Is There Really Racism In Thailand Or Is It Just Prejudice ?

[abrahamzvi]

Sir, you are discriminated against.

Welcome in the club whose members are discriminated because of race, colour, religion, nationality or whatever.

But keep into account many Thai people are absolutely bananas about light, or preferably sickly white skin colour.

And, no way, will you or I or anybody else, ever be able to change this attitude.

Or, maybe, in a few generations.

By the way, a white teacher with oodles of qualifications, loads of diplomas, years of experience and also fluent in Thai, will be replaced if a Thai wants the job.

No qualifications or whatever will be needed.

Own people first!

i believe you, thank u..its really sad

Although generally I do agree that Thai comes first (Isn't it the same in the UK, or Germany, or France?), it should, and I hope it is, subject to qualifications.

As far as racialism to "Blacks" is concerned, I really do not believe that Thais are racialists. They may be prejudiced, but certainly not racialists. One of my daughters attended an intenational school and one of the most popular teachers there was an American "Black". However, I understood from one of the Board members of the school that some "white" farang parents were not that happy with the popular teacher and they were told by a Thai director, that in spite of the monetary situation of the school, if such parents were not happy they should look for another school. Just goes to show....

[Scott]

Racism and prejudice is a little different among Thais than many Westerners. I think it has more to do with a sense of ingrained superiority by the Thais, they do not have a sense of righteous indignation common among Westerners. For a lot of Thais, once they know someone and like them, they no longer see the race. They are not taught to hate, they are taught to accept. So many schools may not want to hire a black person, but if one does get hired, he/she will be liked and accepted, all things being equal.

[evercurious]

Yes I am sure you're right. I know of other black people who work in Thailand, some very articulate and professional (in other fields such as sport), but still find this discrimination. One guy said a hotel owner told him, "We don't usually let blacks in, they cause too much trouble"! This was however, after having let him in there. He and others have said they got cold receptions when staying in places where they were formally accepted.

I guess it used to be like that in UK, but nowadays, definitely the case that you have more chance of being treated without prejudice in a white culture like that - or ex apartheid South Africa - than in Thailand and other parts of Asia. In teaching though I have seen some black people do well and be accepted, possibly more in Science subjects than in English language teaching, but anyway they had to prove themselves.

Yet, as stated in other posts, they will discriminate also against white Western teachers, in favour of Thais and also expect us to prove ourselves more than the teachers from Thailand who have permanent posts.

[Scott]

An off-topic troll post has been removed.

[Scott]

A post with political commentary has been removed. Please keep political comments to the Thailand news thread.

[timewilltell]

Thais unfortunately are not exempt from the human weakness of racism.

The racism you experienced is a type of prejudice Thai people have against certain skin colors born from sterotypes.

For example there is a rather ignorant Thai saying passed down for generations that goes like this :

"if you see a snake and an Indian, hit the Indian first"

I know this seems extremely racist and any South Asian would be rightly offended but unfortunately I guess someone's bad experience that an Indian cannot be trusted (even less then a snake) was passed down until it became embedded in Thai folklore.

Thai's have likely picked up the most of the stereotypes portraying colored people as being criminally minded and violent from Hollywood who have probably single-handily influenced stereotyping of all races more then any other forms of media. Think dumb blond, sassy redhead, all asians know kung-<deleted>, middle-eastern terrorists, Russian KBG spies, South African mercs, etc etc and I could go on and go.

Stereotypes exist everywhere but the degree varies with each culture. Zatoichi said it well when it comes to education and what schools are trying to sell.

The positive thing I can say about racism in Thailand is that it is not born out of hatred unlike what many colored people have experienced in the the US even up to today. Some people here may think lighter skin personifies superiority but thats pretty much its limit. No underlying element of hatred unlike what we see committed in homophobic or religious related crimes.

Once Thai's get to know you I'm sure you will see their prejudiced views disappear as fast as they came.

Racism here is superficial.

I think the questionable recruitment standards reflects on the quality of the school to a certain degree.

So let it be their lost that they let go a qualified candidate because they judged a book by its cover.

Racism here is institutionalised rather than superficial in my experience.

[Quit4Justice]

Sawadee Ka Yanyk,

I just quit my English conversation government teaching job over racial discrimination, and I am eager to make a difference, even if it is just with myself. I was teaching through an agency at a rural Matyom in North East Thailand, where the only two native speaking English teachers were myself and another American. He quit (and politely lied about a sick friend back home) and I immediatley suggested to my agency that my husband take over the positiion. The agency was so glad to hear this and asked him to immediately forward his resume and passport copy over so he could start teaching on Monday. Note: this is a remote, hard to staff school. Two days later I spoke to my (Thai) foreign language department supervisor at the school and she said "We're not sure. We want farang. We want Euro person. The problem is his body."

My husband is a Vietnamese-American refugee who lived in the United States for 35 years. He graduated from a top university in California and speaks unaccented English. Suddlenly, the agency lost interest in my husband. I asked one of the (White South African) agency workers about this and he said "I don't know why the schools do this. It's really too bad. We actually don't have any other candidates." I asked him if they have a policy about racial discrimination (they are 13 years old and another worker told me he had seen teaching candidates crying over Thai employers blatently telling them they are too old) and he said he didn't know who I would talk to about that.

The students went THREE WEEKS with no permanent teacher (they got a sub for three days and occasionally had the Thai teachers doing paperwork while the students played at their desks).

In the end, I called my agency to resign as soon as I was able to withdraw my salary. As soon as I resigned, two more people from my agency who speak good English called me and I told them exactly why I was resigning. One person tried to talk me into staying and then threatened to enforce the $1000 fee for violating the contract. I knew this was a big headache for them and I hope that next time a racial discrimination issue comes up they will think more carefully about how they handle it (like saying "We are so sorry this happened. We don't support this decision).

I also taught a lesson about the difference between ethnicty and nationality the last week and used examples such as Jeremy Lin, Michale Jackson (he's pretty confusing for them), Tiger Woods and Obama.

Everyone tells me that my action won't make a difference. Well, Ghandhi said "Be the change you wish to see in the world". I went from being an objectified white teacher in rural Thailand to being a backpacker on the Andaman coast who is sharing my story with dozens of Thais and travellers.

Message me if you know anyone who is actively supporting racial equality in Thailand/SE Asia or if you want a copy of my race/ethnicity lesson.

[Stradavarius37]

Thailand is very skin racist,and, sadly this is a drug that farangs are picking up on. I feel for u, and hope u get sorted asap.

Huh? Drug?

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

[onlycw]

I'm sorry for this awful experience. A friend of mine speaks the Queen's English - and he has found his place in Bangkok.

OTOH, there is a huge mob of C.'s who come with fake degrees and have atrocious accents and very limited vocabulary.

It must be so annoying to battle it out in such circumstances...

On the first day at a government high school, an old female teacher told me that they wouldn't hire any "blacks" - but they hired

white South Africans. Not sure if the colour of one's skin is seen as reflecting a theologically "dark karma / bad soul"?

Darkness is theological territory JMHO.

Try other countries, surely you will find an employer who will appreciate you and the hard work you do!

[ajarnsiam]

Of course, both racism and prejudice exist in Thailand, especially within the NES TEFL community. Anyone who wishes to do an MA TESOL thesis on this subject could use the TV Ed forum as primary research.

Edited February 16, 2014 by ajarnsiam

[Kilgore Trout]

_{Most Thai people are unfortunately racist. They look down on people from Laos, Miramar and Cambodia and look down on people with dark skin. Were I black, I think Thailand is not a country where I would like to live or work.}

I wouldn't call Thais racist but they are guilty of stereotyping. Many of them have probably never seen a dark skinned person with money or an education.

Thais in my experience are not racist not surprisingly since half of their own people have dark brown skin.

Who they routinely discriminate against based solely on the color of their skin.......wait.......isn't that pretty much the definition of racism?

[hughben]

Did anyone see the video of the Thai student firing insults at a White teacher in Thai?

It went viral and was reported by some media. Calling her a monitor lizard etc. It seemed she couldn't understand Thai.

[thhMan]

OP.. Is it ok for me to call you black if I am not. You seem to throw that word around a lot.