SINGLE, BLACK FEMALE LIVING IN BANGKOK …
Lessons in Life
Amber Skinner is a journalist from the US. In 2006, she moved to Thailand to spend a year finding herself and ended up finding out more about other people. Here she talks frankly with Naked Farang about her experiences in the Land of Smiles.
With mere days to go before my exodus from the southern United States to the urban tropics of Bangkok, I found myself sitting round my office, scanning the internet for blogs written by other African American folks living in Thailand. Much to my dismay, the end result of my leisurely search was a selection of bad experiences, stories of discrimination, examples of conspicuous racism, and other such narratives that gave me sudden pause. “The Colour of Fame in Thailand”, “Foreign Affairs-Racism and Visas”, “Arabs and Thai Racism.” Was I about to jump headlong from the frying pan into the fire? From the accounts littering my screen, it would seem so. But then again, I live in the United States and have therefore been confronted by racial disharmony and downright hateful behavior on more than one occasion. What the heck.
For all the excitement of living in such a multi-national city, I was taken aback by the archaic views towards race and ethnicity. I was also surprised at the surprise of others when I told them I was black. I guess it wasn’t apparent. I read somewhere that only ten percent of Americans even possesses passports including our entire military, African Americans comprising only a fraction of this already miniscule percentage. So, I shouldn’t have been staggered when I walked through NaNa - the part of Sukhumvit heavily dominated by Indian, North African, and Middle Eastern businesses - and every store owner and restaurant waiter addressed me first in Arabic. The notion of me being black (kind of) AND from the U.S. probably didn’t even register.
From talking to former students and colleagues, I’ve heard just about every justification for discrimination in Thailand, the most poignant being one tied solely to skin color. On every occasion while shopping in Boots, the friendly Thai sales staff would bombard me with trials of skin-whitening/lightening products. Their good reason being that I would appear more honest if my skin was lighter. Honest… honestly? The first time this happened, I was insulted and most likely responded rudely. After the third (fourth, fifth, sixth…) time, I gathered that discrimination in Thailand has directly to do with a person’s skin color, not necessarily origin. As obvious a revelation as it may be, I was fascinated.
As I’m not a sociologist or even an excellent amateur researcher, my “findings” on discrimination in Thailand remain stored in my mental database. At the end of the day, what I found was that prejudices and biases don’t really vary much from place to place, therefore, I should get on with my life just the same as I would at home. As I grew tired of my little study into the racial hierarchy of Thai society, I found that much of what I saw as abhorrence was really curiosity poorly disguised. This helped me relax and take pleasure in living abroad, learning new things, meeting wonderful people, and blending in in an entirely new way.
My co-workers and neighbors must have noticed a change in my swagger because soon after I abandoned my suspicion, everyone and their mother wanted to get the “real deal” on what it was like to be black! A friend of a friend, who happens to be African American and has worked at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok for the past seven years, teased that I would get used to being the ambassador of black America. I balked at first, but as time passed, grew into my new appointment and thoroughly enjoyed living in the Land of Smiles.
Amber Skinner – December, 2007
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Have your say...
Bubba
12 Dec 2007, 01:41
Maybe if every one was naked, we'd see each other as we truly are...
