The very attitudes about racism itself are definitely different here. It’s viewed very differently, as something quite normal. I gave up long ago trying to explain to the otherwise-good people here that racism is not proper. They act like you’re mentally retarded when you get into that. And in full disclosure, I have to admit there have been times when these attitudes have been advantageous to me, as because of my white skin, it’s assumed I’m a good person until I prove otherwise. Back in the US, people might call the cops because this shady-looking bum is in the vicinity, but here, as a farang Westerner), there seems to be a “safe” feeling if I’m around – as long as I’m not forcing anyone to speak English!
I have known dark-skinned people who have had a hard time. Two in particular were Peace Corps Volunteers whom I knew. I met them through friends and saw them occasionally when they were in Bangkok back in the 1980s. One was a 50-ish black lady, rather heavy, who was a jolly old soul. She did not let the local attitudes – which are much heavier upcountry than in metropolitan Bangkok, or at least more noticeable there – get to her at all. She said people in her town would literally stop in the street and gape at her with open mouth. Said she just stopped and stared right back. I believe her outgoing personality eventually won her many friends.
The other Volunteer was a young black male, 20s, fresh out of university I believe. A super nice guy, very bright, but he had a very difficult time. I recall a few drinking sessions when he was pouring out his troubles – Bangkok is a good spot for Peace Corps Volunteers to come have a ripping weekend to get their frustrations out of their system. His co-workers and neighbors were really giving him a hard time, even asking why Peace Corps had to send someone black, didn’t they have someone better, and what did they do to deserve this. Since he was black, they figured they could speak openly in front of him, because if the hilltribes and dark-skinned Thais took it quietly, it must be normal for black Americans, too. I believe he stuck it out for the full two years, but he was in such a downer mood every time I saw him, I think I would have just packed it in and gone home if I’d been him. (I still recall meeting his sister sister who had come to visit; man, she was friggin’ drop-dead gorgeous, I remember that very well. Mmmmm.)
My wife, who does understand racism is wrong, freely admits she was taught while growing up that the darker the skin, the badder the person. Her friends were all taught that, too. All Thais are, and the dark-skinned Thais are mercilessly hounded when they’re growing up. The idea is that dark skin is a punishment for evil deeds in the past life, and there’s a good chance the person is still bad now, due to being pissed off about having dark skin if nothing else. (I’ve often thought this was a partial explananation for all of the animal cruelty here. They have to take their own frustrations out on something! The amount of animal cruelty in Thailand is often shocking to a newcomer, this being a Buddhist country, but I imagine Hell on Earth is being an animal in any Third World country, regardless of the religious stripe.)
Skin-whitening creams are a big industry here. There would probably be street protests in the West if Pond’s and Nivea and all of these other lotion companies marketed there what they market here, the skin-whitening creams. I’ve seen them in other countries in the region, too. This is also why you see laborerrs covered head to toe out in the broiling sun; they don’t want to be any darker than they already are. And the Westerners penchant for the dark-skinned beauties of the Northeast is takne by most Thais as proof positive of the addlemindedness of most farangs; these Thais, who hold the light-skinned beauties of the North as their ideal, cannot understand what the farangs see in these “ugly” women. This is why the bars and brothels that cater to farangs are staffed mostly with northeastern women and why the bars and brothels that cater to the Thais (middle class on up, anyway) and visiting East Asians are staffed largely with northern women.
Too, I have this one American friend here. I’ve reported elsewhere on this Board that he found himself sitting next to a high-level police official at a formal dinner one night. My friend is a connoisseur of Nigerian scam letters, and there being a large number of African scammers in Bangkok, he fell to talking to the police official about that. The cop told him flat out that there was no such thing as a legitimate African businessman, that they were all here for purposes of scamming and they kept a close watch on each one. That last part was no doubt an exaggeration, as they wouldn’t have the manpower to keep tabs on them all – there are a LOT of Africans here – but this coming from someone in authority is very telling. I’m sure there is no “official” policy on the books that you could point to that says “all West Africans are scammers,” but unofficially that seems to be the rule.
This same friend of mine hails from Indiana, from a small town in the southern part of the state. He told me that when he was in elementary school, his teacher freely, and perhaps gleefully, told the class that all Catholics ere going to burn in Hell for all eternity. I don’t know if this still goes on – my friend is middle-aged like I am, so this was awhile back – but if something like that could happen in the American Midwest, can it be so hard to believe that worse happens in the Third World?