Have you ever noticed how much Caucasian people want to be darker? Have you ever noticed how much Caucasian people enjoy when they are darker? Yet, as a demographic, they tend to treat people who are darker by nature, not nurture, rather badly. What is with that???

Those race related questions were ones I had in my adolescence, after a handful of years observing Caucasian people behavior around me as a child refugee from Viet Nam. These were people who wanted to get tanned so often, celebrated when they and others did, reveled in the attention, and were disappointed when it wore off and their skin turned white again. These were people who enjoyed darkening their skin for black, brown and yellow face for skits and Hallowe’en, enjoying and reveling in the moments when they were not white. Yet, these were the same people who practiced racism, overtly and covertly, consciously and subconsciously, against the people who permanently had skin colours in which they reveled. What was it with those behaviours? Jealousy? That if they couldn’t be like us all the time, they would just fake being like us, enjoy every moment of it, then put us down for it when they could not be dark skinned because we were able to be darker all the time, yet never enjoyed it? Yeah, that must be what it is. What else could it be?

While those last questions were now asked in sarcasm, they were once not as I struggled to understand what was asked. I had long dropped my jealous Caucasians theory, becoming more aware of racism’s true nature over time. Yet, I’ve never gotten sufficiently convincing answers to my questions for me, either. Can you tell me?

.

This post is one of 70 quotes I wrote, each with an accompanying essay, in my e-book and paperback Stars I Put in my Sky to Live By, on Amazon or Smashwords (choose your price including free!).