Desi Manifesto Blog: The Forum for South Asian American Men

[Blogger: S.I.] We’ve been delinquent. It’s a very busy time in the lives of the Desi Manifesto crew. Of course, if we had more people to blog, there wouldn’t be lag like this, would there? I put the blame squarely on you.

In the last few weeks, I’ve encountered snippets of race-related situations, and even I had a lot of trouble deciding whether I considered them racist or not. It’s the same way people feel about logos such as the one to the right.

So I throw them out to you for some feedback.

LASIK AND EYE OPENING COMMENTS

I recently got LASIK performed at a prominent clinic in LA. Highly ranked doctors, technicians, etc. A few days before the procedure, I underwent an extremely detailed eye exam, including dilating of the pupils.

As the tech tilted my head back to instill the drops, she noticed how easy it was. She said: “Oh, you have such big eyes, it’s so easy to put in the drops. You’re not going to have a problem at all. Not like our Asian patients with those tiny eyes.”

Racist or not? You could take it as her just stating a basic physical fact that we all observe, which is Asians having eyes that generally don’t have the same surface area as other races.

Or, you could take it as her dissing Asians or employing one of the most basic stereotypes about their race.

It wasn’t easy for me to decide, either.

HOUSE CLEANING AND AIRING DIRTY LAUNDRY

Thanks to my boy in Las Vegas, Sonny, for this:

Sonny: i just got a new maid service

the guy is kind of a racist

but his maids do excellent work

his whole thing is that he doesn’t hire any illegals

which increases the price

but also increases the quality

he’s one of those guys that

normally i’d consider a nut

but his peeps actually do good work

me: he prob hates you

Sonny: yeah i think he def did in the beginning

he thought i was mexican

from my first name

his manner changed dramatically

when he found out i was indian

he said he’s rooting for john mcain to pick bobby jindal as his VP

hahahhahaha

that’s when i made the call to hire his company

Racist or not? You could take this as a man expressing his love for Indians (and Republicans).

Or, you could see it as exemplifying his disdain for Latinos (if not based on his “no illegals” policy, then founded on his change in tone when he found out Sonny wasn’t Latino). Especially given the strong anti-immigrant feelings in Nevada.

NOT CURRYING FAVOR

You know how I feel about the word curry. But even that didn’t clarify things for me the other day.

I was microwaving my lunch, some delicious vegetable korma. The aroma wafted around the general area.

Then the lady came by. She was known as blunt, loud, and potentially unstable.

She sniffed as she walked. Multiple inhales as her olfactory senses tried to make it all compute.

“What’s that weird smell? Is that curry?” she asked as she high stepped away.

I still don’t know if she saw me standing by the microwave.

Racist or not? To someone unfamiliar with Indian food, it is a weird smell I suppose. And while we brown folk equate food with culture, it’s not like that in the US. So just because she didn’t like the smell doesn’t mean she hates Indos. And had she liked the smell, it wouldn’t have meant she loved Indian culture. It’s not exactly reasonable to expect every person to say “That smells wonderful!” about our food or say nothing at all (even though I never comment on other people’s food).

Or, she thinks anything unknown to her is an unwelcome spectacle, showing a parochial worldview where what is not immediately within reach must be strange and somewhat negative, otherwise known as “weird.”

So let us all know what you think. I’m sure some of you have been in similar scenarios. Fire away.

And in case it mattered, my answers are: no, yes, no.