Racism →
A dear friend wrote this post regarding racism in Japan. If you’ve ever lived there as a foreigner (i.e. someone who does not look native Japanese) for a few months, or visited for an extended period, you’ve experienced some of the things she highlights.
I share this because it was not until I lived as a minority that I began to understand what it meant to live in privilege. Especially as a white person growing up in the deep South of the US.
The article is very kind, very forgiving, but also very honest. When I read it, I did not first realize that it was my friend’s writing, and so my reaction was very honest, unfiltered by an unconscious desire to take care of her feelings, not that she needs such protection.
My feelings were thus: These are my words. These are my feelings.
If you’re at all interested in civil rights, I would give it a read, because as a few other friends and I surmised after reading the article, this is not about racism in Japan. This is about racism in human nature.