Taiwan is joining worldwide Black Lives Matter protests with a rally on Saturday at the 228 Peace Memorial Park in Taipei. On the surface, everything is fine in Taiwan: The COVID-19 outbreak has (hopefully) subsided, there is little civil unrest and the economy has not been hit as badly as other countries’.
However, that does not mean people should turn a blind eye to what is going on in the world. With all the efforts to promote Taiwan internationally during the COVID-19 pandemic, and with the nation striving to achieve a diverse and inclusive society, it is also important for Taiwan to participate in the global conversation on matters that might not directly relate to it.
It is telling that most of the discussion on how Black Lives Matter relates to Taiwan is in English, and people who attend these events and talk about it are likely already aware of what is going on. It is a good thing that events are being organized; the question is how to involve the greater public and explain how the movement pertains to people who seemingly have no stake in the game.
The notion that Taiwan has nothing to do with it is a fallacy — on the most basic level, despite their relatively small numbers, black people do live here, and there have been a few widely publicized racist incidents involving them.
Furthermore, Black Lives Matter has become more than an outcry against US police brutality — it is a global pushback against racism, which obviously does exist in Taiwan. Things such as Taiwanese entertainers performing in blackface, people taking offense at Aboriginal politicians not using Chinese names and the marginalization of Southeast Asian migrant workers continue as the protests rage on.
In addition to showing solidarity with the world, Taiwanese participation in Black Lives Matter is a prime opportunity to examine the racial problems that exist here. Other countries are also looking inward while they protest — in the UK on Sunday, for example, protesters tore down a statue of local slave trader Edward Colston, which had stood in Bristol since 1895.
Racism in Taiwan is more subtle and less blatant than in the US, and people are generally not dying from it, but it is not talked about openly enough. It was not that long ago that the nation took umbrage at WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus for accusing Taiwan of orchestrating racist attacks against him in April. People were already angry at Tedros due to the WHO’s exclusion of Taiwan, and COVID-19 was still surging, so emotions ran high.
The incident did generate a flurry of articles, op-eds and online posts over whether racism exists in Taiwan. Many did acknowledge that it is deep-rooted, but that this was even a question is something to think about.
At the time, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said: “Taiwan has always opposed all forms of discrimination … and we know better than anyone else what it feels like to be discriminated against and isolated.” It was the proper response given Taiwan’s circumstances, but does that suggest that Taiwanese cannot be racist because the world already discriminates against them? Some commentators even suggested that Taiwan cannot be racist, as it does a lot of humanitarian work in Africa and South America.
As Taiwan continues to become increasingly multicultural, the excuses are running out, and this includes claiming ignorance. Ignorance is the very reason that there needs to be more discussion, and this is a prime opportunity to do so.
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