‘You look like the help’: the disturbing link between Asian skin color and status |
‘You look like the help’: the disturbing link between Asian skin color and status
Fusion
2016-08-25
Mari Santos
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Outside a hotel lobby in Toronto earlier this year, an elderly Asian woman stopped my mother and me to ask what time a tour bus would be arriving. Then, the woman asked in broken English: “Are you Philippine?”
“Yes,” my mom replied.
“Ahh, you look Korean!” the woman exclaimed. My mother graciously thanked her.
I darted my eyes, offended and confused at the implication that looking Korean over Filipino should somehow be taken as a compliment. Later I asked my mother: “Why did you thank her?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted sheepishly…
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Tags: colorism, Mari Santos