Hello, it’s me, Briana, and it’s another Monday Musing. This time, I’m coming at you a little later than usual. I decided to take a nap at school during lunch (I was drooling all over myself so obviously I needed it), and now, I’m waiting for the end of the day to roll around. As I type this, the bell is about to ring, and I know I’ll get distracted by my students, but we are 50 minutes from the end of the day.
My day ends at 5:35. I mentioned this to someone this weekend, and they thought it was so random. It’s something I never really thought twice about. Sometimes we accept things so readily that we don’t really give it a second thought. It’s difficult to imagine the ideas and instances and institutions we do this with because, once again, we don’t even think twice.
Working in Alabama as a teacher then moving to China and teaching have profoundly impacted the ways I think about the intersection of race, class, and the effects globalization have on them all. So many things in China mirror the things i see in America, but the context is different. I have a lot of questions that have bubbled up, and I want to explore more. The most pressing is how is anti-Blackness so insidious and pervasive.
Global anti-Blackness: A couple jumbled things
Anti-Blackness is a global phenomenon. While some countries are worse than others, many countries seem to hate Black folks. A lot of countries where anti-Blackness is pervasive don’t really have a huge Black population. The behavior is inherited, and many times a product of white supremacy. I think of being a Black person in Shenzhen or when I visited Budapest and the mean looks I get. It’s strange. Predominately Black countries have rarely been the ones to rape and pillage others. They have been viciously exploited, and yet Black folks get some of the worst treatment worldwide. It’s interesting to be a scapegoat.
I want to research more on these ideas, and I want to soon expound more on my ideas about being from a majority country. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my experience as a first gen American, the experiences of those who have immigrated to the U.S., those that are AADOS, and the tensions and ties between us. Living in the U.S., I always heard about the “diaspora wars” more than I’d seen them. In China, I’ve been able to get a closer look, particular between African Americans and people born and raised in Africa.
A particular incident comes to mind that really opened my eyes to the sensitivities and disparities that we have. It made me start thinking about the personhood you are afforded when you grow up as the majority in your country (whether thats white in Amerca, Chinese in China, or Black in Nigeria) and the things you simply don’t give a second thought to because you’ve never had to. Like I said, those are ideas for another time, but I hope to flesh out my ideas more.
Let me wrap this up
This has gotten to be a rather long musing, and I didn’t even touch on all the things I’ve done in the past week. It’s been a full one, and I’m happy with how my days are going, even if they’re getting busier. I start a new Chinese class tonight, and I have so many things on the horizon, I can’t wait!
P.S. I was determined to take all the featured photos for these post live on the Mac Photo Booth, and all the pictures have been turning out SO UGLY. I felt like I didn’t look like myself. I realized seconds ago that photo booth photos flip so I see myself how other people see me instead of how I see me. When I flipped them, I liked them so much more cry cry.