Review of "Are Asians Racist?"

Although quite dated (1999), this Australian Broadcasting Corporation transcript of a speech titled, "Are Asians Racist?" is in general a superb first overview of East Asian racism for those unfamiliar with the subject, though it--as the speaker acknowledges--only scratches the surface on racism in Asia.

The piece accurately points out that racism is more endemic in Northeast Asia, referred to as North Asia in the piece. Also picked up on is that Japan and Korea especially can be singled out for having large levels of racism that pervades their societies. China is also mentioned in this group, but the criticism is less pointed.

In contrast, Southeast Asia is considered, in the speech, to be less racist than Northeast Asia, but also more communalist; that is, there is a fair amount of discrimination along culturally ethnic lines, rather than genetically racial ones. Malaysia is depicted as the major communalist country in the region, while Singapore, the Philippines, and Thailand are portrayed as somewhat less prejudiced about ethnicity.

The speech makes note of the fact that across East Asia the group facing the most racism is that of 'blacks,' who are subject--to varying degrees--in both Northeast and Southeast Asia.

There are a few, relatively minor, inaccuracies, however. For instance, pointing to massacres of ethnic Chinese in the Philippines as being a case of communalism. While some were due to resentment of the Chinese' relative economic success (as a group) in the Philippines, a huge number of those ethnic Chinese massacred were killed because of Chinese uprising against Spanish rule (the Philippines was a Spanish possession from the 1500s to 1898). Although the ethnic Chinese might have been directly killed by Filipinos, it was on orders from Spanish officers and the Spanish colonial government. Nor were those particular massacres borne of nativist resentment against the ethnic 'foreigners,' but were the military response to insurrections which occasionally flared up in the ethnic Chinese community.

Overall, the speech was excellent, and ended on an extremely pertinent point: Asians are human, and all human groups have difficulties surrounding the concept of racism. Asians, Africans, Europeans, Amerindians, etc. all share with each other both their virtues and their disgraces.


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Found this article interesting? Check out:
History: The Roadmap to the Future.
History: The Roadmap to the Future--Africa.
History: The Roadmap to the Future--Asia.
History: The Roadmap to the Future--Europe.
History: The Roadmap to the Future--Latin America.

Or:
The Science Fiction Channel + Technorium.
The Vegetarian Diaries + Biologeel.