Being Black On The ROC - #1

Is not as easy as it seems....

This is just going to be a weekly section about what unique experiences I have in Taiwan as a Black woman. These posts specifically deal with my race/racism issues in Taiwan, because it exists and I have to deal with it every week (with a smile on my face)!

Defending My Nationality On The ROC

When meeting Taiwanese people for the first time, they almost always (90% - 99%) of the time believe that I am from Africa. This is understandable, because a lot of the Black populace in Taiwan are Africans. However, on one pleasant night out with my host mother, one Taiwanese male was not too pleased and even questioned my race/ nationality.

On that night, my host mom invited me to eat with her and her son at a snack shop in our neighborhood's night market. As soon as we entered and ordered our food a lackadaisical 阿公/ "A-Gong"/ a male in his 60's-80's approached our table and asked my mom what I was doing in Taiwan. 

This is what I call the "third-person" chat. For some reason, even if Taiwanese people know that you can speak/ understand Mandarin Chinese, some of them will still ask their Taiwanese friends questions about you in your presence. By in your presence, I mean right in front of your face (about two to three feet to be exact). In America, this would be considered ill-mannered and downright rude, but its acceptable in Taiwan. Why? Because they believe that the majority of foreigners here can't have a conversation pass "Hello, How are you?" On another note, this really isn't their fault, a large number of foreigners are like this, and years ago it was a lot worse. However, it's getting better now as more and more foreigners are learning how to speak Mandarin Chinese proficiently.

My host mother then responds, "You can ask her directly, her Chinese is quite good." I then respond, "I am currently studying Chinese at a university." He then turns back to my mom and asks where am I from to which I automatically respond, "I am from America."

As soon as "America," fell off the tip of my tongue, the A-Gong gave me a look of utter disgust. He then speaks to my host mom in Taiwanese dialect (thinking that I wouldn't understand Taiwanese, he was wrong) and says, "I thought America didn't have any Black people." Translation- He thought I told him a flat out lie to his face, and was making it his duty to inform my host mother that I may have potentially deceived her. 

After hearing this, my host mother deliberately turned away from him and was trying to quickly finish her meal. I joined her in this process, but was disturbed by the A-Gong that decided to continue to stand there and watch us eat. Needless to say, we quickly left, I paid the bill with a smile, and we never returned to that place again. 

Looking back, I should have stood up and shouted to him in Taiwanese that our President is indeed a Black man and that we indeed occupy a large population in the United States. 

But thats the wit of the staircase for ya!

^_^