Racism in the Marianas

This has been on my mind for a long time, and I think it’s finally time to get it out and get it said.

Anyone who believes that there is no racism here on Guam is living in denial. It’s sad to say that in the Year of Our Lord 2010 that racism is still prevalent, but it’s unfortunately true. A person doesn’t have to look very hard at all to see it.

Stereotypes abound here and are frequently used. Chamorro’s are thought to be fat and lazy food stamp recipients. Chuukese are all criminals. Chinese are viewed as sneaky and thieves. White people are all rich. Filipino’s are lazy. Japanese tourists are viewed as living breathing ATM machines. Koreans own all the small businesses and are only interested in money.

I’m not saying that everyone has these views. For the most part, people get along fairly well with each other, tolerating the faults of others. But, with that said, it’s not hard to see the racism that hovers underneath the surface. All that one has to do is listen and watch, and it’s easy to see.

I my own self have been a victim of racism, on many occasions. In once instance, I was in a local hardware store picking up a few things, when a woman approached me, telling me that she was having problems with her car and needed some help. I told her that I’m not very mechanically inclined but I would be willing to help. She then told me that, no, she didn’t need a mechanic, but needed money for gas. The fact that I was standing amongst a Chamorro man and a Filipino, and she failed to ask either one of these guys is something that I brought up with the woman. She replied, “Well, you’re white. You have money.” Like there is no such thing as working class white people on the island, and we all are loaded down with cash that we must immediately get rid of because of White Guilt.

Unfortunately, one of those instances happened in my workplace. I was undergoing some mandatory training at our corporate HQ, sitting in a room with about 20 other people. The table I was sitting at contained 3 white guys and 2 Filipino’s, all of us from the same department. We were all talking quietly amongst ourselves before the training started, the usual kind of conversation that happens amongst friends, cheerful, relaxed. No one was getting belligerent or loud, and no one was doing anything wrong. The next day, an email goes out from my supervisor, telling the three white guys who were at that table that the CEO was furious with us and that we had embarrassed the entire department. She had been told by someone higher up that we had gotten loud and disruptive at the training and had used obscene and profane language. Of course, none of this was true, and the fact that the two Filipino’s who were sitting at the same table weren’t mentioned at all, only the three white boys who happened to be in the room. In fact, when this was mentioned to some of the other people who were in attendance, they all said that same thing, that they didn’t remember any disturbance or bad language at all. The fact was and is that the person who raised the complaint happened to be a senior person in the company who hates white people (at least that’s the perception I have gotten).

These are just two of many examples of racially related shit I have dealt with. While these are small, they still happened and still happen at least once a month. You try to believe that the things aren’t racially motivated, but sometimes there is no denying it. I’ve always thought that people sometimes play the race card too eagerly, but sometimes there is no other explanation.

Since I have friends of all different races, I have heard the complaints before about others. I have a Chamorro friend who once told me that some of the people from the smaller islands like Chuuk and Truk act as if they crawled out of the trees last week. A couple of my Filipino friends have talked badly about the Chinese workers. Koreans talking bad about the Chinese. One group can always find something bad about another group if they try hard enough.

I’m not going to say that there aren’t white people who have negative views about others here, because I’ve heard it come from their mouths as well. In fact, I have yet to encounter one ethnic group that doesn’t have members that won’t trash talk another group.

What I am saying is that I know what it feels like to be in the minority and to be prejudiced against because of my skin color. Unlike others, I’m not so fast to play the race card unless there is no other choice but to play it, and every time I bring it up it’s with great trepidation.

It is my contention that judging anyone by the color of their skin or where they were born is the stupidest way to judge anyone. You have to take people one at a time, as individuals, and not lump a group all in one pile. The fact is that there are both assholes and good people in all ethnic groups, and most people that fit somewhere in the middle.

Yes, racism is still alive and well, and won’t die the death it’s so desperately entitled to.