"We Can Rebuild the Building"
Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here.
On social media Singaporeans are coming out in support of justice for George Floyd and other victims of racial injustice in America. An observer speculated that some of these postings are made to sock it to American finger-wagging around the world. Some to 'prove' that Singaporean 'multiculturalism' and 'pragmatism' offer a better system of governance. However, there are others who, seeing the analogies between American and Singaporean racism, are protesting the murder of George Floyd to draw attention to problems closer to home. "Racism is a global structure," as the writer of Race Tuition Centre reminds us. The same logic that undergirded the enslavement of African Americans "currently enables the exploitation of South Asian migrant labour globally."
The link between racial and economic injustice has become even clearer in this pandemic. The virus has affected black and brown people in both countries disproportionately, not only in the numbers of infections and deaths, but in the even larger numbers of the unemployed. Before he was murdered by four police officers, George Floyd lost his job at a restaurant forced to close because of COVID. He had moved several years ago from Houston, Texas, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to find work. He was an economic migrant as much as are the migrant workers in Singapore. The destruction of property during this American uprising is not at all senseless. Born out of unheeded rage, It is actually very purposeful. If you are systematically excluded, exploited, or discriminated against in the economy, it is logical that you would smash shop windows in order to be heard and set police cars on fire in order to be seen.
In their search for shareholder value, large corporations are to be blamed for these economic ills. Pandemic measures to help the economy have benefited the rich far more than the working class or small business owners. But racial prejudice, intertwined with economic injustice, goes all the way down. In Harlem, where I live, we have many more drug treatment centers than other parts of New York City, because other neighborhoods, richer and more powerful, refuse to have them. That so many people who struggle with drug addiction and mental illness have to live out on the streets of Harlem gives the lie to NYC's liberalism. When it suits us, we are all tempted to do an Amy Cooper, to call on the authorities to act against minorities. In this regard, Central Park in New York is the same as Woollerton Park in Singapore.
It is easy to feel powerless in the face of such challenges. The question "what can we do?" becomes the feeling "we can do nothing." To counter widespread social prejudice, I would suggest that we need to go beyond self-examination and calling-out, essential though such activities are. For effective political action, we need also to find common interests between apparently antagonistic parties, whether they are blacks and whites, or they are local and foreign workers.
In Singapore right now, a great deal of attention is being paid to improving migrant-worker dormitories, whose crowded and unhygienic state is blamed for the spread of COVID-19. Although it is important to reform the living conditions of these workers, it is far more vital and basic to change their working conditions. Some of these changes would be understandable to most, if not all, Singaporeans. It is not fair to pay huge recruitment fees to work in Singapore and be lumbered with debt if one falls ill or becomes injured in the course of the work. It is not fair to be forced to work for one employer only and not to be allowed to change bosses. The migrant-worker organization HOME has consistently advocated for the right to switch employers. It is conceivable that changes to such unfair working conditions would receive support from the general public. They appeal to a common sense of fairness.
In the US, we need to find common cause too with the black struggle for real justice and equality. Beyond justice for George Floyd, beyond changes to law and policing, we need systemic change to give all a fair stake in the economic benefits that now some of us enjoy. Ruhel Islam, the owner of the Bangladeshi restaurant burned down by protestors in Minneapolis, is justly praised for backing the protests with these words: "We can rebuild a building, but we cannot rebuild a human." The murder of George Floyd would become even more tragic than it already is if we fail to rebuild the economic building of America. We can begin by de-funding police departments across the nation, and investing the money in housing, health, and education.
Jee Leong Koh
June 4, 2020
On social media Singaporeans are coming out in support of justice for George Floyd and other victims of racial injustice in America. An observer speculated that some of these postings are made to sock it to American finger-wagging around the world. Some to 'prove' that Singaporean 'multiculturalism' and 'pragmatism' offer a better system of governance. However, there are others who, seeing the analogies between American and Singaporean racism, are protesting the murder of George Floyd to draw attention to problems closer to home. "Racism is a global structure," as the writer of Race Tuition Centre reminds us. The same logic that undergirded the enslavement of African Americans "currently enables the exploitation of South Asian migrant labour globally."
The link between racial and economic injustice has become even clearer in this pandemic. The virus has affected black and brown people in both countries disproportionately, not only in the numbers of infections and deaths, but in the even larger numbers of the unemployed. Before he was murdered by four police officers, George Floyd lost his job at a restaurant forced to close because of COVID. He had moved several years ago from Houston, Texas, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to find work. He was an economic migrant as much as are the migrant workers in Singapore. The destruction of property during this American uprising is not at all senseless. Born out of unheeded rage, It is actually very purposeful. If you are systematically excluded, exploited, or discriminated against in the economy, it is logical that you would smash shop windows in order to be heard and set police cars on fire in order to be seen.
In their search for shareholder value, large corporations are to be blamed for these economic ills. Pandemic measures to help the economy have benefited the rich far more than the working class or small business owners. But racial prejudice, intertwined with economic injustice, goes all the way down. In Harlem, where I live, we have many more drug treatment centers than other parts of New York City, because other neighborhoods, richer and more powerful, refuse to have them. That so many people who struggle with drug addiction and mental illness have to live out on the streets of Harlem gives the lie to NYC's liberalism. When it suits us, we are all tempted to do an Amy Cooper, to call on the authorities to act against minorities. In this regard, Central Park in New York is the same as Woollerton Park in Singapore.
It is easy to feel powerless in the face of such challenges. The question "what can we do?" becomes the feeling "we can do nothing." To counter widespread social prejudice, I would suggest that we need to go beyond self-examination and calling-out, essential though such activities are. For effective political action, we need also to find common interests between apparently antagonistic parties, whether they are blacks and whites, or they are local and foreign workers.
In Singapore right now, a great deal of attention is being paid to improving migrant-worker dormitories, whose crowded and unhygienic state is blamed for the spread of COVID-19. Although it is important to reform the living conditions of these workers, it is far more vital and basic to change their working conditions. Some of these changes would be understandable to most, if not all, Singaporeans. It is not fair to pay huge recruitment fees to work in Singapore and be lumbered with debt if one falls ill or becomes injured in the course of the work. It is not fair to be forced to work for one employer only and not to be allowed to change bosses. The migrant-worker organization HOME has consistently advocated for the right to switch employers. It is conceivable that changes to such unfair working conditions would receive support from the general public. They appeal to a common sense of fairness.
In the US, we need to find common cause too with the black struggle for real justice and equality. Beyond justice for George Floyd, beyond changes to law and policing, we need systemic change to give all a fair stake in the economic benefits that now some of us enjoy. Ruhel Islam, the owner of the Bangladeshi restaurant burned down by protestors in Minneapolis, is justly praised for backing the protests with these words: "We can rebuild a building, but we cannot rebuild a human." The murder of George Floyd would become even more tragic than it already is if we fail to rebuild the economic building of America. We can begin by de-funding police departments across the nation, and investing the money in housing, health, and education.
Jee Leong Koh
June 4, 2020
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