It is human nature that everyone reacts in some way or the other when they meet people from different backgrounds. And often people jump to assumptions and make judgements regarding someone\u2019s ethnicity. Not only this, certain people tend to devalue others\u2019 identity and label them on the basis of their colour, cast, creed and sometimes personal insecurities. In such a situation anybody belonging to a particular race is ridiculed and treated as an outcast by racists all around the world.
\nBut what is racism? To put it in simple words it is something destructive which destroys community cohesion and creates divisions in society. Racism is influenced by a range of historical, social, political and economic factors. It has its roots in the belief that some people are superior because they belong to a particular race, ethnic or national group.
\nSadly, many of us have been victims of racism at some point in our lives. And one can\u2019t deny the fact that people living abroad mostly bear the brunt of the nuisance called racism. Moreover, if we look from a broader perspective, people often subconsciously start discriminating even when they don\u2019t intend to differentiate between \u2018them\u2019 and \u2018others\u2019. This becomes quite demotivating for the ones who have left their home grounds to work in foreign countries in order to provide their families a better lifestyle. However, not everyone is a racist; there are people who treat others with equality and respect as well. This week, You! narrates the stories of a few people, belonging to different fields, who face racial discrimination on regular basis while living abroad.<\/p>\n
Rabia Khan<\/strong> M. Muzaffar Malik<\/strong> Abid Saeed<\/strong> Tehreem Ahmed<\/strong> Waqas Durrani<\/strong> Sadia Sarfaraz<\/strong> Aisha Umair<\/strong> In a nutshell…<\/strong> By Iqra Sarfaraz<\/strong><\/em> It is human nature that everyone reacts in some way or the other when they meet people from different backgrounds. And often people jump to assumptions and make judgements regarding someone\u2019s ethnicity. Not only this, certain people tend to devalue others\u2019 identity and label them on the basis of their colour, cast, creed and sometimes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c42-articles","category-c71-introduction-to-islam-muslims"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nRabia, who has recently moved to Mississauga (Canada) from Pakistan, is working as a Customers\u2019 Representative in a bank. According to her, \u201cUsually people feel uncomfortable when I tell them I am from Pakistan, and give a smirk. They might have wrong perceptions about our country\u2019s educational standards that they ask me how come I have such a good accent. I tell them that we have good schools in Pakistan too. Because of their generalized viewpoints, they are often surprised to see my \u2018white complexion\u2019 and think that maybe I am from Romania. They don\u2019t even know that some regions in Pakistan have people with fair colour and good spoken skills,\u201d shares Khan.<\/p>\n
\n34-year-old Muzaffar is a Chemical Engineer, working at Suncor Energy in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. He has been settled there for almost four years now along with his family. \u201cThere are always two sides of the story. I won\u2019t say everyone is a racist here; I live in an area where most of the people are immigrants, so we share a harmonious environment. On the other hand, various racial differences can be seen among the natives here. It has almost become a routine for us to experience people judging us with a discriminating eye. Usually, when we take our children for rides in the park, white parents take their children away from the rides and leave, which is sad,\u201d enunciates Malik.<\/p>\n
\nWorking at a local college as an International Student Coordinator in Calgary, Canada, for the past two years, Saeed says, \u201cUsually the yellows (Chinese and Pilipino), browns (Indians and Pakistanis) or the whites, everyone criticizes the other. What I have experienced at work is that brown people, living there for a long time, have a discriminatory attitude towards browns. It is due to job insecurity that they give a tough time to the new immigrants.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nTehreem has been living in London from many years now. As such she and her parents have never experienced any attacks based on racism but on the flip side, she accepts that racism has its roots in the mindset of people in England. \u201cSometimes in job interviews, few companies give preferences to a white person rather than an Asian, even if they are equally qualified. This has happened to my brother after his graduation,\u201d laments Ahmed.<\/p>\n
\nA software engineering student living in Chicago, USA, says how few people ask him to go back to Pakistan and that he has no future in the US. \u201cHowever, I have come across many humble people (whites and blacks), who are very helpful and appreciate me for my efforts of studying abroad,\u201d tells Waqas.<\/p>\n
\nA housewife living in Calgary gives us a diversified view. \u201cIf you are rich, you can gel with people easily no matter what race you belong to. Those who share the same financial backgrounds or know \u2018what makes the whites happy\u2019 can survive easily. But, Canada is a multicultural place so most of the time people also show acceptability towards brown people,\u201d apprises Sadia.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIn Australia, people are not that finicky when it comes to another race,\u201d explains Aisha from Melbourne. \u201cI see women in hijab who roam around freely; I also observe hijab and have never faced any disrespectful comments. Even publicly, we have never come across any hateful behaviour from white people. However, they don\u2019t tolerate browns when it comes to working in Australia. My husband often tells me how they only prefer whites over desi(s),\u201d she states.<\/p>\n
\nThe few examples that we have cited above clearly show that racism exists at all levels. We cannot label any particular race, neither can we say that whites discriminate against desi(s) or any other race as a matter of fact. In many cases we even see people from the same country\/race pulling down each other just for the sake of satisfying their insecurities.
\nThe fact is that racism is a global phenomenon which actually depends on how a person has been brought up, what kind of values have been inculcated while growing up and what factors impact one\u2019s thinking. It is a never ending debate but in order to put an end to this nuisance we need to stick to the basics – tolerance, acceptance and love for mankind.<\/p>\n
\nSource: The news magazine<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"