A Negro experience

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MALAYSIA is beautiful, and Kuching is small and beautiful. A small vibrant city I have come to adore. There are many good things about Kuching. But today I would highlight one that is not so good. Do not be offended as this is a good learning experience.With its carnival-like ambience, Kuching Festival offered me a chance to relax and try new dishes I hadn’t tried before. Having a thing for sugar, fried ice cream became my favourite.

I had the honour of trying other delicacies from the Chinese ethnicities of Foochow and Heng Hua like Chicken with Ang Zhao and Hua Pah Mee. I have come to learn that Malaysians love their food and they know how to drive many miles to get it. They live to eat and not otherwise.

Now this particular day, my Chinese friend took me to a new stall. This stall required us to return the dishes — the plastic containers — so they can serve other customers as they didn’t have enough to go around for everyone, a move I deemed ecofriendly and economical for the stall.

While returning the dishes, I complimented the man on his delicious dish. Upon hearing that, enthusiastically he started conversing with my friend in a Chinese dialect. You see my command of Mandarin is limited to simple phrases like ‘Wo ai ni’, ‘Wo Hen Shuai’ and the sort.

While conversing, I heard ‘Negro’ being mentioned somewhere. Initially I thought it was a word in that dialect as I know one word in one language can also be in another language, as it has been evident between my language and Bahasa Melayu.

You see, Bahasa Melayu words like Jua, Walau, Duka, Beza, Miliki, Dada and so many others are used in my language though with a different meaning. And there are words like Shahria, Hakim, Mahkamah, Wakil that have the same meaning though the spelling might be a bit different.

After the conversation, with keen interest I asked my friend if the guy mentioned the word ‘Negro’ and what did it mean. My friend told me that Negro was the word the Chinese man used to refer to me when asking her where I was from.

It jolted me back to similar instances where I have been called a Negro by people in Malaysia. Once a student, while trying to tell me I look like the Africans playing soccer in French teams, sneaked in the word Negro.

Now from these two and more minor experiences that I wouldn’t want to outline separately, I got the inspiration of coming up with this article. An article of education and I believe it would be an eye-opener for many.

Don’t call a black person from Africa or anywhere a Negro for any reason since it’s derogatory and has too much negative connotation that cannot be assuaged whether you say it in a friendly way or not.

Every time I have been called a Negro, it was never meant to mean any harm. It was mentioned out of lack of knowledge and pure ignorance. They say ignorance is bliss, but this one isn’t so blissful due to repercussions one might face from an angry African.

The Negro history is too painful to many among the black community. It bears the memory of discrimination, slavery and oppression of the black people in the early ages. It bears the mark of colonisation and working in plantations.

Negro period was when black people were not allowed to ride in the buses with white people or had to give up their seats whenever a white person entered the bus in America. Negro was a term used to perpetrate the racial division of humankind between the masters and the slaves.

To make comparison words like ‘Abeng’, ‘Orang pokok’, ‘banana’, ‘Ching eyes’ and ‘Lepeh’, can convey the intensity of the word Negro. But be warned, the word Negro is even stronger as it’s engrained in painful experiences endured by the black community for a long period.

And I think to most blacks this is what Negro is all about.

It’s negative, adrenalising anger whenever it’s directed to them. Malaysians should refrain from using this term since an African might take it negatively and view it as discrimination.

There’s another fun misconception on the use of the word Negro. I have encountered people who use Negro for any darkskinned person while in reality Negro was the term used for Sub-Saharan Africans and not any other dark-skinned.

A dark skinned Indonesian or Indian wouldn’t have been regarded as a Negro. But still the rule of the thumb stands; do not call people Negroes since it’s derogatory and you might end up in trouble.

But there are exceptions. In a language like Spanish, if I have to say ‘Saya orang hitam’ I would have to say ‘Soy Negro,’ since in Spanish ‘Negro’ means black. And I have realised there’s an inescapable use of ‘black’ to denote African which doesn’t have to be derogatory, though most people today believe we shouldn’t use colours to refer to races.

One can be African without being black and not the other way around. A Chinese person in South Africa holding the citizenship of SA is not an African per say but Michael Jackson in America is as much an American as he is an African due to his ancestry.

Refraining from using it is the best option to take. To be on the safe side, the word African should be used instead. Even if one doesn’t know if the person is from Africa, “Are you African?” will be a good start to find out one’s origin.