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What being a minority allows us to see

by Amy Chavez

Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it all before — many times. Someone called your child hafu (half) and you take offence. Or your contract is only one-year renewable, whereas your Japanese coworkers have “lifetime employment.” Or maybe someone called you a gaijin as you walked by. I’ve heard these stories dozens of times and while having myself been in some of the same situations, and while I can empathize, I also feel these “victims” are missing the point.

First of all, I’d like to say that discrimination is never acceptable. We all know that. Yet it continues to happen every day in Japan. Perhaps you have been told you are not allowed to enter a public bath because you either you have a tattoo, or because you’re a foreigner (and thus, it is believed, will behave inappropriately). Or maybe it’s that the clerk at the convenience store is visibly nervous that a foreigner has approached the counter, and that she, the clerk, may have to speak English. Or worse, the clerk doesn’t even listen to your flawless Japanese and responds inappropriately because she wasn’t listening to what you said in the first place.

Yes, this is Japan. Now, let’s jump to the rest of the world. Everyone admits that while discrimination (and stereotyping) are wrong, they happen all over the world, even in our own countries. So why is it that the very people who are discriminated against in Japan can’t empathize more deeply with those who are discriminated against in their own countries? Why is it still, as long as they are in their home countries, something that doesn’t concern them?

The Japanese are no more racist than Americans or people of many other countries. The only difference is that when you come to Japan, for the first time in your life, you are a minority and get to see what it’s like to be one. But for some reason, while here in Japan, discrimination suddenly becomes a personal affront, because it’s happening to you. And unfortunately, what follows tends to be the same conclusions: “The xenophobic Japanese!” Or “The Japanese are racist!” Now who is doing the stereotyping?

After being subjects of discrimination here, we scream like spoiled children, “Unfair!” While we have suddenly gained insight and an ability to see though the eyes of minorities around the world, we are blinded by our own self-worth and don’t suddenly empathize with other minorities struggling to achieve equality. No light bulb goes on in the head making us think: Aha! This is why the pilgrims fled England for North America! Or: So this is what the African-Americans in the U.S. struggle with every day!

Your small brush with discrimination in Japan is something that has been a lifelong battle for others who were born into a life of being a minority in our own countries. And many of them suffer far worse than we do in Japan.

Try being an African-American in the U.S. Or an aboriginal in Australia. Or a LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) in any country in the world. Every day people will judge you by your appearance. They may even fear you enough to walk down the other side of the road to avoid you.

I lost a job in Japan once due to discrimination. It was the worst year of my life as I grappled with the meaning and ramifications. But now I look back on it and realize it was one of the best things to happen to me because it made me have a better understanding of the world. It’s very hard to understand discrimination, and equally easy to deny its existence, if you have never experienced it.

As a result of my experience, I have developed a sense of “compassion,” a word not used nearly enough, and rarely even understood, in the US. Compassion should be the most basic of seeds planted in every person’s heart who has had experience with discrimination.

Before I came to Japan, I readily admitted there was racism in America. But it didn’t have anything to do with me — it wasn’t my problem. But now I think differently. Racism is everyone’s problem.

Such an experience should make you to take a good look at yourself-and see how you — yes you — have also, albeit inadvertently, discriminated against others. Are you tolerant of other people’s race and religion? What about that person with a speech impediment, the extremely short person or the extremely tall? The fat girl or too skinny guy? The gay community? It could even be a simple matter of being judgmental in a situation you have no business judging.

If you ask minorities about their own “micro-aggressions,” I think you’ll be surprised. Have you ever asked them?

If you have never been discriminated against, you are lucky. But at the same time, you are also ill-prepared to understand discrimination on the deepest levels. You will most likely deny that you discriminate against others. Yet we all do, whether we realize it or not. After all, I’ve never met anyone who thinks they themselves are racist.

Our own experiences should allow us to reach out to others and try to understand them better. It’s a great opportunity to take a deeper look at our own behavior right and our own hidden evils. While no one is perfect, there is a huge difference between trying to right our imperfections and not trying at all. It’s the difference between playing the victim, and using your experience to empower others.

This is the role of compassion. To accept that these problems are your own and be willing to not just admit they’re wrong, but to do something about them. Speak on the behalf of other minorities, help raise their profile. Especially you — you who have had a taste of what it’s like to be in their shoes!

Just once I’d like to hear someone who has been discriminated against in Japan say, “Now I know what it is like to be an African, Iranian or Muslim in the U.S.” or “Now I will work harder to eradicate all forms of discrimination, to make the world a better place for everyone.”

It’s not a case of us and them but “we.” We need to work together on this. The best way to fight discrimination is by using your experience for personal growth, and to spread the idea of compassion while working to develop a mind that is non-judgmental.

All too often what happens when a majority suddenly enters the minority, is accusations toward the other culture. When really, it should make us look more closely at our own.

Amy Chavez is the author of “Japan, Funny Side Up” and “Running the Shikoku Pilgrimage.”

  • Diane E Johnson

    So true!

  • JusenkyoGuide

    YES! Thank you! Thank you for writing this, this is exactly what we need to hear more of.

  • blondein_tokyo

    It’s a good thing to be made more aware of one’s privilege and develop empathy for those who experience discrimination. But this piece still needs some work, because as it’s written, it’s almost like the author is saying, “Don’t complain about the discrimination you receive here because minorities in your own country are experiencing the same thing.”

    To finish the article, I want her to explain what we should actually DO with our new found understanding and empathy. Is she encouraging activism? I hope so.

    I also wonder if the author doesn’t realize that some of us complaining about discrimination in Japan ARE minorities who have had similar experiences in our own countries. Hello author! You can’t assume that every person reading this is ignorant of racism, homophobia, and other forms of discrimination. Some of us are quite well aware, and this piece doesn’t address that.

    All in all, it’s a weak piece of writing, and not well thought out.

    • Ian LLewellyn Davies

      Possibly you are one of the “grumpy gaijin” the writer is referring to? Always making a storm out of a cup of tea. Some people seem to look for offense.

    • Yamashiro44

      I agree. In The USA I have worked to fight the listed types of discrimination. In Japan, about 15 years, i saw no one who would stand up to the obvious ‘gaijin’ discrimination.

      When I made mention of the situation, the standard reply was, “This is Japan.”
      Tom Mountcastle

    • IanPG

      Thank-you. Yes, it is entirely possible for a minority in America(say a Puerto-Rican American) to travel to Japan, attempt to integrate into Japanese society, and face discrimination all over again.

  • IanPG

    Unfortunately, many of Canada’s aboriginal peoples, especially residential school survivors, weren’t able to enjoy a nice, multicultural upbringing.

    • Lynda

      Which was reprehensible but residential schools happened long before the official multicultural policy came into effect. No one is saying that Canada or any other country or any individual is free of racism or discrimination–now or in the past. However, as a non-Japanese coming from Canada to Japan I do experience the racism, sexism, ageism and stereotyping much more overtly than in Canada. Paul is quite correct in stating that the experience non-Japanese face in Japan can give them a new perspective and appreciation of their own culture. More especially if that person has identified as Japanese (Canadian).

  • Sam Gilman

    It’s rather unfortunate that the author’s message has been rather misinterpreted by a lot if commenters here. The message is not “Westerners are discriminated against in Japan just like African-Americans and Muslims in the US.” That would be a daft thing to say.

    Instead the author is clearly asking people to use their experience of being a minority here to reflect on prejudice back home and gain a little bit more empathy and awareness about prejudice everywhere.

    Perhaps a more threatening, but more relevant question to think about is not whether or not westerners in Japan can have special access to the feelings and experiences of ethnic minorities in their own country, but whether back home they, or their friends or family, have displayed or expressed the kind of prejudiced behaviour there that they dislike here?

    Ever made a comment about Mexicans or Hispanic immigrants? Ever joked about Irish being drunks? Said something about how “blacks need to sort themselves out” over crime? About Asian-American parenting? About Poles in the UK or Lebanese in Australia? About white people’s coldness or innate racism? Ever made a joke about what Chinese eat? Have any of your relatives disapproved of a partner to another relative who’s from the “wrong” ethnic group? Have you or friends made fun of or expressed frustration with someone’s inability to speak good English in America/Australia/UK etc. Have you or anyone you know ever decided to avoid going through a certain area of town because the ethnic make-up makes you nervous? Ever slagged off the French? Joked about Jews controlling Hollywood? Ever wondered out loud “what is wrong with these Muslims?”

    Have you done any of these but want to say “it’s not the same” – ie justify or forgive behaviour that you would strenunuously object to a Japanese person doing or saying about you? Do you feel like saying “it’s different when the Japanese do it”? In fact, have you ever sat around and just b**ched about “The Japanese”?

    The point here is not to make light of racism in Japan, but to raise awareness of how it exists everywhere, and in particular for those of us who grew up as the majority ethnic group in our countries of origin (including Japanese in Japan), raise awareness of the contrast between how we too often don’t notice it, or give it a free pass, or downplay the significance when it’s our group doing it, but are hypersensitive when we are suddenly the minority elsewhere.

    • qwerty

      you sound like yet another “guest gaijin” – ie, you came to Japan (a relatively long time ago), you liked it – your life was so much better here than where you came from (a bit like charisma man (or カリスママン or Karisuma Man), you feel such gratitude that you think it’s your duty to defend this enchanted land of any criticism, because you feel you are defending your new (and much better) life. In effect, you are defending yourself (so you defend it “tooth and nail”)

      • blondein_tokyo

        I don’t think you got the gist of Sam’s comment. He is not making light of the racism in Japan. He’s saying people have double standards when it comes to judging how pervasive racism is. When it happens to someone else, we don’t even notice it, but when it happens to us, suddenly it becomes a huge problem. He’s making a point about privilege which is quite similar to the one the author made.

        I also didn’t realize that you can tell, just by reading one comment, how long someone has been in Japan. Interesting. :)

      • Sam Gilman

        No, I stated explicitly that Japanese prejudices against minorities in Japan are part of the problem. Perhaps you should read people’s comments before replying to them.

        By the way, qwerty, you should be aware that with the Disqus commenting system, I get to see who has replied to me and what they have written, whether or not their reply is eventually accepted by the moderator. This comment is the first in about seven attempts across two different threads that has managed to get through moderation (you wrote three rapid replies to this one comment!). Like this one, the other replies have been fairly abusive, although I particularly enjoyed the one where you bizarrely suggested only people with a fetish for tea ceremony would bother to learn Japanese.

  • Sam Gilman

    To be fair, I don’t think that Amy Chavez is saying there is an equivalence, but you are right that equivalence is often rather hysterically made by white men in Japan.

    • David

      I’m a white male in Japan, and some things make me grit my teeth, but I do remember that up until now, I have never had to endure any of it in the US.

  • Mark Makino

    You’re right, of course. What I meant to say is that we should avoid using it as a technical term to mean “people with other nationalities” when what most people in Japan hear is “white people with funny accents who eat bread and meat”. If we were having this discussion in the US I guess it’d be something more like Borat, assuming a “foreigner” stereotype exists there. There are other words we can use that validate common chauvinism less than “foreigner”.

  • Lynda

    Your line of argument is both an assumption and a non-sequitur. I was not implying that whites never discriminate against whites–if they didn’t a term such as “white trash” would not exist. I merely addressed Paul’s point–a single point. This is a comment thread, not an article. I never said, nor do I think that others with Japanese blood are “all the same.” You did. As usual you are mainly waring by baiting others.

    • http://www.dadsarmy.co.uk/ GMainwaring

      Excuse me, but you are the one who said, and I quote:

      “So ironic. Nisei and Sansei from Canada or Peru or Brazil aren’t Japanese enough and are lumped in with all the rest of the gaijin”

      Why *wouldn’t* they be “lumped in” with the rest of the foreigners, they *are* foreigners! But since you wrote “how ironic” you really come across as thinking that, for whatever reason, Japanese should recognize Nissei and Sansei as “fellow Japanese” and not “foreigners” – which makes no sense at all.

  • Toolonggone

    I don’t think she has any dealings with him in the first place. Debito also made it clear in his blog that he would not engage in the critique of this article, and instead, let other folks have their say. He doesn’t see her as one of his enemies, either. You’d better be careful when you judge who she is. She’s not the same kind of person like Paula Dean or Ann Coulter for preaching white cultural supremacy. Not even close to a notorious Gregory Clark. Her claim that racism is everyone’s problem is pretty fair. The problem is that her argument does not account for the difference between what people experience in real life and the way people express their feelings of bitter experiences as the message to the general public. That’s why her message is misconstrued by some people.

  • Toolonggone

    >”The author is basically telling foreigners to be grateful for being discriminated against.”

    Right. That’s “because that allows them an opportunity to make a collective response to the society.” That’s the premise of her argument. This pretty much depends on how you look at. It could be misinterpreted in any way, so we might want to give her the benefits of the doubt. I personally don’t see her attitude appalling, but I agree she’s kind of naïve about the challenges of raising collective consciousness toward racism.

  • Paul Tatsuya Nakashima

    To be fair, I am adamant in identifying myself as the *gaijin* term. I find since Japan is an old and more homogenous society than say modern US or Canada, there is less exposure of the general Japanese population to real foreign citizens and they just see what is portrayed by the JP media. When I start to think that if I was to be raised in Japan and end up like the general population here I count my blessings to be Canadian and have had the opportunity to be raised with most major cultures around the world.

    I encounter so much puzzlement when they identify me as JP looking, and speak JP and yet I want nothing to do with them. I have had many people say offhand condescending remarks about gaijin when I am in their presence. Then when I mutter “Gaijinですけど・・・”, they remark im Japanese! I shouldnt take any offense. This train of thought alone disgusts me as a Canadian.

    Its really a shame, if only Japan didn’t have this us and them mentality and nationalistic pride, it would be a better place. Then who am I to say? As it would rob Japan of one of its characteristics that helped them progress this far. There are movements of Islam in Britain going on along the same thought, but viewed as extreme by many others as it promotes violence. Wanting to change their new country because they think their own views are better, but willing to take much more action in their beliefs. As minorities or immigrants in a new country or culture, I think everyone goes through the same as we do now in Japan. We may have no other choice than learn how to cope in our own way.

    Sorry for the wall of text, if anyone manages to read this far I recommend this video I found on the net the other day regarding human psychology and racism/stereotypes.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=328wX2x_s5g&t=1125

    The racism section starts around the 18 minute mark and may help others accept and deal with the racism and stereotypes they may encounter here.

  • Gordon Graham

    The irony of statements like “The Japanese are racists”, never fails to give me a chuckle.

  • Enteringsandman

    Most of this isn’t true. Not certain about Japanese accommodation laws, but this article has a law professor (near the bottom) saying so http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2013/04/23/issues/student-seeking-kyoto-flat-told-no-foreigners-allowed/#.UhLxuJLI3g8. Do you have any evidence you can link to about suing occurring?

    I’m not talking about what most people would call foreign nationals. I’m talking about people who’s grandparents moved to a country, and parents lived their for their entire lives. In the UK (can’t be bothered to look up other developed countries, but I’m fairly sure they’re similar) if your parents are legally resident (i.e. not citizens) then you can opt for dual citizenship. See here http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/britishcitizenship/othernationality/Britishcitizenship/borninukorqualifyingterritory/. In japan Koreans must forgo their nationality to become Japanese citizens: something they are often not willing to do given recent history of Korean invasion and assimilation.In the UK you do not, see http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/britishcitizenship/dualnationality/.

    So basically no, the rules are different.

    • http://www.dadsarmy.co.uk/ GMainwaring

      Suing landlords for refusal to rent based on race/color:

      http://www.pref.osaka.jp/kenshin/users-guide/sosho.html

      Also while I cannot find the exact law that governs renting apartments etc., it was updated over a decade ago and refusal to rent based on employment, race, religion etc. is specifically forbidden by law. With all due respect to Colin Jones, he is talking about generic anti-discrimination laws and the Constitution, or trying to swat a fly with a very large tree. He’s going too broad-based.

      Re. citizenship issues, while the UK and some other countries may allow dual nationality to those who naturalize, most nations do not. Examples would include, but are not limited to, Japan, Republic of Korea, Holland, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Spain and Poland. The US does not require one to prove they have formally renounced their previous nationality but does require those who naturalize as US citizens to take an oath in which they renounce all allegiances to the country of their pre-existing citizenship. The US position is that while they do not endorse dual nationality, they cannot force someone to formally renounce their previous citizenship.

      Incidentally Japan does allow nationals of countries, such as Iran for one example, which do not allow their nationals to renounce to become Japanese nationals while keeping their previous citizenship.

      As I said, Japanese laws are not at all at variance with international norms.

  • http://www.dadsarmy.co.uk/ GMainwaring

    Indeed – if there is some unique fault with Japan it is that they are brutally honest. In other countries, all you would get is a rejection without reason from a landlord or business or a “we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone”. well, except for that (in)famous US restaurant which had a “spoken English required for service” sign. They got sued for “discrimination” – and the restaurant owner won in court!

    Sometimes I can’t help but wonder how different things would be today if a certain onsen owner had been smarter and posted a “We reserve the right to refuse service” sign instead of the one he did post…

  • Moonraker

    Looks like Captain Mainwaring has something against people who drink in the local Hub. My local one in Umeda, Osaka is full of Japanese and very few “gaijin” (seems to be the in-vogue appropriation, right?). Still, he is one of the long-term, knowledgeable people who can speak Japanese and read a paper and lives with the locals and is rightfully proud of that. I appreciate it is one long struggle against false impressions, just like for the bumbling character he uses as a moniker.

    “Don’t Panic, Captain.”

  • C.J. Bunny

    Don’t mention it, the pleasure was all mine.
    But I thought it has been established that this sort of discrimination was illegal in Japan.
    Anyhoo, the refusal to rent is really a business decision than from racial hatred. Just as a poor credit history discriminates you as a potential poor payer, being males discriminates you as an increased car insurance risk, being foreign in Japan suggest an increased likelihood of problems with neighbours, damage or payments or just from running away after earthquakes. This is just business.
    As George says, the Japanese are just honest about the reason and this gives you the chance to have individual circumstances looked at. In my limited experiences a landlord that initially refused foreigners was happy to accept once they heard how wonderful I was. In other countries, excuses given mean that the discrimination is under the table and totally based on race. I didn’t get where I am today by knowing the difference between one country and another.

  • Hanten

    I generally love Amy Chavez’s writing as her insights into Japan have taught me so much. Here, though, I have a couple of bones to pick.
    Firstly, Americans are not the only gaijin in Japan. I am sure I am not the only non-American gaijin who is sick of being invisible in your gaijin generalisations. Next, Japan’s workforce is being casualised at an alarming rate so lifetime employment is becoming rarer. A lot of women, young people as well as foreginers are only offered one year contracts.
    Thank you for stimulating conversation amongst many foreigners!

  • http://ameblo.jp/cluttered-talk/ Nancy

    “Unfair!”
    I see, one thing I can offer might be, “fairness” is not a notion existed in our cuture in the first place.
    We’re not a tribe weighing fairness first.
    I don’t tend to discuss its just or unjust at all, it’s only a fact, culture.
    And I don’t tend to display its why either, since people in here rather not like to here that.
    What I know else is, there’re Western people much weighing fairness, I can almost guess their why, and sometimes it’s useful when I deal with them, maybe I’m a cunning Japanese, sorry.

  • carlos

    Sorry, this is the failure of western thought. The assumption that absolute morality is possible or even desirable.

    People will treat different people differently. This is never going to change. You can ask for politeness, but that’s about it.

    You must allow some degree of racial and ethnic self-interest, misunderstanding, and othering or people start feeling like they have no group agency. The power to discriminate as a group, against another group, IS part of being a group. Forcing people to empathize with each other is precisely why multiculturalism works poorly in the West. Westerners are just blind to it because they think good intentions backed up by moral outrage = practical solutions. It doesn’t.

    • Corey Coleman Alexander

      Carlos, the only problem with that thinking is where does it end? Where does this racial predominance that we all need to have end? Globalization is here to stay, and we all have to communicate with each other. Without mutual respect, communication breaks down and wars start. Humans naturally want to dominate each other, where culturally or physically or otherwise. It’s playing with fire I think when you promote racial separation as it naturally leads to racial predominance.

  • blackpassenger

    Thanks for this article. I find it so incredibly ironic when white people complain about their encounters with discrimination in Japan to me. Me, a black man who’s lived extensively BOTH in the US and the UK. My response is always, “well, you understand.” Funny thing, having been a foreigner most of my life since I left my native Jamaica at 15, 33 years ago, discrimination in Japan is like water off a duck back to me.

    • Passuer

      I have to call BS on this. I am a minority in the US. I grew up as the only black family in a high school of over a thousand. During my junior year, another family of blacks moved in and suddenly, there was a problem. Really? I fully understand that people have a right to the heritage, but I absolutely know that a lot of people take every slight as an opportunity. So when I visit Japan (three times now) could I be a jerk and complain, sure. Does it help anyone? No. I continue to live my life by judging people by their character. But I have no hope that everyone everywhere ever will.

  • AzraelSRK

    “The only difference is that when you come to Japan, for the first time in your life, you are a minority and get to see what it’s like to be one.”

    Um, speak for yourself. I was born a minority.

    You want to hear something funny though? I spent my first 21 years in America. I’ve been living in Japan for the past 10. I have encountered way more stereotyping in Japan than in America. Hands down. In America I was lucky to have lived in nice, open-minded communities for the better part of those 21 years. So while that’s fortunate, I can still safely say that I’ve never encountered as much racism and stereotyping as I do in Japan.

  • Someone with eyes

    Amy, you need to make it clear from the beginning that you’re writing to other white foreigners in Japan. White people are a minority of the foreigners here, in case you didn’t notice!

  • qwerty

    my argument is that there is a lot of discrimination and racism in japan – like many other countries? or not as bad as many other countries? – maybe. the first time for many to experience it? yeah, maybe, but it’s here, and it’s wrong.
    the guests say – aww, poor you, get over it, it’s not “apartheid-era South Africa” – go back home if you don’t like it. but, I live in japan, so I’ll talk about japan – the argument that other countries are worse, doesn’t get anyone anywhere – it keeps the status quo, which is what the guests want – I’m not sure whether they are delusional or just don’t want to face the truth, but they defend pretty much any criticism of this magical land, which gets my goat.

  • Susan Kelly

    You make a good point, but it would be a better piece if the tone weren’t so flippant.

  • Diane E Johnson

    Okay, so now the foreign-born visitor or resident can understand the experience of being a minority, perhaps a good life lesson. That being said, it doesn’t mean such person has to like it. Nothing will change if we quietly acquiesce.

  • Sam Gilman

    Apologies for not being clearer: the problem is not whether someone has made a light-hearted joke at the expense of another nationality or ethnicity, but whether they then find the same action by a Japanese offensive when directed at them. It’s about whether they brush off an older relative’s meanderings on race as “just an old person sounding off” while being outraged when a Japanese pensioner does the same about them. It’s about hypocrisy.

    You may not find comments about big noses offensive, but, for example, Japan Times columnist Debito Arudou does, even as he makes “satirical” comments about yellow skin.

    Does that make better sense?

    • qwerty

      condescending twaddle – yes you are making “light of racism in Japan” – saying it’s everywhere, or worse in some places is trying to do exactly that. your joke analogy is also nonsense – as was pointed out – a good joke is “actually making fun of racism”. I’m not talking about jokes, but about a serious, and growing problem of full-blown, often open and accepted racism. and by the way. I’m not just talking about first-time minority, white westerners

  • Murasaki

    OK I really am missing something, I am an Australian born Brit, had racism thrown at me daily in Australia because not Australian blood, but here in Japan in a total of 11 years only twice had to deal with racism.

    I think the problems gaikokujin have in Japan is problems they have brought on themselves.

    • David

      Life is hit or miss like that. It’s tough to say how valid anyone who claims they are victims of racism are; we weren’t there. I’m sure someone would come out of the woodwork to say Australia’s not racist because of their positive experience. Sometimes you have to thank your lucky stars, and hope people handle their problems with grace.

  • Shams

    I agree that it is common to be treated badly or to get a discrimination if you are the minority. Most of us are discriminating others but we do not see ourselves as being one if we are the one who is majority. Discrimination happens by wildly different reasons, including religious difference, being from different nation, being different than others, and much more.

    I dont think discrimination is never acceptable, sometimes minority will have to be discriminated if that minority is or to be the cause of problem. Yes, there is a lot of population that is involved in discrimination but not everyone. For those who have been to different nations or have been enrolled into international community, they do not participate in discrimination and that is clearly visual.

    This kind of problem that is created between majorities and minorities can be seen in different point of view or ways. For example, if two different groups have different ideas it naturally causes them to discriminate each other. In other words I think discrimination is one of the sense that humans naturally got in order to maintain their opinions around others.

  • David

    I’m an American from the east coast; I feel similar.

  • David

    I have lived in Taiwan, and now Japan. It was only in Japan that I had the thought, “Now I know what it means to be an immigrant or minority who is discriminated against in America.” I don’t believe I fully understand what it means to live under discrimination, but it has caused me to have respect for minorities and understand some of the emotions they feel, and the difficulty of exercising restraint and not acting out of their frustrations. It has also caused me to understand how easy it is to slip into paranoia, and that it is important to give people the benefit of the doubt. It is very, very hard to put yourself in the shoes of an ignorant or insensitive majority, but it needs to be done (to an extent) or you will see racists behind every bush, and that is not reality.

,