I’ve lived and worked all over Southeast Asia, and just openly being racist is perfectly normal there. Employers will openly tell you that they don’t want to hire foreigners, because they don’t trust them. Local ethnic minorities are consistently discriminated against, especially if there’s a local ethnic Chinese population (who in Indonesia for instance are often referred to as babi which means pig, or mata sipit which means slanted eyes). Contempt for people from neighbouring countries is very common. Working in KL it was very common to hear my colleagues talking about how much they don’t like Thai people. India takes things to a whole different level with their caste system and extreme distaste for dark skin.

Ive never got particularly wound up about it, because I see myself as a guest whenever I go and work in a foreign country, so I’ve just got to play by their rules. But try applying that logic the US and see how long it takes for an outrage mob to come after you.

Yikes. Very Joe Biden: https://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/31/biden.obama/

> "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," Biden said. "I mean, that's a storybook, man."

I've never gotten a comment like that as a South Asian (Bangladesh) in the United States.