Skin colour does not run
With regard to your article 'Educators accused of NET racism', we have once more missed seeing the forest for the trees. If children in Hong Kong are scared of dark-skinned people, perhaps we - as responsible, educated parents - need to instil in their young minds that skin colour doesn't run.
Once adults overcome their own xenophobia, our children will lose their fears too. But is this the real issue, or is there a hidden agenda and are vested interests at work?
We are all at fault, including:
students who do not recognise that underneath the facade of a dark skin there might be a qualified English teacher;
non-native English teachers who complain of racism without realising little drops make an ocean and to make the ocean real we must think collectively, not just what we as transients can glean from a situation here and now;
Native English-speakers or teachers who recognise that whatever is happening in Hong Kong's language teaching world is not in the best interests of its people, but look on as silent observers because it threatens their own livelihood;
The government that endorses discriminatory practices because of its own colonial hangovers.
To all of these I say, look again.
BANU SURESH,
Mid-Levels
