In Thailand black is ugly: Racist, or

just misguided?

This chart, which is being used as a teaching resource in Thailand, depicts black as being ugly.

By James Austin- Aug 11, 2015

Earlier this year I wrote an article discussing White Power in Thailand: the widespread
dislike of dark skin and with it countless whitening products blemishing the shelves of
Thai pharmacies. The prequel to the products are the seemingly incorrigible
advertising campaigns, and the catalyst of the campaigns, I wrote, is a national
insecurity that seems interwoven with class prejudice. Dark equals poor; symbolic of a
hard life working outdoors. Pale correlates to the nouveau riche; the urban indoorworking middle classes, or people living a life of leisure. As I stated in the article, the
same phenomenon was prevalent throughout Europe for centuries.
One of the whitening product advertisements I invoked in the story was a drink that
ostensibly gives pallor to a persons skin. The ad this is the third time I have rebuked
Verena L-Gluta Berry Plus, but I wont apologize alludes to the fallacy that being

black, or dark, means that you are ignominiously stationed somewhere at the bottom
of the evolutionary chain. The drink, however, can magically fast-forward you to the
higher, whiter, end of the scale. At the time I didnt equate the ad with racism, but I
should have; after all the darkest skin that appears in the ad belongs to someone of
African descent.
Last week a Thai childrens teaching resource appeared online. A poster, which is a
vocabulary learning tool, shows pictures of objects and people presented next to a
corresponding word. Handsome, we learn, looks something like a cartoonish Korean
pop star; beautiful, a western babe; and pretty looks something like a young female
Japanese anime character. Meanwhile, ugly is depicted as what looks like a young
African man, replete with diamond stud bling earrings. At the bottom of the poster it is
written in Thai: A way to thinking and teaching. If such an arrantly offensive
description exists in a childrens thinking and teaching aid, then what kind of
thinking and teaching happens in some Thai households?
Fear of the other
At the most simplistic level, white equates good and beautiful and black the opposite.
This remains deeply ingrained in the Thai psyche, answered Thai critic Kaewmala in a
2013 interview in which she was asked if Thailands dislike of dark skin was not strictly
related to beauty, but also contained elements of racism.
Her conclusion:
Thais have a strong dislike and distrust of dark-skinned Burmese and Indians, and
can find little beauty in dark skinned people, poor foreigners from neighboring
countries, poorer fellow Thais from Isaan or Thai-Malay Muslims in the South, or
Africans. Racism in the Thai cultural context is more intertwined with the chauvinistic
attitude based on ultra-nationalism in Thai education which teaches us that we are
better than our neighbors, and the Bangkok-centric worldview, interwoven with
persistent discrimination based on class, urban vs rural and social-status hierarchies.

Dunkin Donuts in Thailand sparked outcry in 2013 with this ad showing a woman in
blackface make-up. Pic: AP.
In an article called Being Black in Thailand, written in 2014, some of the black
interviewees described that they felt the attitude towards their skin colour and how
being black in Thailand might elicit undue attention wasnt racism, merely curiosity.
Alyx Shepherd, an American under-graduate studying in Thailand, said, Racism? No.
I think not having much exposure to many different skin tones has left them in the
dark (pun intended) with different cultures. Its not racism, but I think as time goes on,
because Thai people are so accepting, as they become more exposed, it wont even be
stigmatised. I dont think its a racism thing, just a lack of exposure.
Although in the same story when one black teacher found that an ad for teaching
position said, Caucasians required, white preferred, and then inquired to a Thai
friend the meaning of this she heard the sullied mantra, because Light skin is
beautiful. The same respondent also remarked on a darker side to studying in
Thailand, where she found remnants of a racist past such as when she came across a,
Little Black Sambo Doll. In another story that appeared in the New Yorker around
the same time a black American was turned down for a teaching job in Thailand
because he would, scare the children, according to the administrator that
interviewed him.
Brooke Lew, a black Canadian woman who worked as an intern in Thailand for some
months, told Asian Correspondent: People stared at me all the time, everywhere I
went, as if they had never seen a black person before. I felt fetishized often, with people
gawking at me or discussing the beauty of my skin as though they were being forward
thinking and bold for even thinking it. I met a husband and wife artist couple who
literally scared me. They wanted to paint me, like I was a gazelle in a safari or

something. Brooke explained that she thought maybe the lack of a solid racial civil
rights movement in Asia may have set the stage for the colonial white hierarchy to run
wild. run wild.

Object 1

There are a few blogs written about black peoples experiences visiting or living in
Thailand, and most seem to vacillate around the curious-racist line. Curiosity is
natural and unintentional, but there is plenty of evidence of overt racism towards black
people in Thailand. Painted black faces sometimes appear in Thai comedy shows, and
those characters are often portrayed as being foolish, clownish. This mirrors the
aforementioned advertisement; its attempting to inform us that black is not just ugly,
but its also backwards, or not as evolved as a light pallor. Black Man, a range of Thai
cleaning products from toilet brushes to dish scourers, can be seen in most Thai
supermarkets. A correlation can be made with this brand name and servitude, or even
slavery. This kind of invidious racial stereotyping was probably not accidental, but its
unlikely that in Thailand it has caused or will cause an outcry from the public. Political
correctness has yet to enter the Thai psyche.
Political correctness hasnt gone mad
Ethnocentrism on the other hand is pervasive. Promulgated by the media
and sometimes politicians is a belief that certain, heinous crimes could not have been
committed by a Thai. Exiled political activist Giles Ji Ungpakorn points out in a blog
post on the topic racism in Thailand that offensive words are commonly used in
Thailand to describe large groups of people, or entire races.
Ungpakorn writes, Most Thais refer to anyone who looks Malay, Indian, Turkish or
Arabic as Kaak. This is no different from Anglo-Saxon racists referring to Wops,
Spics or Dagos. The highly offensive word Kaak is also used to belittle the Muslim

Malays of Patani, thus increasing their oppression. He adds that black people of
African descent are often referred to as, Aye Murd, which he says is the equivalent of
nigger. Literally its probably closer to darkie.
Caucasians are known as farang, and being farang comes with numerous allencompassing character misconceptions. The debate of whether the term is derogatory
is an old one, but whether spoken with ill-will, or accidental ill-will, is not the point. To
hold myopic pre-set notions of what an entire race is like is dangerous; its what we call
racialism, or worse racism. Polarization of racial groups is common in Thailand; it
belongs to the concept of Thainess, which in itself is a reductive ethnocentric view of
oneself. The belief in Thainess, while embraced by much of the public and pushed into
the brains of young students by the current government, is the root of the evil
concerning racism. Governments endorsing national solidarity through Thainess is a
paradox, because its endorsement is divisive, as well as its success.
(READ MORE: In the wrong skin: Thailand needs to come to terms with white
power)
Thailand has some catching up to do in terms of political correctness, but we mustnt
forget the pervasive racism and odious caricatures given to black people in the West
not so long ago. Much to my long-passed grandfathers discredit, he used to flick his
rolled-up cigarette ash into a black servants hand ashtray in the late 70s. If you want
a nigger for a neighbour, vote labour, was an oft used slogan of the working class
where I lived when Margaret Thatcher was up for election. The slogan was the creation
of British Conservative Peter Harry Steve Griffiths during the 1964 general election,
but the odious sentiment survived until the 80s and died when political
correctness went mad.
Political correctness the world over has many critics, and perhaps at times they are
right. When the sheep in the nursery rhyme Bah Bah Black Sheep was turned into the
Rainbow Sheep we might ask why, and has anyone really benefited from the colour
change? Black people have been reported as calling this a joke. The popular Bangkokbased blogger Stickman writes, The almost total absence of any form of political
correctness in Thailand is THE single most important attribute that attracts me to this
country. The absence of PC provides a freshness and spontaneity that is far removed
from current western culture.
Overreaching political correctness may at times seem oppressive, but understanding
and embracing cultural diversity or calling-out a childrens teaching resource for
saying black people are ugly is not oppressive in the least; its kind, and humane. PC is
something that should be learned through our own critical research; its a result of
intelligent reflection, self-awareness; its a state of mind that can be encouraged but
not taught. When Thais start to deconstruct Thainess, political correctness will come
naturally. Once this happens, a black face will be meaningless.

About the author:

James Austin is a journalist and fiction writer living in Thailand.
Posted by Thavam