America is and always has been an extremely racist country and I'm so glad of the recent international outrage against that, and support for the Black Lives Matter movement. (I don't know how to attach links on here so DM me if you want the link to how can you donate to BLM internationally, and even without money). I've seen many fellow South Asians use this opportunity to address the racism and anti-Blackness in our communities and countries as well.

However, many people are being incredibly hypocritical, which is disgusting and shows how performative their solidarity is. Why do Black Lives Matter only when they're on American soil? When will you talk about the anti-Blackness and racism right under your nose? Is racism is only worth condemning when it doesn't affect your privilege? This isn't some trend. There are lives being lost, your solidarity is empty until you tackle the ideology that those racist cops held, the one that exists around you too.

I wanted to talk about this on Instagram initially but some of this can be counted as criticism against my government which could get me in trouble so I decided to talk about it on here.

Many ethnic and religous groups are oppressed in some countries yet privileged in others because of differing power structures. For example, being born into a Muslim family, gives me religious privilege in Pakistan as well as here in the UAE. This would change if I were in the US or some other Western country, because of Islamophobia. Arabs are discriminated against and face racism in the west yet hold a lot of privilege in Middle Eastern countries over ethnic minorites.

However, there are two exceptions to this. White-supremacy and anti-Blackness are global. There are so many countries where white people are minorities yet retain white privilege, mine being one of them. The best example of this is South Africa. Black people actually make up the majority but face racism to this day, due to white people having inherited positions of power and privilege.

In gulf countries (including mine), white people and Arabs are at the top of the hierarchy. There is soo much racism directed at African, South Asian and East African immigrants. Literally, in most companies, your salary depends on your nationality. My dad has been stuck in a position he's overqualified for for years, while his Arab and white colleagues who are less qualified or in lower positions than him get paid more.

Then, there's the abuse of African and East Asian domestic workers and South Asian construction workers. The Kafala system which bounds them to their employers and takes away their autonomy has been compared to slavery. Employers take advantage of this and often psychologically, physically and sexually abuse them. I'm not sure if it's legal but this system exists in all of the gulf countries.

Not only this, most Asians and Africans face racism socially as well. Something I personally experienced. I used to feel so inferior to my Arab and white friends. They had the nerve to make blatantly racist remarks about my ethnicity too. There's also the normalized usage of the N word, appropriation of African-American culture, all the while being vehemently anti-Black. Stereotypes about Black people being violent, thieves, etc. Stereotypes about South Asians being dirty, uneducated, etc.

It sickens me how normalized it is. Very recently, two Kuwaiti and Emirati influencers said this.

So it makes my blood boil when people ignore all of this over here. Yes, I get that you can't talk about most of the systematic racism (due to criticism of the government being a criminal offense) but at least you can talk about the social aspect. You can call out white people when they are being racist towards brown and black people. You can stop thinking that you're superior just because you're Arab and light-skinned. You can stop making jokes at the expanse of Indians. You can call out people who abuse their domestic workers. You can stop saying the N word. You can stop making racist jokes. You can stop giving white people preferential treatment.

Turning a blind eye to all of this and actively perpetrating racism in your own country then supporting anti-racist movements in other ones, is not a good look.