What was meant to be a supremely enjoyable cinematic event during Christmas turned into a deeply upsetting experience for Sani B Sarip.
A brush with deliberate racism from a young Chinese toddler and the easy dismissal by the boy’s father ruined Sani’s experience when he recently went to the theatre to watch Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Recounting the experience on his Facebook page (which has been taken down) Sani wrote an emotional appeal against the prevailing issue that Singapore refuses confront head on: casual racism. The fact that they’re watching Star Wars — a galactic adventure that transcends cultures, generations and other divisions — wasn’t lost on Sani.
“You bring them to watch Star Wars: The Force Awakens, where the lead actor is not a White Caucasian male, but rather, a British man, born to Nigerian parents.
Star Wars, where the story is about beings of different races getting together to defeat an evil dictatorship.
And yet I was treated like a pariah, by a child. Speaks volumes about your character.”
Read his open letter in full below:
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