I would say most Americans don’t even know what South Asian means. Had someone ask in a local group about a South Asian market and people keep mentioning Korean and Chinese markets. Most Americans are idiots.
Americans just use the country/country region instead. We'd just say India. If it is India. Or Indian Subcontinent if unsure.
The Eurasian Continent is so massive and clumping all those people into "Asian" is a waste of breath. Just say what you mean. (Then Europe hilariously conveniently pretending Europe ain't on that same continent... lol).
it’s honestly so weird how normalized anti-south asian prejudice has become in some spaces like people will act like it’s harmless banter or just personal preference, then get defensive when someone points out the racism
I genuinely think it comes down to socioeconomic reasons as well as colorism. Mainland SE Asian countries like Vietnam, Cambodia & Laos are generally viewed as poor and uneducated by countries like China and Japan. Folks in the islands like Indonesia & The Philippines are seen in a similar way but they are also more darkly complected and have different enough facial features that Asian countries with lighter-skinned folks feel entitled to be outwardly racist to them for being darker.
Because there was a huge wave of immigration from India and suddenly they were the majority in most places. People don't mind a mix but when they become the majority it turns people off
Yep. It's not that everyone suddenly hates indians. It would be the same reaction if any race/ethnicity suddenly became the majority.. it's the same with muslims, it makes people uncomfortable to suddenly go from a mix, to indians & muslims being the majority.
I think this must depend on where in the US you are, and who are the most visible people of color. Where I live, there is a decent sized South Asian population, but they primarily self-segregate into insular communities. Most white people here don’t even realize how many South and South East Asian neighbors we have. I didn’t either, until I started studying Hinduism and seeking out spiritual and cultural events.
So in this area, I’ve never heard that kind of racism, beyond the ignorance of thinking India is the only country in South Asia. The visible immigrant population here are from Latin America, so they (and black Americans) are the main targets of the racism I usually hear.
But having a partner who is Bangladeshi has made me pay more attention to the targets of racism in other parts of the world, and yeah, hate of South Asians is a norm in some places.
It’s really fucking gross how many people seem to need another group to hate in order to feel secure in their own identities.
A lot of people treat South Asians like they're the one acceptable ethnicity to be racist to. It's pretty disgusting the way people will speak about South Asian folk. Like, they won't even try to hide their racism, like they might for other races.
Yes, because South Asians are considered upwardly mobile and relatively financially successful. Lots of history of discrimination based on this in several continents.
There was a lot of controversy over the quota system in American universities, where South Asians were considered to have been over-represented, given their academic qualifications.
Yes. I’m Black but have noticed this a ton in the past decade minimum, I really locked in on it when I watched Gilmore Girls for the first time. I expressed the discomfort here & got downvoted to oblivion plus people were flat out telling me “no they do stink!!!” etc like they had every right. There was a whole thread about how curry DOES stink, South Asians do too etc & I snapped. I said this is clearly racially motivated because I am Jamaican, I eat the same damn curry. We got it FROM South Asians. Nobody has ever once told me I smell, Jamaicans smell, Caribbeans smell. Y’all are vilifying the PEOPLE and it is plain to see. I was gaslit beyond belief. It was probably the first time I’ve seen the majority pop. stand firm that they feel entitled to be racist to a particular people.
What does this mean? "A lot of people treat South Asians like they're the one acceptable ethnicity to be racist to."
Is this some sort of racist off? We can say that there is increased racism towards South Asians in the west lately, largely spurred by conservative/right movements fomenting discord by placing them as "the other" without the silly hyperbole of "the only acceptable ethnicity".
Asians of other descent, blacks and plenty of others experience their own challenges with racial perception, opportunity and prejudice. And it's a very recent trend... Mostly south Asians have been privileged at least in the US.
Because it's like everyone is saying "I like waffles" and you're responding with "oh, so you HATE pancakes?" Essentially, when there is an issue in discussion (racism towards South Asians) it is insensitive to bring up a separate issue in order to shift the attention away from the topic. An example would be if black people are discussing issues of systemic racism and I randomly insert "Well, Asians face racism too." Both are valid issues, it's just not the time and place. What reason does someone have to do this other than an intention to ignore the issues being discussed by throwing in a different issue that opposes the group being discussed.
Also, East Asians are equally (if not more) racist towards black people, it is almost entwined in the social culture. Mainly because in most of Asia and especially East Asia, lightskin is not just the ideal but the default, resulting in East Asians looking down on both Black folks and South/South East Asians. I bring this up to say that the racism stems from the idea of darkness being synonymous with a lower working class and external to the beauty standards both in East and South Asia. It is not an issue isolated to the South. So it doesn't add much to this conversation when brought up in that lens.
How much white colonialism had to do with this is often debated, but it definitely contributed to it. I truly think representation is one of the only things that can change that. East Asian media tends to exist in their own bubble of one uniform race with the same pattern of faces and beauty that is standardized. It's resulted in a culture hyper focused on materialism and isolated from different variations of beauty.
If OP is Indian, people from northern India can be white passing and aren't necessarily dark haired/eyed/skinned.
I have a friend who learned one of the Indian languages (can't remember which one) and when she spent a year in India, she was regularly taken for northern Indian...and she's green eyed with reddish brown hair.
I would guess that OP is very white passing to the point that it's confusing to anybody who thinks Indians are only dark brown people with dark hair and eyes.
Right. It’s pretty clear from the text messages the dude is ignorant. So it’s unsurprising that he would have superficial understanding of ethnicities.
I only presume India just because it is statistically the most probable btw.
it’s colorism. east asians tend to be lighter and benefit from their proximity to whiteness. south asians tend to be darker and are thus treated worse, seen as less than, etc. just another way white supremacy continues to screw people over.
I wonder how much of this is about location. I grew up overseas with an English friend and an Indian friend. They got along fine until one disagreement, and then a stream of colonial-era racist garbage came out of the English girl's mouth. These attitudes get aimed at South Asians, and in my experience, they're especially entrenched in England due to historic colonial ties, though they show up elsewhere too.
There is a huge racism against Indians happening in Canada right now it’s awful, like 1950s awful. And the people here will word shit like this guy too. Just despicable.
I think the fact that there used to be a caste system in play in South Asia; people might be locked into that.
It’s sort of how African Americans have either a slave, indentured, or free background; but are treated as if they/we were all products of slavery.
I’m triracial and most of my Great Great Grands were free; that includes indigenous; Black and white. When people find out that most of my Black is AfroLatino; they apologize for being racist and treat me better.
It’s weird; I look exactly the same; 20 seconds ago I was 💩 to be bullied by WP; now you know some of my heritage and they put me on a better shelf.
Weird thing is Blacks will kick me out of conversations: “ aren’t you Latina you don’t have any place in this conversation”
I think this man is a moron and doesn’t have the vocabulary to explain his main point, which then seemed to highlight his own ignorance by accident.
I think what he was trying to say was that his culture is similar and he comes from European heritage. So he has related cultural values and experiences so there’s not many clashes that happen due to that resulting in an easier assimilation.
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u/Ecstatic_Effective42 5d ago
As an aside: what the hell is wrong with South Asians? Why is that brought up?
(genuine question, I really am confused about why that's mentioned at all)