You’ve all heard of white privilege. Here's a nice article written by Robert Jensen on the topic in case you haven't.
It’s the unearned privileges benefited by white persons due to the mere color of their skin. Its not only present in White countries; you'll find this privilege being given to whites by many non-whites all over the world. Its especially blatant here in the Gulf countries, which I'm guessing many of you probably already knew.
However, I'm here to introduce you to another phenomenon which I refer to as the Brown-Man Benefit. I'm the lucky recipient of this benefit as I'm of Pakistani pedigree which has resulted in my beautiful brown skin. Its quite interesting how this works.
Here in Saudia there is an unashamedly racist class system, with the whites on top, Saudis right below them, then Gulf Arabs, other Arabs after them, Africans, Southeast Asian (from Philippines and Indonesia) and then the lowly South Asians (from the Indian subcontinent). So you'll find many of the lower-grade jobs filled by Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, Pakistani, and the like.
On a daily basis, I'll find myself interacting with my racial brethren from the gas station to the sweet shop to the local grocery store. And I've found that they all have a camaraderie that extends to anyone who looks like them and talks their language.
So when I walk into the sweet shop to order a tray of assorted sweets, the kind Indian behind the counter will immediately start talking to me in Urdu. And as the casual conversation wraps up, he'll finish it off with a smile and a few extra pieces to boot.
I remember this one time at an amusement park where the French fry stand was manned by an older Pakistani. He was selling potato wedges and curly fries to a line of impatient Saudis. When it was my turn, he quickly said to me in Urdu to wait till the crowd dies down. In no rush, I waiting patiently and when he turned to me, he smiled and said that he wanted to 'treat me right', but couldn't do it with the Saudis around.
He explained that the Saudi customers are very often rude and obnoxious, so he shorts them on their wedges and fries, but didn't want to do the same to me. I didn't complain for I can understand his frustrations built up over decades of abuse.
In the same park, one of the ride attendants insisted on entering both Maryam and Humza on one ticket instead of the standard two, something he said that he always does for 'our people'.
I'll admit that I've gotten into the habit of initiating conversations in Urdu with many of these workers in hopes of getting a 'hook up'. Does that make me so bad?
Before you start calling me a mooch, the BMB is not always about getting things for free. Once while driving to Madina, Humza needed to go to the bathroom. We pulled over at a gas station only to find none available. When I asked the gas attendant, he said for public restrooms I had to go to the next station, but since I was a fellow countryman, he would allow me to use their personal bathrooms located behind the gas station. He added that they never allow the Saudis to use it because of the mess they leave.
I found this stick-it-to-the-man attitude very prevalent amongst the laborer population. And its really no surprise as they are constantly treated like garbage by the locals.
Once I drove into the gas station and told the guy to put 40 riyals worth. He immediately looked at my Toyota SUV, assumed that I was the driver for the actual owner and asked me if I wanted 'the full 40'. I gave him a puzzled look and asked what he meant. He explained that drivers who work for Saudis regularly come and ask for 35 riyals worth of gas and ask him to write the full 40 on the receipt. He was obviously more than willing to comply.
However, the BMB doesn't always work to my advantage. Many times I've walked into a store and the salesperson will pay me no attention, choosing to focus on the 'real' customers. I've found that if in those instances I speak up in my accent-free English, they become much more responsive.
Its nice to be able to fall back on the BMB every once in a while because I've also been a victim of the racism evident against the brown-skinned folk. Fortunately, as soon as I feel the negative sentiment, I have the luxury of speaking in English informing the perpetrator that I'm not the typical brownie that he's used to abusing. I do feel a sense of guilt when I resort to such tactics, but such is the sickness of Saudi life.
So what's my whole point behind this post? In case you ever find yourself relocating to the Gulf, brush up on your Urdu and become one with your long lost inner Brown (and it wouldn't hurt to work on your outer Brown with a few extra hours in the sun).
:-)
Musk, Goodwin, racism and rape
5 days ago
11 comments:
I've witnessed what you wrote when I came to the "holy land" for Hajj back in '99. The racial structure you describe is quite accurate from my observation.
This sort of racial structure exist throughout the world in every society. The rungs on the ladder maybe in a different order depending on where you are. But is not so different elswhere.
I'm glad you can use it to your advantage when possible -:). Humans, Humans, Humans.
Thank GOD we are thriving for the hereafter and if we atain Junnah we all will be truly EQUAL.
Good stuff.
-F.
You know what sucks. I live in Jersey City, in NJ, where there are alot of desis. So usually desis try to rip me off cuz i don't have a perfect urdu accent! I try to be nice speaking urdu w/them and it works to my disadvantage!
Naeem, I think it's high time you got a taste of your own people's medicine. I go to Al Rahmah and get that same treatment every day from your peeps! Welcome to my world, bro! :-)
Sophister,
LOL!! Your problem is that all those Jersey desis are crooks. They had enough money to buy a US visa but not enough to make anything of themselves...hahaha...i kid :-)
On the other hand, these guys here in the Gulf are by far very nice and very humble, especially the Sri Lankans and Bangladeshis. Those Pakis are always trouble, no matter where you go. ;-)
Sahra,
OK, I'll bite...what are you talking about?
I wrote about the bending-over-backwards treatment that I got from my 'peeps' here in Saudi....so are you saying that you get the same treatement at Al-Rahmah? Gee, that's really great! I'm so happy for you. ;-)
Good stuff as usual. The layers of favoritism is everywhere. Funny how, a paki will help a paki before hooking up an indian muslim.(and vice versa)How both will help another paki or indian muslim before they help another muslim from a different background. How they'll help a fellow desi who's not muslim before they help a non desi muslim, etc....Good topics for Anthropologists to research and document.
As for Saudi, during Hajj, desi shopkepper or not, they all try to scam u in the stores by overcharging.
Dont be dissing Jersey, I'll take your entire Jersey audience of 5 and go to another blog!
As for ISB, well nevermind, lol.
I'll tell you what's NOT a BMB...desi women packing on tons of makeup for functions and come out looking like casper the ghost w/ vaseline on their skin...ughhh...
whyyyy ohhhh whyyyy...the horror...
(I have no idea why I posted this)
Naeem, you know darn well what I meant. I get treated like a negro and maybe even less by your peeps. Even when they are nice they are condescending! I couldn't careless since I know desi like you that redeem the entire population but, you get what I'm saying. MRESPEY, I totally agree! Haaaaaaa
It's amazing that they give the highest respect to the same people who refer to them at "donkeys with cell phones"!!! If one reads Muslim history, you'll realize that it was this behavior which has led to our defeat--"The Crusades through Arab Eyes" by Amin Malouf
MrESPY: ???? Is there a third brother in the mix that I can pin my hopes on? :-)
Sahra: Yeah I figured that's what you meant...but do you see this problem also present in the first gen American Muslim crowd??
From the brothers side, although there are social circles wherein certain races/ethnicities feel most comfortable, there is alot of crossing over...how about for the sisters?
Hey Naeem:
I was writing to let you know that I intentionally used the "Brown-Man Benefit" phenomenon. In my case it is more the Religion and Sports phenomenon
I recently went to Wal-Mart to pick up my master Grill and needed to purchase the cover to protect it from the elements etc. I came across this employee who had the name Khan on his name card.
Now I'm one of those who do not assume that everyone who has an Arabic or Muslim sounding name is a Muslim and want to be outed by giving the the loud Salaams etc. I know from first hand experience back home where people have names like Muhammad, Ali, and Khan and they are straight up Christians. Some are even pastors and priest in the church.
So I asked him if there are any covers for the grill. He said he did not think so and that there were sold out. I can tell he did not really want to help me. For whatever reason it was a hot day, or maybe he had a bad day, or who knows.
So to make it easier for me to get his help, I said so your name is Khan? He said yes I said my name is Muhammad. Of course he smiles and give me a hushed salaams. So I replied in a hushed voice so as to not "out" the both of us. I'm thinking great we have something in common. So he said, come on lets take a look inside to see it they have the cover.
As we walked he asked me where I'm from. I told him the West Indies (I know this will be a hit with him because of cricket). Of course he spits out the names of all these West Indies cricket greats from the 70's and 80'. Mind you I'm no cricket fan I think it is the most boring games in the world next to Baseball. Who wants to stand all day and wait to catch a ball in the hot sun? But I urge him on by saying "those guys were the best huh" and he agreed with me.
We reached to the shelf where the covers are suppose to be and he looked and looked and clearly they were out of it. I guess the end of the Summer season. Hey that's why I brought the Grill at this time to catch the sale. Any how he apologized and said to try back since they may get some more soon.
So the bonus moment of the whole encounter came when he was walking me out of the store and Mr. Khan offered me a cold bottle of water from his personal cooler and said I know you can use this since it's hot out there. I said sure and shook his hand and left by saying Allah Hafiz. That's by example of "Brown-Man Benefit"
Post a Comment