Universal preference of whiteness over blackness?

I was at a party when I overheard a Chinese acquaintance remark, "The fear of blacks is instinctive," citing mainland China’s distaste for African students in China, despite limited media exposure to blacks. A white man disagreed with him, insisting that prejudice is learned. The Chinese man had many white friends, but no black friends.

Sometimes, it seems the preference of white Europeans over black Africans (and black Asians and Australians) has reached worldwide, epidemic proportions. This mentality travels beyond places where significant numbers of dark-skinned Australians/Africans and white Europeans actually interact in daily life. Even natives of East Asia, which has no significant blacks/white population, venerate whites and vilifies blacks. In addition to this, many Asians prize “European” features like “high noses,” “oval faces” and light hair and eyes over indigenous features like “flat noses” and black hair and eye'.

The prevalence of such attitudes easily lends support to the theory of the white "Master race," i.e., white people's superiority is so natural that even people of color instinctively recognize it and ascribe respect to different races according to their place on the color line. Just how far does this common world view go back in time?

By taking a look at the prejudices expressed by people at various points in history, we can see that whites are not immune to scorn and misunderstanding from Asians, either. There is nothing innate or “natural” about Asian perceptions of white superiority. The adoration of whites today could just as easily be the vilification of whites, depending on historical circumstances and the dictates of the media.

The Arab World

Modern Arab Attitudes toward Black and White

A Palestinian émigré in the United States murdered his own daughter for dating a black boy. The irony is that the man himself is married to a non-Arab -- a white woman.

Many modern Egyptians view being black as an insult. Poe narrates in Black Spark, White Fire:

In 1984, Columbia Pictures released a television mini-series on the life of the late Egyptian president Anwar Sadat. The title role was given to the distinguished black actor Louis Gossett, Jr. With makeup and costume, he was a dead ringer for Sadat.. But the Egyptians did not see it that way.

The mini-series Sadat was banned in Egypt. Indeed, the Egyptians were so deeply offended that all films produced or distributed by Columbia Pictures were similarly banned. Prominent among the stated objections was a strong revulsion for the idea of a black actor playing Sadat. 1

"I've been told by most of the modern Egyptians with whom I've discussed the question," writes Ann Macy Roth, "that, if they had to use the categories of the modern Western world, they would describe themselves as whites. (There are some exceptions, but few would describe themselves as black)." 2

Pre-Modern Arab Ideas on Race

Ibn Battuta rates the women of Mali as having "surpassing beauty":3

The medieval North African globetrotter Ibn Battuta traveled sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and Asia (as far as China). He never failed to record his observations of the women of various nations. This high praise for the beauty of West African women is noteworthy since it comes from a man who has seen so many races.

Arab opinions of white Europeans:

Although medieval records seemed to indicate that Arab views on black Africans were rather dim, Europeans fared little better in Arab eyes. Like most people, Arabs preferred the familiar to the strange.

Medieval Arabs described with shock and disgust the allegedly low hygiene standards, animal characteristics and superstitious ignorance of Europeans.

Geographer and philologist al-Bakri (d 1094 CE) says of the Galatians:

"They are treacherous, dirty, and bathe once or twice a year, then with cold water. They never wash their clothes until they are worn out because they claim the dirt accumulated as the result of the sweat softens their body." 4

Official and historian Usamah Ibn Munqidh described Crusaders in the Holy Land:

"I saw Franks as like animals possessing courage and fighting prowess though their character is rude. Their medical knowledge is in a crude state for I saw a Frankish physician cut off a leg on which an abscess has grown, causing the man's death. A woman afflicted with imbecility was diagnosed as possessed by the devil, the physician recommended for her the shaving of her head, and as her case worsened, he made a deep cruciform incision on her head, to chase the devil away, but the woman died in the process." 5

Arab Scholar Sa'id Al-Andalusi's opinion on whites:

"Their temperaments are frigid, their humors raw. They lack keenness of understanding and clarity of intelligence, and are overcome by ignorance and dullness, lack of discernment and stupidity." 6

Asia (Outside the Arab World)

Modern Asian Attitudes toward Black and White

The Shanghainese are known for admiring Western civilization. One in four Shanghainese son-in-law are foreign, including foreign-born Chinese and other Asians. Many Chinese parents boast proudly of daughters married to European/European American men. This contrasts with the prevalent Chinese belief, held even by members of the supposedly non-racist Communist party, that people of African descent are unredeemably savage. But was the white good, black bad mentality part of Chinese tradition? Or is it a product of Western imperialism?

Koreans and Japanese have similar attitudes toward blacks and whites. Japanese animation is full of beautiful, sexy and heroic white characters. A European woman who saw Sailor Moon noted with much amusement, "If this is Japanese animation, why do none of the characters look Japanese?" The few black characters in other works of Japanese animation are mostly negative or marginal. The recent L.A. riots in the U.S. testify to Korean attitudes. Generally, white consumers are treated better than black consumers in Korean establishments. Many Koreans and Japanese dye their hair blonde, brown or red. Blue and green contact lenses are also popular among young East Asians.

A biracial black-Vietnamese said he wished he was a white Amerasian instead. A Filipino woman who ran an Asian social group allowed white friends and partners of members to attend but came up with an excuse ("Asians only") when a group member wanted to bring a black friend. A South Asian woman recalled with horror a stranger knocking on her door, expressly noting it was "an African American man." Race is almost never tagged onto descriptions of white strangers.

Pre-Modern Asian Ideas on Race

Standards of beauty in South and Southeast Asia: Marco Polo reports on the Dravidians of South India:

"It is a fact that in this country when a child is born they anoint him once a week with oil of sesame, and this makes him grow much darker than when he was born. For I assure you that the darkest man is here the most highly esteemed and considered better than those who are not so dark. Let me add that in very truth these people portray and depict their gods and idols black and their devils white as snow. For they say that God and all the saints are black and the devils are all white..." 7

In the Chinese record Nan tsi Chou, a Chinese traveler to Southeast Asia wrote of the people:

"...they consider black the most beautiful." 8

Although modern Filipinos prize the “high-nosed,” oval-faced, European-blooded individual as beautiful, some even go so far as to pinch their children's nose bridges in the hopes of achieving a higher nose. This has not always been the case. Prior to European colonization, the ancient Visayans of the Philippines considered the very opposite of high noses and oval faces handsome. Visayans, as well as some other Austronesian peoples in Malaysia and Indonesia, compressed their babies' skulls to achieve broad faces with receding foreheads and flat noses. The Minahasa of Celebes even restricted binding with a forehead board to the nobility.9

Old Chinese Views on Caucasians:

By traditional Chinese opera conventions, a black face is considered nobler. Actors wear masks that denoted the character's qualities. A predominantly black face indicates courage, righteousness and incorruptibility. A predominantly white face indicates craftiness, deceit and knavery.

Ming Dynasty China records even state that Caucasians, especially blondes, are physically unattractive:

Huihui are shaggy with big noses, and Qipchags have light hair and blue eyes. Their appearance is vile and peculiar, so there are those (Chinese) who do not wish to marry them. 10

This distaste for blondes is a stark contrast to the worship of European standards of beauty so prevalent among modern Asians. Today's Chinese boast about their Caucasian son-in-law or husbands. Instead of attributing the worship of whites or the vilification of whites, for that matter, to "natural" perceptions of racial hierarchy, it should be remembered that standards of beauty shift through time.

America

Native Americans Initially Prefer Blacks to Whites

York, the black slave of William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition, fascinated Native Americans on his expedition to the Northwest. Indian women all the way to the PacificCoast were "very fond" of York, Clark wrote. Once a Flathead Indian tried to explain how his people saw York:

"Those who had been brave and fearless, the victorious ones in battle, painted themselves in charcoal. So the black man, they thought, had been the bravest of the party." 11

Colonel Hames Stevenson of the Bureau of American Ethnology spent thirty years living among and studying Native Americans. In 1888, he wrote: "... the old fur traders always got a Negro if possible to negotiate for them with the Indians, because of their 'pacifying effect.' They could manage them better than the white men, with less friction."

In 1738, Nantucket, Rhode Island, residents uncovered an Indian plot to attack their city at night and spare only Africans. 12 There were numerous other examples of Indians killing Europeans and rescuing their African slaves.

The Idea of White Superiority/Black Inferiority a European Import?

Unfortunately, the goodwill Native Americans bore toward Africans would dissipate under deliberate European efforts to sabotage black-Indian relations. Indian agents sent by Washington to the five civilized nations openly encouraged slaveholding. Soon, each Indian Nation had a small class of "mixed bloods" who felt that they were superior because they owned slaves and usually had some white ancestry. The amount of "white" blood came to be viewed a positive, much as the amount of "black" blood came to be viewed as a negative. 13

Europe

Ancient Romans Disdain All Non-Romans Regardless of Color

The ancient Romans believed that their civilization was superior to all, but they held Africans and non-Roman Europeans in equal contempt. In his book On Architecture, Roman architect Vitruvius described three basic types of human beings: the tall, blue-eyed, fair people of the north; the curly-haired, black-eyed, dark people of the south; and Vitruvius' own people, the Romans, who lay somewhere in the middle. The Roman believes the dark people are more intelligent than the light people, a view quite different from that of later Europeans:

"Now while the southern peoples are of acute intelligence and infinite resource, they give way when courage is demanded because their strength is drained away by the sun, but those who are born in colder regions by their fearless courage are better equipped for the clash of arms, yet by their slowness of mind they rush on without reflection, and through lack of tactics are balked of their purpose... Italy presents good qualities which are tempered by admixture from either side both north and south, and are consequently unsurpassed. And so, by its policy, it curbs the courage of the northern barbarians, by its strength, the imaginative south. Thu the divine mind has allotted to the Roman state an excellent and temperate region in order to rule the world." 14

The Character and Beauty of Ethiopians Admired by Ancient Europeans

"The Ethiopians," wrote Herodotos, "are said to be the tallest and best-looking people in the world." (In ancient Roman/Greek writings, the term "Ethiopian" is loosely used to refer to all black Africans.)

Greek writer Diodoros wrote of the Ethiopians: "Their piety has been published abroad among all men, and it is generally held that the sacrifices practiced among the Ethiopians are those which are the most pleasing to heaven." 15

Pre-Modern Encounters between Europeans and Non-Whites

Roman Army Defeats All Nations Encountered Except the Ethiopians

The only nation which successfully resisted Roman domination was the Ethiopians. After conquering nations all the way from Italy to Egypt, the Roman legions were finally stopped by the Ethiopian military. Three times, Augustus sent his armies into Nubia, but he never conquered the Nubians.

Poe describes in Black Spark, White Fire:

"From the moment Augustus occupied Egypt in 30 B.C, the Romans had nothing but trouble from their southern frontier... the Ethiopians ... attacked the Thebais... took Syene and Elephantine and Philae, and enslaved the inhabitants, and also pulled down the statues of Caesar...The Emperor Diocletian was obliged, at the end of the third century A.D, to pay tribute to two Ethiopian tribes called the Nobatae and the Blemyes in order to stop their raids. These tribes continued collecting Roman tribute for the next two hundred years." 16

White Slavery in Asia and Africa

During the Middle Ages, European slaves were sold to Africans and Asians. White people, particularly Slavs, were despised as an inferior race in the non-European world.

The 8th century conquests of the Abbasids in Europe, Asia and Africa resulted in the enslavement of native populations. Romans, Franks, Persians, Hindus, Kurds, Ethiopians, Sudanese, Berbers and Armenians were brought to Baghdad as slaves. Europeans continued to be slaves in the Arab world for centuries to come. An early ninth century geographer, Ibn Kurradadhbeh, tells of Jewish merchants from the south of France "who speak Arabic, Persian, Greek, Frankish, Spanish and Slavonic. They travel from west to east and east to west, by land and by sea. From the west they bring eunuchs, slave girls and boys, brocade, beaver skins, sable and other furs, and swords."

An 11th century Baghdadi doctor wrote a book, Risala fi shari al-raqiq, on the purchase of slaves, giving advice such as "blue eyes denote stupidity" and "wide eyes indicate laziness."

When the Mongols conquered large parts of Russia in the 13th century, they sold their new subjects in the slave markets of West Asia and North Africa. One Russian chronicler, describing the enslavement of his people by the Mongols, wrote, "The (Mongols) ... learn warfare from their youth. Therefore, they are stern, fearless and fierce towards us ... We cannot oppose them, but humiliate ourselves before them..." 17

The Mongol's Slavic slave trade filled the harems of Turkish sultans with Slavic women. Slavic men rowed the galleys or worked the fields for Muslim masters, while Slavic children were sold in slave auctions from Cairo to Baghdad.

Contrary to the common belief that sub-Saharan Africa had a strictly one-sided role in the slave trade - only exporting slaves and not importing them - medieval writings show this is not so. Fourteenth century North African travel writer Ibn Battuta journeyed to West Africa. He noted without any surprise that a black governor he visited there owned an Arab slave girl from Syria.18

When the 60,000-strong entourage of Emperor Musa of the Mali empire passed through Cairo on their way to Mecca in 1324, the historian al-Maquriz reported that West Africans purchased Turkish slave girls, in addition to slaves of other ethnicities. In fact, the Mandingoes spent so much gold on slaves and goods in the markets of Cairo that they caused the value of gold to plummet.

If one takes a less Eurocentric look at history, it is clear there is nothing natural or universal about white superiority. Is the Master Race idea an artificial modern construct? Instead of swallowing this belief in white superiority so blindly and blithely, more people of color should start examining their deeply-ingrained attitudes toward their own race and other peoples of color.

This article was found on ColorQ.org