so what's new?

So my FB feed is showing me angry posts by Asian-Americans about the recent attacks against Asian-Americans. And honestly? i'm just looking at the news and thinking, Duh. Of course. Why is anyone even surprised? The country is racist through and through. It's not just white people being racist against minorities and minorities being racist against white people in retaliation; it's also minorities being racist against each other. i saw that the very first time i spent any extended time in the US, in Berkeley in 2013. Even in that bastion of the liberal left -- and i was in a creative writing program, possibly a bastion within the bastion -- each ethnic community lived in its own little metaphorical ghetto, with their own separate religious communities, even their own publishing imprints, their own literary journals, their own labels for themselves (People of Color?? one of these days i need to rant about how much i hate that label...). 

All i can say now is, looking at all the outrage on FB etc, i'm just glad i don't live in the US any longer and i'm glad i sent off my tax returns today and i'm almost done with that country. Now i just have to wait for the tax refunds to arrive in my bank account, and then i can close that bank account, transfer my money back to Singapore, and be done with the US for good.

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