policy-makers, your news media, your friendly local blog. If you have to think about whether or not you are being oppressed, you are likely to be in a position of extreme privilege. Wield it wisely. Be active, not passive.



(The two parties that do not currently have any policies related to the Treaty of Waitangi are United Future and ACT.)

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bedside manners

Recently I was confronted with something that I rarely think about: my race. Sure, I champion the Asian Agenda™ at every chance I can get. And I'm outspoken about the treatment of Chinese people in New Zealand especially. However, the fact that I am a full-blooded, purebred, 100% authentic Chinese woman is almost never in the forefront of my mind. Maybe this is because I'm at least partially "white-passing"... or have at least had complete strangers assume that I'm either 1. mixed (more often than not) 2. Filipino (sure, I guess I get it) or 3. Rarotongan (what?). Whatever it is that I look like to other people, it isn't often Chinese. 

First, some background: I work with bedlinen. This happened at work.

Arguably the worst part of this whole story is that the customer was the first of the day, right at about 10:30 in the morning, and who's ready for any kind of self-actualization that early on a Sunday? Plus, I wasn't even involved at first. The customer came in and approached my manager, telling her about the rental property she had just purchased Down South and wanted to kit out with brand new bedlinen—a normal situation in my working world. Her problem was this: she knew that a majority of her holidaymakers would be Asian, and she just wasn't sure what they liked. I had been eavesdropping and pretending that I wasn't when my manager turned to me. The customer turned too. Fuck. I had been caught in the act... of being Asian. 

Her voice was kind of giddy once she had leveled her gaze with mine:

"You can help me! ...Wait. [She looks me up and down]. Where are you from?"

"I... (am from New Zealand) (was born in Auckland) (don't know what you mean) ...I'm Chinese?"

"Perfect. You'd know what they like. You can help me."

There are so many other things I could have said in this scenario, but since I value my $15.25 an hour I stuck with:

"Sure. I'll do my best."

It wasn't even that bad, or maybe it was. I'm still not sure, 2 weeks on. The only word I'm willing to commit to here is uncomfortable. Every time she asked me "Would they like this?" and then followed up with "Do you like it?" I struggled to reconcile the connection between 'they' and me. We looked at a lot of duvet covers and she asked for a lot buzzwords to describe an aesthetic that I wasn't even sure existed. What do Asians like? How would I know? I was only one of them. If there were a scale of 'Asian-ness' I'm sure I'm near the 0 end anyway. The worst part was that I had to use the word 'they' as well. How could I say 'we' when I haven't lived in 'Asia' since I was 2 years old? When I wasn't even born there? I didn't even live in China—I had a brief stint of living in Japan for my Dad's work and that was only for a few months. But I digress. Essentially, I had been put into a tailspin of self-doubt and race relations because of bedlinen. 

The whole encounter only lasted about 20 minutes. She decided on a rich red and gold bedspread with velvet trim and tailored, padded pillowshams to match (they're like pillowcases but fancy). She said that I had been so helpful, and that she would be back for me again. After I gave her my hours, and a last piece of decorating advice, she was gone, and I was free to be me. Whatever that is.  

Ultimately, this particular Sunday changed nothing. I'm as Chinese as ever. Which I've decided is not as Chinese as the folks that go to the Christchurch Chinese Church down the road from my parent's house, but is more Chinese than the lemon chicken that you get from your local fish n' chip n' burgers n' dumplings shop. I guess all it's done is reiterated what my own idea of ethnicity is.

I decided in my first year of university that while ethnicity and race are sisters, they're not twins. Like my eyebrows. One does not define the other, is what I'm trying to say. I decided that I was a Chinese-Kiwi. My ancestry decided that I would be Chinese. I value my race because it gave me swathes of thick, low-maintenance hair and it gives my family its history. My ethnicity gives me my love for my Dad's home-made pai kuat, eaten off placemats that feature the Mount Cook Lily, Pohutukawa, and Kōwhai. What neither of them gives me, I can confidently say, is any idea of what Asian tourists want to sleep under when they visit New Zealand.

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