NCR: Kathreen Khavari > Brain Terror
This brilliant skit shows how racial type-casting impacts self-perception not just the perception of others. This is a really funny and well done presentation of a real life issue that happens ALL THE TIME. I am a Canadian citizen who was born in the island nation of Fiji in the South Pacific. My first name is Suzannah. My passport reads Suzannah Sima Kumar. I have been stopped at customs and asked by a customs officer "what kind of a name is 'Sima'... it sounds Arabic." I had lunch today with a television commercial producer I once travelled to Santa Fe with for a spa retreat. She was shocked how I was stopped at every check point possible and questioned - even right before boarding our flight and asked to remove my shoes - I was wearing strappy flat sandals and the only thing that said 'killer' was my pedicure, Chanel 587 Rouge Carat.
In my own culture... I was always singled out for being prettier because of my fair skin colour. Fijian Indians are often really dark. It was odd & confusing to hear as a child "Sima is so pretty - she's so fair." This commentary also led to my peers - children - not liking me. Later in life I had the same children, now adults of my parents' friends tell me they hated being at family functions with me because it was always about how fair I was. I never knew the impact of how the elder generation expressed (more based in culture vs. wanting to mess young people up or inspire self image issues) in front of my peers would really shape my experiences with other children. I'm a sun lover so I always want to be darker... something I now avoid knowing what I do about sun exposure (although I did successfully sizzle myself 10 shades darker when Kristin and I went to Kauai last year). When I would get dark during summer months or time away travelling - I was often met with confusion as to why I would let myself be so dark? It seemed perplexing to some of my relatives that to become darker would be a choice. Once in London, when I was walking to Primrose Hill via Chalk Farm a group of young white British lads walked right up to me and told me "You are ugly!" while leering dangerously close. I was so fascinated and a little shocked they didn't hit me while at it that I didn't have time to be offended.
So with all the experiences that we have of "others" what is our perception of our self? Thank you to Kathreen Khavari for such a brilliant performance and reminding us that every voice in our head does have a say and we should learn to distil the noise. We may also want to check our addiction to Homeland. ~ Sima
