Recently, we have seen the rise of violence against colored individuals in the United States. Some of the violence, also known as a hate crime, has caused loss of life, mental distress, and other trauma to the affected person. People across the world have shown solidarity to fight against such violent and racist attacks. According to Statista, an online web-based platform, in 2019, the anti-Asian hate crime reported to police in America's 15 largest cities stands 49. However, in 2020, it stood at 122. It shows an overall rise of the violence by 149%, which shows the issue's grave seriousness which needs to be addressed as a top priority.
To show support against the hate crimes in the United States, people in Taiwan were not behind. Taiwanese have shown their harmony and empathy against such racial attacks. The social media in Taiwan is flooded with #StopAsianHate in 2021, and in 2020 it was with #BlackLivesMatter. Such support from across the globe made such a movement strong and has raised awareness of the issue. It is sad to see that even in the 21st-century, discrimination occurs due to skin color and facial features.
I have always been optimistic about Taiwanese society and its kind people, which I always appreciate; I also realized it is essential for Taiwanese to know the racial discrimination that some people of color face in Taiwan. I want to make clear that this issue is not unique to Taiwan or the United States. It happens everywhere. The primary motivation for writing this piece is years of discrimination that my friends and I faced due to our skin color. I was in a dilemma whether I should put my name or be anonymous, but I came out of the decision to be unnamed in the end due to several factors. This article will share some of my personal and friend experiences and things I have collected from several social media platforms over the years that I have been in Taiwan.
One of the first things I had to do upon my arrival in Taiwan is to do a thorough health check-up before submitting my application for a resident visa. I was with my Taiwanese buddy, who was kind enough to accompany me to one of Taipei's leading hospitals. I had to do some extra health checks as compared to other foreigners. Out of curiosity, I asked the reason for those extra tests. The response I got from the nurse (which was translated by my Taiwanese friend) was—Oh! It is because you folks don’t use any cutlery to eat food, which is dirty. I was taken aback, and it was something that I had not prepared myself for. For the first time, someone told me eating with hands is dirty. As I grew older, I kept thinking about it. I realized that was not correct. I did discuss this with my local friends from back home. They were shocked too.
Food is something one sees the difference when someone travels to a new place. One such challenge that I faced too since I moved to Taiwan. However, I never realized how different I eat until someone told me that "I smell like my food." I was shocked, perplexed, and had nothing to respond to. When I was heating my food in my previous office, I was told not to use the microwave to heat my food, as it smells so strong. When I asked for any suggestion to find a solution, I was told—eat outside or cook something less smelly. I am lucky that my current workplace never had an issue with my food.
As the title of this piece goes, "Look Beyond Skin Color" I would like to speak more about how deep this goes in terms of my experiences and also how my skin color has been associated with several other parameters of the fundamental definition of a "civilized and learned society" in Taiwan.
Usually, I am referred to as "black boy/foreigner" in Chinese, which I have picked up after listening to it multiple times. For example, when I am in an office for paperwork, I can hear the office staff referring to me as a black boy. At first, I felt terrible, but not anymore. I want to tell you that this does not happen always, but occasionally.
My skin color also reflects what kind of job I can get. To those who have read so far, I am not sure how much you know, most of the teaching jobs which aim to find a foreigner in Taiwan seek a "Native Speaker" of the English language. Here, a question comes to my mind — Who is a native speaker?
For most Taiwanese employers, anyone whose country has English as their official language is eligible to teach, which made me apply for multiple jobs to teach English and other subjects that need an English instructor. Well, in practice, that is not the case which happens. There are multiple occasions where I receive no response for my application to such jobs. I want to share with you one of the responses that I collected from open social media platforms.
I would not have written this piece to highlight the issue as I have already given up with any hope. I am in pain somewhere deep in my heart because racism is something that everyone knows is happening, but no one wants to feel it. In late March, one of my friends had received this when she asked about the status of her being a replacement teacher for a few classes.
The racism in English teaching jobs here in Taiwan is a ton. Whenever I want to raise this issue, I am being shut down by a few saying—oh, you know. It is not very good in other countries such as China, Japan, or Korea compared to Taiwan. For me, this is running away from accepting the fact of racism in Taiwan.
Most jobs that seek Native Speakers as instructors or teachers are all limited to five to six countries nationals only. Nevertheless, the fact is being ignored that English origin is from England, other countries were all colonies of it where English is now spoken. Each place has its accents and way of talking. By worshiping one type, ignoring the other type is a short-sightedness to develop English as a second language in a country that aims to make itself bilingual by 2030.
I have been suggested working in restaurants or doing some construction or farming jobs when I sought to teach. In another instance, I was told—How come your English is so good? In your country, not everyone gets the opportunity to study higher education; you must be rich.
I do have friends from Western countries who have a very peaceful and stable life here in Taiwan. Some of them who came to Taiwan almost a decade ago have now married and have kids already. It all happened because they could get a teaching job quickly. I also want a stable life. I envy them. Sometimes, I get this thought that I should be a white-looking person. Reason? It is because it is super easy to find a teaching job in Taiwan if someone is white. I have friends from multiple western countries where English is not an official language, but they could get those jobs but not me or my friends of color.
I understand that parents and teachers all want the BEST for their kids and students is. But at what cost? It is unfortunate that even in such an advanced economy like in Taiwan, people's minds are still stuck in the past when preparing Taiwan's future. If the situation prevails, there will be "WHITE-ONLY" foreigners left out in Taiwan. Teaching jobs or any other work should be hired based on their TALENTS, rather than skin color. These are some of the few examples from my real-life experiences in Taiwan. I sincerely hope, Taiwanese as a society would see beyond skin color in having teachers as well. One thing for sure, "We need to focus WHAT we speak, rather than HOW we speak."
*For the Chinese version, please find: 外國「非白人」在台灣，我所經歷的種族歧視：因膚色當不成老師，還有人驚訝我竟有「受教育」
執行、核稿編輯：林欣蘋
