Racism

Call it what you may, whether it be racism, xenophobia or ethnocentrism, we all have such tendencies to discriminate others based on racial lines.

Not in the least? Well, how about the instances when we proudly refer to ourselves as Chinese-Malaysians, Irish-Americans, Afro-Canadians and so on?

See, in many ways, we are somewhat racist in nature.

Having said that, I recall a time when I was a student in Canada and there was this one person who spoke out against prejudices in perhaps one of the most profound ways. He said that Canadians should stop regarding their country as a melting-pot because while the extend of its cities are highly cosmopolitan to a very large degree, there is no way in reality that it can be a melting-pot.

Everyone comes in different shapes, sizes and colour… and that we should all accept and appreciate the differences instead of trying to turn ourselves blind to such a fact of nature, regardless of how noble the thought may be.

There is a great deal of truth to that.

But I also believe that combating racism is a very conscious effort. Let’s not fool ourselves. Yes, we all look different, come from different social backgrounds and well, are just about as unique to everyone about.

Yet at the same time, we can, if we want to, assimilate into a race of humanity as opposed to a race of ethnicity.

However, that love for humanity (and for God’s creation for that matter) has to overwhelm our racial biasness. We don’t have to pretend that the differences aren’t there. They are. We just have to begin “training” ourselves simply as Malaysians, Americans and Canadians instead.