Hey Pandas, Why Are People So Racist To South Asians? (Closed)

I'm a person of South Asian heritage living in North America. Ever since I was young, I saw racism against South Asians-such as the imitation of an "Indian Accent." Lots of people talk about how poor and dirty Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are. Why are people like this? We've abolished racism against Black people. So why not Asians?

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All racism is horrible and I am so sorry that you have experiences this in the US. Speaking up about it is so important and I pray there will be change soon!

Unfortunately, people are often scared of what they do not understand. South Asian culture is something that a lot of people haven't taken the time to research and a lot of Americans still associate Pakistan with terrorism because of 911. Because this fear is still fairly excepted as "rational" because 911 was only 23 years ago, a lot of people (especially older generations) refuse to see their prejudice as racism.
I am so sorry that this is something you have to deal with, and I know that all of us on BP are doing our part to educate people and encourage everyone to make healthy connections with people of different cultural backgrounds.

I would personally love to hear more about your heritage and your experience in the US!

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Lil Miss Hobbit

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Because people suck, they may abolish one, but either they won't listen or find another race to be racist against or do both.

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Wubedhheij

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Hey! East Asian here—I totally get it. Idk if our experiences of racism are the same because I live in China, and we don’t have a lot of south Asians in my area (that I’m aware of). I’m guessing that people are so racist towards Asians in general because of the huge cultural gap between different countries. While racism against black people is still a thing in the states, it might be more challenging to accept or adjust to people from a wholly different continent who haven’t been in the states for as long as other certain cultures have.

Just my input here—don’t take it as fact. Have a lovely day

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me myself and i (she/her)

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Society will always find someone else to target. I live in a town that is mainly Asian (Mostly South Asian, but we have a good amount of East Asians as well.) I know growing up anf coming from a community with a lot of South Asians, my perspective is going to be a bit different.

What I notice, is that it is the South Asians themselves doing the accent. It's very ironic, and it's not something I agree with either. Many immature people also pick up on this, and I'm sure they go around.

My town used to be "White" and now it's filled with Asians. I think a lot may come from that, because our town changed drastically within the past 7 years.

I know this doesn't apply to all regions, but for me, this is what I mostly see.

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ThatBlackNightingale

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We haven’t abolished racism against either Black or South Asian people. Both forms of racism remain rampant. It’s just that unlike Black people, South Asians aren’t considered POC. Unlike East Asians, South Asians aren’t considered Asian Americans. So we remain invisible.

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Philosopher Scribe

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I would blame the media.

South Asians are depicted in Hollywood with really thick Indian accents, being nerdy/geeky, having bad hair and smelling like curry.

Asians (as in Chinese, Korean, Japanese etc.) used to be stereotyped in Western media, but ever since K-pop, K-drama and Anime became popular in the West, there has been less and less stereotypes about them being projected on the big screen. In fact, millions of westerners love bands like BTS and New Jeans etc. nowadays.

Hopefully we can see something like that in the coming decades be accomplished in Hollywood for South Asians. Series like Never Have I Ever (NETFLIX) is a good portrayal of how a lot of Indian/South Asian students get treated at school.

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