When Donald Trump gave his presidential victory speech to a shocked nation on Nov 9, he pledged to every citizen of the land that he will be president for "all Americans". Yet many Americans, especially people of colour, LGBTs, Muslims and immigrants, are now living in fear. Fear for their lives, their families, and their future.
It's not an unsound fear (as many Trump supporters failed to empathise), since a wave of hate crimes and race-related harassment rolled out not even 24 hours after his speech.
Esra Altun, a Muslim student at San Jose State University, was choked when a man yanked her hijab from behind her while walking to her car. Natasha Nkhama, a junior at Baylor University, was shoved off the sidewalk while walking to class by another student who told her "No n*****s allowed on the sidewalk". Even Asian-Americans, who are usually left alone, were targeted.
The Southern Poverty Law Center counted 700 cases of hateful harassment or intimidation only a week into Trump's victory. And though people argue that racism and hate crimes have been around long before Trump came into the picture, you can't deny that his shocking election campaigns and improbable victory finally released the monster that's been lurking in the dark underbelly of US society for decades.
Trump's overt display of racism, sexism and bigotry during his campaign has left racists and hard-core conservatives empowered to comfortably say and do whatever they please, and his lazy attempt to stop such vile acts (he did as much as saying "stop it" on CBS' 60 Minutes) seems to legitimise them even further.
What's happening in the US is horrifying. The "alt-right" -- which some believe to be a euphemism for neo-Nazism -- is on the rise, and the country that used to pride itself as the melting pot of the world is now a country where the minority are feeling more disenfranchised than ever. There's no easy way to solve it, and it's going to take a lot of education, energy, activism and reconciliation on the perpetrators' part in order to even try to close Pandora's box again.
The already disturbing spikes of hate crimes and harassment has also brought up another upsetting occurrence: Thais, who are already known for our casual racism (white = good, black = bad) and lack of political correctness (our obsession with Hitler imagery), are showing even more ignorance than usual.
Some Thais say that we shouldn't believe media reports on racist cases, and since this is 2016, racism no longer exists. All of this because the speakers themselves never faced any form of racism. These same people did not understand how insulting it was when a popular TV host recalled a story that her friend was called "Jackie Chan" by Westerners abroad.
Thais don't realise that we also have a monster lurking below the surface. People with darker skin are generally seen as unattractive or even morally bad, as seen on numerous advertisements that tastelessly use black faces. Some of our insults are literally the names of our neighbouring countries. We have an unexplained obsession with Hitler that comes out in Nazi-themed school parades, and Hitler superhero murals in leading universities.
It's a grand comparison, but in a way, our unconscious bigotry is scarily similar to the conservative extremists of the US and elsewhere. Thailand too, needs education, and we should learn, and not take example from the mistakes, crimes and social crisis that's happening in the States. Hopefully, Pandora's box will never be opened here, and Thailand will never reach the point where our ignorance will incite hopelessness and fear in other people's hearts.
Apipar Norapoompipat is a features writer of the Life section of the Bangkok Post.
No comments:
Post a Comment