Why I hate racism
You don't fight racism with racism, the best way to fight them is with solidarity - Anonymous
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| Source: Qz.com |
There
are thousands or even millions of ethnics in this world, 700 of them came from
Indonesia and produced more than thousand dialects across Indonesia. The idea
of diversity actually is on human nature itself. If you slice and see the
detail for each human you met. There might be different stories you can get,
and that what makes us unique in every single way. Human is unique, even if you
see the identical twins, there would be at least 1 from them that can be used
to identify the babies itself, physically.
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rac·ism
ˈrāˌsizəm/
prejudice,
discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race
based on the belief that one's own race is superior.
It happened all the
time tho. Sometimes, we didn't realize that we do it anyway. It usually
happened when you generalize entire population of an ethnic into simple
condition(s), and usually you describe them as not-so-good/ bad behaviors
because you think your own isn't like that.
Now, let's try
thinking it deeper and see whether you've done it before or not. In my case,
sometimes in my own circle and even in my family, I found some racism
activities, such as:
1) Describe Chinese as communism, sly, cheater/ liar, evil, and many form of badness.
2) Describe Sundanese girls/ women as opportunist, taking for granted, only search "rich men", always use money to buy make-up and looks good & stuff
3) Describe Karonese men are lazy, always harsh and looking down to women, and didn't want to work hard and etc.
4) Describe Bataknese are hardworker, clever, can communicate really well etc (Coz we came from Bataknese)
And the list can go
on!
Have you ever had this kind of discussion? I bet you have. Believe it or not, what you did might refer to racism leh.
Behavior, hardskills, softskills, emotional is something really personal. Just FYI, everyone can be a jerk at the moment and really nice after that. At the same time, you might see someone who seems really nice every time, and will lost himself by being evil, apathetic, liar, opportunist at the moment as well. Definitely, it has no race and gender, right!
To argue those comments I might hear and discuss, I used to tell my interlocutors that I knew lots of Chinese who's really trustworthy, have full of faith to their god, really kind to those she's not even knew, and having so many goodness within her (1). I also know lots of Sundanese who's really kind, istiqomah, never look social status of everybody he/she met, not being opportunist, and of course, strong & independent women & not so-depend with .... Men! Hoho (2). Karonese? Hmmmm, I know one person who's really hardworker, being so independent, and guess what even though he hasn't graduated yet, he already supports himself and his family by being entrepreneur. Yet, apparently he honors everyone and never look down to woman (3). Last but not least, I know lots of Bataknese who's being hardworking, clever, and can communicate their mind really well. Fortunately I found it on most person in various ethnic as well. So yeah, they definitely knows no gender and race but effort instead (4)!
This kind of behaviors & achievement is really personal tbh. It depends on the world a person live in. If he/she used to live with their comfort zone, where they only have small dreams and small ambition. As long as they live in peace, have wife & children and continue their live the way it is .... Will support their family by having small store or something. Then it's the way it is, you'll live as it is and won't expect something bigger will come. If you live like this, believe it or not, you will have similar thought about your life (somehow it affects your thought because the surrounding you live in). I know there's no something wrong with it (as long as you didn't do criminal things and take someone's rights), coz it's what mediocre used to do. But you're definitely able to change and be bigger. I remember there's one meet-up / seminar from ITB Alumni. There's this one guy, just graduated about 5 years a go, have really nice job abroad, but then left his company because he wants to do something for the country. Got a Job, learn from it, leave it, and start his own company. And you know what, this man came from the similar environment I just described, and at the moment he thought about it and change! From someone who's never got any achievement, to be the best student on ITB, and start his own company which have been growing better day by day.
Put yourself in Someone's shoes
As someone who's been
discriminated, I felt hurt. Not being Baper or something, but
I'll feel less human because equal rights cannot be achieved that day. SO
DOES RACISM. Those who's been judged, prejudiced, and discriminated would
get the negative energy from it. As described on Blink by Malcom
Gladwell, when African-American given some test to join best university, they
split them into 2 groups, the first one was asked by their Race, while the
other one were not asked at all. The result is completely different. The first
one had less score than the other one because they felt entitled at first, that
they're different. They cannot perform better because racial prejudiced they
received. They thought the "Race" would be part of the judgement, and
that's why they won't get accepted at all. So yeah, it can destroy
someone's life and heart. So, always put yourself in that position
whether you want to be treated like that or not.
Should be noted
For those who's been
racism victim, remember one thing. Don't let other's judgement affect the way
you think. Prove them wrong. Apart from your race, you can be those
outstanding/ outliers human, as long as you can give the best effort for it. Remember being
outliers can take many form, aside from when you're born (coz in this
distraction era, it's not very clear what's the best birth year because our
world's technology move really fast every seconds!). However, I believe, you
can be a better person if you put the best of yourself in it, and take the
opportunities that's given to you!
Thanks and Br,
Rafi
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