I don’t usually write emotionally-charged posts that touch on anything even remotely sensitive. I usually talk about cuddly babies and potato chips and the battle of the bulge and other wonderfully fru-fru topics.

But I just wanted to get on my soapbox today and vent a little. It just so happens to be Martin Luther King Jr day, so the topic of this post ties in perfectly with this day in history.

I’ve just returned from a trip to Unawatuna, Sri Lanka. As soon as we entered the little town, the first thing that struck me was that we were the only group of brown tourists in the vicinity. Around us were mostly Europeans, white folk who were now in the ‘pink to lobster’ color spectrum, thanks to days spent on beach-side deck chairs.

Speaking of deck chairs, that’s where I got the first whiff of, “We won’t like brown people.” And this was from a distinctly brown man (although he seemed to think he was Bob Marley’s living avatar). He was dusting off deck chairs at his restaurant when I politely inquired if we (my group of four friends) could use them.

“No.”

“No?”

“You have to buy something.”

“Yes, of course. We’ll be getting drinks and some appetizers.”

“Hmm.. how long you stay here?”

At first, I thought he was recovering from a hangover. Or maybe he didn’t believe in customer service. Maybe he thought he should be playing in a reggae band and not dusting deck chairs. All perfectly acceptable reasons for him to be disgruntled with life and dismissive of potential customers.

But a few minutes later, a white couple passes by. He smiles, waves them into his restaurant and tells them to please sit down. A total 180 from how he had JUST spoken to me.

This wasn’t an isolated case.

The next night, at a restaurant/ beach shack, we were told by another brown guy that the “kitchen is busy” (when clearly there were empty tables and other customers coming in). It was followed up by, “You can come in, but you have to place your entire order at one go. Indians usually order things too slowly.”

They didn’t want us brown folk loitering around the restaurant. In a country full of brown folk!

I just have to ask: brown people, why are we so subservient with white folk and so dismissive of our own kind? What’s this crazy Colonial hangover that we’re still reeling from?

Sure, you may have had Indians who hung out on your deck chairs for too long and didn’t order enough drinks. But I’m sure you had Europeans who did the same.

Painting a particular ethnic group with broad brush strokes, that’s racism.

We decided we didn’t need those particular deck chairs or that restaurant with a supposedly “busy kitchen.” We found other restaurants where the servers were welcoming and the food hearty. We stayed, we ate and drank and then ate some more. We lounged on beach chairs where no one shooed us off and we ordered crunchy fried calamari and cold pina coladas.

I don’t want to paint all of Unawatuna, Sri Lanka, as racist because of a few bad experiences. That would be woefully untrue. Personally, I loved the friendly people, the creamy curries, the colorful markets, and the warm beaches.

I just wish that, one day, we wouldn’t judge based on color. I just wish we wouldn’t paint a whole culture (in this case, an entire subcontinent), with vastly differing individuals, with the same brush.

No, those incidents are not exclusive to Sri Lanka. I’ve seen it in India. Time and time again. This time, I was at the receiving end of it and my head reeled from it.

Here’s a simple message: Brown people, be nice to your own kind, too.

Getting off soapbox now.

 

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. – Martin Luther King, Jr.