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AMERICA is on fire. The murder of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis reignited the Black Lives Matter movement after its founding in 2013 following the death of Trayvon Martin who was shot by a white man for appearing suspicious.

The protests have spread across the globe in cities such as London, Seoul, Sydney, Monrovia, Rio de Janeiro and Brussels, to name a few. Kuala Lumpur has so far been spared the same fate, perhaps because the discrimination and abuse against African Americans are alien to Malaysian society with its own set of challenging racial dynamics.

For example, most Malaysians are still unaware of the provocative nature of the word 'negro' or 'nigger'. The historical legacy of the word to connote the superiority of the light-skinned at the dire expense of the dark-skinned is lost to a lot of us here. At the same time, make no mistake, Malaysians, like most Asians, still view fairer skin as better and more beautiful.

Then, there is still another word that is thrown about carelessly on the street: "bitch". Similar to the n-word, which is currently reclaimed by the African American community to divest its meaning of control, the b-word is also being reclaimed by women so that men will eventually stop denigrating a woman by insinuating her inferiority when she shows emotion.

Women all over the world are nonchalantly using the word as a term of endearment among each other. A man, however, is not supposed to use the word publicly or privately. Like the n-word, when people outside of the community use the term, it is a play on power to remind women of their position in society.

While a word in itself may be innocuous, the weight of the concept is not. Language has been used as an oppressive tool by the powerful through reiterating a group's weaker position vis-a-vis the speaker.

The Black Lives Matter movement sandwiched the MeToo movement that saw women speaking up against sexual abuse and harassment in 2017. As with the Black Lives Matter movement, the MeToo movement gained little traction in Malaysia as well.

Is it because we have more progressive gender policies and agenda? Far from it. Following a blunder made a few months ago suggesting that women dress nicely during the Movement Control Order, there were debates by netizens on both sides of the argument about it.

While there definitely is merit in suggesting one to dress nicely to boost her confidence, to make it a high-level priority is unacceptable. Most women do like beautiful dresses and make-up; otherwise, the fashion and cosmetic industries would not be worth multiple billions.

Nevertheless, those who support the idea of women dressing up for their husbands seem to forget the class dimension in society. Not every woman has the time or energy to put on a beautiful dress every single day when there is a screaming toddler (or more), dishes and laundry waiting for them to take care of.

Most of the time, it is privileged women who have paid help that can afford the extra minutes to put on foundation and some eye shadow. Further perpetuating a class-based division among women cannot be good for society at large.

Therefore, even though we are not witnessing an importation of the Black Lives Matter movement in Malaysia, it provides us a glimpse into the multifaceted division that we have within our own society.

Race, gender, and class are just the tip of the iceberg of social divisions that we need to ensure does not become the next victim of systematic discrimination.

The writer is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)

Source : https://www.nst.com.my/opinion...