"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 affecte...