3. Black people are hard to see at night.

This is the third thing that every Chinese will say if you talk to one long enough. I hope it was unexpected. Otherwise, the rest of the post might not make sense.

I’ve been rather surprised to hear this, especially on more than one occasion, in a country with so few black people to begin with. Each time I hear it a voice in my head pops up and reminds me “you can’t say that!” That I have a this voice in my head is a good demonstration of how politically correct we are in the United States, relative to China, for better or worse. Thankfully college didn't make me _solely_ a PC robot, so I've been thinking critically about the statement.

Why should “black people are hard to see at night” be so surprising? It’s true. It’s goddamn true, true as the sky is blue.

I trust if you’re an American you’re having a similar voice pop up in your head right now telling you I've said something shocking, controversial, or racist. And I think when we only recognize the truth in a true statement after we’ve recognized how much trouble someone can get in for saying it, we’ve lost something.

The Chinese still have it. They’ve got it and got more where that came from. They got a whole bag of it under the table. They’ve got’em like hotcakes. If I had a nickel for every one they had… In other words, they’ve got a lot and they’ve got it bad. So bad they also lack the ability to conceptualize how such a statement marginalizes minorities by defining them through their minority characteristics. I’ve spent countless hours with Chinese people trying to build the framework for understanding oppression. I’ve talked about the birdcage, insufficient sample sizes, the myth of genetic races, and where all else failed simply asked to put themselves in someone else’s shoes. But in the end I always have to settle for just strongly urging that they never say “black people are hard to see at night” in the US, because almost everyone will be offended by it. “While you might not lose friends over this particular statement,” I say, “it’s a safe bet just to avoid referring to inborn differences like skin color altogether.” Would you agree? Is this really the case in America? And if it is, isn’t it a much more shocking statement--revealing the current thought-controlling condition of political correctness in America--than “black people are hard to see” could ever be?

The party members of Orwell's 1984 doublethink their way around a minefield of thoughts the party deems too dangerous, both at once understanding the truth and then denying it to their conscious brain. My boots have a hole in the toe and the sole is disintegrating but the radio says boot production is up 20% this year so I'm happy to live in such a luxurious country! The politically correct reflex operates with a similar mechanism, where a brain is so well-trained it can captured a statement, react to it appropriately, and discard it before understanding it's meaning. "Black people are hard to see at night."　In my case, I think I stop listening and start doubting the statement after "black people are..."

Perhaps this is scary, perhaps not. Whereas doublethink is a tool of party oppression in 1984, in the US political correctness is enforced democratically, i.e., "everyone will be offended if you say ____." Since I'm not as able to articulate what is "lost" by this process, and can see how in a bigger picture how it helps to create a more inclusive and egalitarian society I accept it. But I also worry that doublethink can become so pervasive in the mind of a society that it forgets the bittersweet taste of truth.

Sharing an honest opinion regarding race in the US is like crossing the street without looking: a costly accident waiting to happen. So Americans always look both ways before crossing, and twice to the left. Chinese don’t bother to look. They’re too busy looking out for black people whom could evidently be anywhere.


Since there are so few dark skinned people in China, I think that their perceptions are mainly informed by American movies. Considering so many black characters in blockbusters are urban stereotypes, they rightfully think all blacks are dangerous and speak Ebonics. I first cringed when Chris Tucker yelled at Jackie Chan “don’tchu know nevertoucha black man’s radioooooo!?” and now cringe again when experiencing Chinese views of black skin.


This post originally went on to elaborate by documenting my experience at the Beijing Ethnic Minorities Park. This section has now been split off to it's own post here.