Race card

Playing the race card in a Singapore sport like table tennis is an automatic term which refers to the use of anti-racism or white supremacy views in the spectators crowd. There are a lot of racial taunts and chants that are common in most of the sports games that we watch on television. It takes you out of your comfort zone and makes you feel uncomfortable about your own existence.

"Kissing the race card" is a phrase that describes the behavior of the spectators when a player of another race is not getting the best of the cards. The race card in Singapore is known to be the most abused term in sports. People say the phrase as a means of showing their displeasure for something. Most of the time, the phrase is directed at the foreign players and not Singaporeans.

What the race card in Singapore actually symbolizes is the white minority dominance in our society. The idea behind this phrase is that all races should be treated equal and should get the same privileges. However, the implication of this phrase is that if a person is doing well and doing better than the majority, it is somehow his personal fault and he should stop dreaming of the day when all people are equal and enjoy equal rights. The implication is that if the white people in our country are doing better than the other race, then why should the rest of us who are black or Asian do anything better?

This phrase has been used so much in the political campaigns and in fact, the government encourages the usage of this term. With the increasing number of instances of racial attitudes, there have been some demands for banning the phrase from the sport itself. Many Singaporeans believe that the use of the race card in the table tennis matches is just being manipulative by the powerful national sports clubs. On the other hand, others say that it is just harmless fun and the governments need to let their people have some enjoyment.

Personally, I believe that both sides are right. While it is true that the government has to allow people to have some enjoyment, they should not promote or give support to any kind of implicit racial discrimination. The implicit racial discrimination in our society has been caused by our educational system and our culture. The problem with our educational system is that many children who are born and brought up as Singaporeans end up with implicit racial tendencies.

The problem with our culture is that some Singaporeans are also promoting some sort of racist attitude. For example, there are some Singaporeans who call Chinese people as such. There are also some Singaporeans who have used the word [not] to describe Chinese people. The sad reality here is that all these things are wrong and we need to address this issue once and for all. If the government will not do that, then perhaps the commoners, especially the black people, can take up the struggle themselves and fight those who use a racial slur against them.