Ammar Alfian feels that the current social issue in regards to the #BlackLivesMatter movement has hit close to home.
The “Tari Tirana” actor recently took to his Instagram where he opened up about his experience facing discrimination when he was living abroad with his family.
“Subhanallah Allahuakbar it’s deja vu all over again. It started during my childhood days in the 90s back in Norwalk, Los Angeles when my parents were studying there. At 6 years old you couldn’t understand what racism is. I was pushed aside and had no choice but to be friends with the blacks and the Mexicans,” Ammar shared.
Not only that, he also revealed that he was badly mistreated during his younger days. Ammar continued, “This didn’t happened to just me but to my parents too. My mum worked part-time as a cleaner, but she often got yelled at just because she was wearing a hijab.”
Unfortunately, Ammar faced similar situations even after returning to our shores. “This happened in Malaysia too. I was called ‘Bangla’ and ‘Keling’ (racist terms for people with dark skin) back in school and I never understood why. (I thought about) what was so wrong till these people would call me names? As years go by, I realised that it was because of my skin colour,” the 35-year-old wrote.
“People look highly on white and fair skin colour. Up until now people will judge you based on the colour of your skin,” Ammar further added, before asking, “The mother of all questions…why?? Why is being white so important?” seemingly disheartened by the long-term racism in people.
What would be your response if you were in Ammar’s shoes at that time?
