There's so much sadness and pain when we keep hearing of tragedy and atrocities happening in this world. It is even harder not to want to cry when we witness the outpouring of support and acts of solidarity across the globe in response to the shootings in Christchurch last Friday. There is something in such an energy of shared humanity and the spirit of solidary. It moves you, it makes you want to cry. Goodness and kindness trumps evil.
This is difficult to write, but it's definitely an important one amidst all the conversations we've been having lately. Growing up being brown/Malay wasn't easy, especially when it became ingrained in me that having a darker skin tone by default, is less desired than fairer skin tones. In childhood, I couldn't recall having to endure comments about my skin colour. Thankfully amongst children, these values ascribed to lightness and darkness didn't yet come to the fore. This consciousness became more obvious since secondary school. And it was tough and painful. I've been in a sports CCA since secondary school and I couldn't really avoid not becoming tanned. What hurts the most was even my peers at that time would make comments about my skin colour without even realising the damage caused from these words. These comments I recall, were sometimes made under the guise of humour. I was called 'budak hitam' (literally means 'black child') and even ...
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