For those of you familiar with my writing, you will know about my past,
I was born in a random country, raised in another, and ethnically I am from an entirely different country.
Having been raised with different languages and cultures from early on, by the time I reached puberty, I often felt displaced; As I grew and entered adulthood, those feelings were settled by my lack of need to define who I was in a way that segregated me.
I decided that being something, no one else has the option to be, eg: saying I'm 'Sudanese' is a form of segregation in itself. The fact that only people who possess certain DNA (something they were born with and have no control over whatsoever) is a divider amongst people.
With this way of thinking I was able to break many social and racial barriers and approach people I would have been too afraid to approach in the past, but what I didn't realize about Sudan, is that unlike the UK, not everyone who did not feel the same way about racial equality had to keep their mouths shut...
As I applied for a teaching job which I was more than qualified for, the principal of the school laughed hysterically in my face because I expected the salary he advertised for... He replied with 'That salary is for a white person' - I was puzzled, and to my confusion he simply continued 'You know, with white skin and blonde hair'.
I was born in a random country, raised in another, and ethnically I am from an entirely different country.
Having been raised with different languages and cultures from early on, by the time I reached puberty, I often felt displaced; As I grew and entered adulthood, those feelings were settled by my lack of need to define who I was in a way that segregated me.
I decided that being something, no one else has the option to be, eg: saying I'm 'Sudanese' is a form of segregation in itself. The fact that only people who possess certain DNA (something they were born with and have no control over whatsoever) is a divider amongst people.
With this way of thinking I was able to break many social and racial barriers and approach people I would have been too afraid to approach in the past, but what I didn't realize about Sudan, is that unlike the UK, not everyone who did not feel the same way about racial equality had to keep their mouths shut...
As I applied for a teaching job which I was more than qualified for, the principal of the school laughed hysterically in my face because I expected the salary he advertised for... He replied with 'That salary is for a white person' - I was puzzled, and to my confusion he simply continued 'You know, with white skin and blonde hair'.
So is it really possible that the white supremacy, ideology exists openly in Sudan, when it comes to employability?
The only difference between the 'white, with blonde hair and blue eyes' (which for the record better fits a Polish person rather than an English) and I is the colour of their skin and their racial heritage. We were educated the same, in fact I'm pretty sure that being 'white' overrode the need for education past high school for this employer.
My racial heritage is Sudanese and I can tell you first hand, I had no 'innate' knowledge of the Arabic language or culture when I moved back here a year ago. It would be naïve to assume that someone raised in one country has the same values and ethics as someone raised in another - Chinese people have very strong work ethics and work much more than they rest when compared to Europeans. The same goes when comparing Europeans to Sudanese... But to assume that a European raised in China will have a lower work ethic because they are 'European' in race seems a little bit ignorant.
The trouble is you hardly ever hear Europeans being turned down in China... or anywhere in the working world, so does the white superiority ideology still dominate the working world?
My racial heritage is Sudanese and I can tell you first hand, I had no 'innate' knowledge of the Arabic language or culture when I moved back here a year ago. It would be naïve to assume that someone raised in one country has the same values and ethics as someone raised in another - Chinese people have very strong work ethics and work much more than they rest when compared to Europeans. The same goes when comparing Europeans to Sudanese... But to assume that a European raised in China will have a lower work ethic because they are 'European' in race seems a little bit ignorant.
The trouble is you hardly ever hear Europeans being turned down in China... or anywhere in the working world, so does the white superiority ideology still dominate the working world?
No comments:
Post a Comment