No matter how you look at it, 2020 has been one big toilet bowl of a year. From some pretty hard to take celebrity deaths, to a global pandemic bringing the world to a halt, we’re not even halfway done with 2020 and things just seem to be getting worse.
The recent murder in broad daylight of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis has sparked outrage across the United States, with people finally having had enough of the blatant racism that’s become so ingrained in the societal norms there.
Whether you want to believe it or not, structural racism exists, and years upon years of oppression simply for the colour of their skin has led to this moment. The protests and riots you see on the streets of the US is the result of YEARS of frustration. Years of having faith in the system. Years of convincing themselves that things will change.
That being said, halfway across the world, people are giving their two cents on the situation. In this age of social media, you best bet that there will be differing opinions on the subject. Some are showing their support in whatever way they know how, others are calling out Southeast Asian (Malaysian) culture for being racist and then there are people like former Miss Malaysia, Samantha Katie James.
She took to Instagram to post a slew of stories that seem to start innocently enough, before taking things from 0-100 real quick with a post that quite literally urged black people to “Relax” and “Take it as a challenge”. Samantha in her infinite wisdom also decided to proclaim that black people “chose” to be born a coloured person in America. Check out the screenshots below
I’m not going to get into how problematic her Point of view on the issue is. Of course, everyone is entitled to their own opinions and i’m not one to tell people to keep their mouths shut (even if what they’re saying illustrates how terribly misinformed they are) but at least phrase your arguments better so as to avoid a misunderstanding.
There is no reality in which the phrase “You chose to be born a colored person in America” is valid. As you’d imagine, people weren’t very happy with her opinions.
That last one really got me embarrassed for her. What do you guys think of her point of view? Valid or is this what privilege looks like?
