Natalie Shobana Ambrose (2 July, 2009 - theSun)
We’ve come to the middle of the year. July 2nd means that we’re right smack at the midpoint of 2009. It’s been an interesting 6 months. We’ve got a new leader, a new cabinet, lots of new by-election candidates, new court cases, interesting bills and even a brand new slogan. We’ve also had quite a few revolutions in the form of colours- yellow, orange and even black.
Revolutions have been going on for a very long time. If you believe in Adam and Eve, perhaps you’d agree that their behaviour in the Garden of Eden was the beginning of a revolution which sparked an extensive list of change - political, social, cultural, technological, intellectual and philosophical change that have served as markers in our human history.
In Latin, the word revolution means “a turn around” which is really a turn around in the way we think. So I’m wondering since it’s the middle of the year, maybe we need a turn around regarding our fetish with race.
We in Malaysia speak about race in subterfuge. We’re so concerned about colour even within our own races that we are doubly wrapped in prejudice within our own communities and against other races. We’re so immune to it that we don’t realize that we ourselves might be the culprits of spreading racism and be closet fascist. It’s easy to see and speak in vivid colour when every time one picks up the newspaper there is talk about race which though meant for good ends up offending and pushes people further away from the bridge of unity, hence my call for a quite revolution.
Throughout history, revolution has started with a resolution. I think it’s high time we decided for ourselves how we want to see ‘others’. After all it’s our legacy that we leave behind not the policies and slogans of our country.
Yes there are structural inequalities in place but isn’t that the case all around the world? What we need to realise is that it’s structural issues and cultural problems that are at the core - not race. Sometimes its not a quota system that stops us from being the best, it’s our lack of determination. We’ve given up before we even tried. If you’ve been discriminated against because of the colour of your skin, the best thing you could do is to succeed, because that would be the biggest slap in the face for the people that tried to oppress you.
So perhaps we could start a quiet revolution - one that decides to check our thought, and stop ourselves from indulging in stereotypes and prejudices as we look kindly at one another because that is the essence of being human.
A couple weeks ago, I attended a race relations forum with two good friends. Half way through the forum we realized we were all ethnicly different. To us it didn’t matter what race we were, it mattered that we enjoyed each other’s company and believed more in humanity that race.
I recently came across this poem by Saadi an Iraqi poet who aptly says;
Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain.
Maybe the resolution for the next half of the year would be for us to turn around our prejudices, look at ourselves and make a change instead of waiting for policies, politicians and slogans to change our circumstances. It will take a while before our policy makers realise that being one means not dividing unity by race. So in the mean time, we can start by being part of a quiet revolution that values life more than race.
We have to start with ourselves and if we stopped our own prejudices and consciously decided to get to know people who are different from us, then we could be part of a quiet revolution towards the unity of humanity that values one another based on the sanctity of life and not colour.
There is no room to be passive victims of racism … we should really be the change because there is too much to loose if we remain silent.
Natalie is echoing an MJ song and resolutes not to live her life being a colour and hopes that you might too.
We’ve come to the middle of the year. July 2nd means that we’re right smack at the midpoint of 2009. It’s been an interesting 6 months. We’ve got a new leader, a new cabinet, lots of new by-election candidates, new court cases, interesting bills and even a brand new slogan. We’ve also had quite a few revolutions in the form of colours- yellow, orange and even black.
Revolutions have been going on for a very long time. If you believe in Adam and Eve, perhaps you’d agree that their behaviour in the Garden of Eden was the beginning of a revolution which sparked an extensive list of change - political, social, cultural, technological, intellectual and philosophical change that have served as markers in our human history.
In Latin, the word revolution means “a turn around” which is really a turn around in the way we think. So I’m wondering since it’s the middle of the year, maybe we need a turn around regarding our fetish with race.
We in Malaysia speak about race in subterfuge. We’re so concerned about colour even within our own races that we are doubly wrapped in prejudice within our own communities and against other races. We’re so immune to it that we don’t realize that we ourselves might be the culprits of spreading racism and be closet fascist. It’s easy to see and speak in vivid colour when every time one picks up the newspaper there is talk about race which though meant for good ends up offending and pushes people further away from the bridge of unity, hence my call for a quite revolution.
Throughout history, revolution has started with a resolution. I think it’s high time we decided for ourselves how we want to see ‘others’. After all it’s our legacy that we leave behind not the policies and slogans of our country.
Yes there are structural inequalities in place but isn’t that the case all around the world? What we need to realise is that it’s structural issues and cultural problems that are at the core - not race. Sometimes its not a quota system that stops us from being the best, it’s our lack of determination. We’ve given up before we even tried. If you’ve been discriminated against because of the colour of your skin, the best thing you could do is to succeed, because that would be the biggest slap in the face for the people that tried to oppress you.
So perhaps we could start a quiet revolution - one that decides to check our thought, and stop ourselves from indulging in stereotypes and prejudices as we look kindly at one another because that is the essence of being human.
A couple weeks ago, I attended a race relations forum with two good friends. Half way through the forum we realized we were all ethnicly different. To us it didn’t matter what race we were, it mattered that we enjoyed each other’s company and believed more in humanity that race.
I recently came across this poem by Saadi an Iraqi poet who aptly says;
Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain.
Maybe the resolution for the next half of the year would be for us to turn around our prejudices, look at ourselves and make a change instead of waiting for policies, politicians and slogans to change our circumstances. It will take a while before our policy makers realise that being one means not dividing unity by race. So in the mean time, we can start by being part of a quiet revolution that values life more than race.
We have to start with ourselves and if we stopped our own prejudices and consciously decided to get to know people who are different from us, then we could be part of a quiet revolution towards the unity of humanity that values one another based on the sanctity of life and not colour.
There is no room to be passive victims of racism … we should really be the change because there is too much to loose if we remain silent.
Natalie is echoing an MJ song and resolutes not to live her life being a colour and hopes that you might too.
Comments: letters@thesundaily.com
