My pregnant wife (Indian) tells me that there was only 1 day out of the last many months in which anyone gave up their seat for her on her bus ride to/from her office despite the fact that she is clearly pregnant and is carrying a laptop.
I know that despite whatever racial stereotyping I am guilty of, I am not that much of an asshole to not give up a seat for a pregnant woman. But the locals apparently are not beneath it. Apparently, it's good enough for brown-skinned women to stand in a bus that can shake violently while they rest their asses comfortably.
I was just curious to learn where this attitude comes from, esp. since the Chinese themselves must have faced enormous amounts of racism during colonial rule. So I did some Google-ing, and am sharing what I found.
Useful articles to understand and deal with racism in HK.
Harinder Veriah case. Very sad.
It seemed impossible, but at last Martin Jacques got justice for the wife he loved | World news | The Observer
The Global Hierarchy of Race
Excellent thread; the comments are insightful give a global perspective on racism:
Appalling Racism in Hong Kong | THINK! Discussions | Hong Kong Expat Forums | AsiaXPAT.com
Harinder Veriah Memorial Site
Nice blog post by a kind person:
河國榮, An Aussie in Hong Kong — Racism in Hong Kong
My thoughts:
• Be realistic : there is racism. Don't be lulled into a sense of false comfort by the politically correct platitudes that some people on geoexpat come up with instead of acknowledging a ground reality. This post is the first on geoexpat that even mentioned Harinder Veriah, even though the case happened in 2000 and it's now 2011.
• At the same time, try hard to understand what is racist behaviour and what is not. Don't assume that it's racism. For example, some people are just rude to everyone. It's not always about you. :-)
I would appreciate any advice on how to deal with it mentally / psychologically.