Basic Empowerment: “No One Is Better Than You.”

You: “Yadra!” (Morning!)
Your iTaukei friend: “Yadra! Iko moce vinaka?” (Morning! Did you sleep well?)
You: “Io. Iko?” (Yes. You?)
Your iTaukei friend: “Io. Iko rairai vinaka!” (Yes. You look nice!)
You: “Vinaka! Iko rairai vinaka talega!” (Thanks! You look nice too!)

Your friend could be wearing the same worn-out sulu that she had on yesterday and might look like she fought a truck and lost, but still you say “You look nice too!” because that’s what is done. If someone compliments you, then you compliment them back. It’s only polite. People know that you’re just being polite. It’s the nice thing to do, but saying a compliment back does not carry the same weight as an unprovoked, direct statement.

So when your student says, “Your white skin is beautiful” and you say, “Yours too,” that answer is received as a simple politeness, but not as a fact. While it’s a nice response that originates from wanting your student to believe that their skin is equally beautiful to yours, there is a lot of internalized racism behind their simple statement to you.

Internalized racism is the holding and perpetuating of bias against one’s self or members of one’s own race based on characteristics or features that determine race. Some examples are: Someone who doesn’t like her hair because she wishes it were straight instead of curly, or a brown-skinned woman who shows her white co-workers more respect than she shows to those who look like her, or a brown-skinned man who will only date women with a lighter shade of skin than himself. Internalized racism keeps people disempowered because when a person believes that their race’s defining features are inferior to someone else’s, then they are unable to see their own equality as a possibility.

Empowering our students and friends to imagine that they might be equal requires dismantling of racism, colorism and sexism at the basic visual level. Fijians are represented in television, government and media by their fellow nationals with the whitest skin, straightest hair and most Eurocentric features. They are sold hair straightening chemicals and skin bleaching soaps and creams (all of which are used far more often than you may realize). For many people in Fiji, the idea that they can make themselves a bit closer to white is so appealing that, even with meager income, whitening cosmetics become necessities. If you don’t believe me, start asking people at your site whether they have used a “relaxer” on their curly hair or products for lightening their skin. You might be as surprised at the results as I was.

Let’s talk about how internalized racism keeps people poor. Money determines access to health care, education, and comforts that increase the quality of life. People who work for themselves have higher self-esteem and lower rates of depression, suicide and addiction than hourly workers. The children of business owners are more likely to achieve higher education at more respected schools than the children of hourly workers. The children of entrepreneurs are also more likely to be business owners themselves someday.

I have spoken with my village friends and students and many of them don’t like to speak of business ownership in terms of something that could be possible for themselves. Some have been taught that it is un-Christian to want more than they already have. Too many iTaukei people have expressed to me that they believe their proper position is to serve kai valagi, and that it would be inappropriate to imagine themselves as the ones in charge of their own income.

I have had in-depth conversations with iTaukei people who genuinely believe it is their proper place, both socially and financially, to work at a resort for $3.50 per hour ($600 per month) to support their kai valagi employers who are able to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars per month thanks to their cheap labor. When I have asked why that feels right to them, I have been told that the kai valagi have a “right to ownership”, since they own or lease the land and can purchase supplies to build and maintain the resort. There is a fundamental lack of awareness around the colonial structure of opportunism that created such a financial divide to begin with. For too many iTaukei people, it just feels right to them that they have less and people with white skin have more. For the black and brown people like the ones I’ve spoken with who do not believe that they deserve to have what white people have, the distinction of race is very impactful.

As Community Youth Empowerment Volunteers for a country full of non-white people, it is essential to understand that a first step toward empowerment is to help people believe that the color of their skin does not relegate them to inferiority, because the world has already taught them that it does.

Can you even imagine living all of your life truly believing that another group of people deserves to have more than you deserve to have? Can you imagine how much that belief could limit what you think you can achieve? Can you imagine what it might take in order to begin to change your perception of yourself as inferior?

So, let’s talk about how you can help. If you are a kai valagi with beautiful white skin, you are immediately perceived to be an expert on things like beauty and wealth. When an expert talks, people give more value to what they say, especially when they are specific. So, I want you to see if you can step outside of your polite American box that wants to just say, “You too.”

In order to introduce to your student the very empowering idea that she might actually be equal in beauty and in value to you or to other people, it is important to be direct, specific and repetitive. But we’re American. Words like, “black”, “white” and “brown” are considered borderline racial slurs by some Americans. Yet, here in Fiji, “black” and “white” are used liberally. “Black” is used as both a defining characteristic and as a widely accepted slur when referring to someone.

So when your student or village friend says, “Your skin is white. It’s very beautiful,” or, “Your hair is nice; mine is not,” please hear what they are really saying: “Your white skin is better than my black skin. Your straight hair is better than my curly hair. You are one of those people who is better than me. You are one of those people who has more than me because you deserve to have more than I do with my black skin and curly hair.”

• Try saying to your friend or student, “Your skin is beautiful because it’s brown/black. Brown/black skin is so beautiful that where I live in America, kai valagi tan themselves and use makeup to make their skin darker. (Enjoy watching their eyes grow bigger in disbelief.)

• Ask them, “What does it mean that your skin is black/brown and mine is white? What does that mean about you? About me?”

• Say, “Your hair is beautiful because it’s curly.” Ask, “Why do you think it’s bad to have curly hair? What does having curly hair mean to you?”

Please don’t be afraid to have these conversations. They are the true roots of empowerment in this post-colonial society where per capita income is grossly imbalanced between races. For extra credit, I dare you to even initiate these conversations instead of just offering them as a response.

When you talk to your students or village friends about how they can earn money, instead of helping them to stay on the bottom of a post-colonial financial structure, you can:

• Gauge their interest in small business ventures rather than helping them toward hourly work. People are conditioned to think that small businesses require a lot of skills and money to begin, but the most profitable ones often start with whatever skills and materials the person has available, plus some good planning.
• Direct them toward basic self-employment options. Selling food items from home is legal here and almost any small business pays more than hourly work, with far more flexibility and freedom. With a little budgeting, a person can easily meet their financial goals by selling homemade popsicles (ice bloks) or baked goods with a start-up investment of less than $10. And once someone gets a taste of entrepreneurship, they usually figure out how they can expand.
• Teach the advantages of financial independence. Point out that small business ownership could provide them with more money for themselves and their families, now and in the future, and more time to spend with those people whom they value the most.
• Offer to build their skills of financial literacy and goal-setting. Once a person realizes how much money they can earn and save by being their own boss, they can learn to manage their money and plan for their future. People may be shy at first about receiving this type of instruction, but with some encouragement and enthusiasm on your part, they will be happy to learn! I had to convince my youth group that I LOVE helping people start businesses before they would let me teach them. And I do!

In order for us as volunteers to do work that is truly empowering, it is important for us to acknowledge and to directly address the disparities that exist here. This can be uncomfortable to do, but it is essential to encouraging change. Thank you for doing your part to empower your students and community members at these foundational levels.

Here are some resources you can use to empower host country nationals to thrive:

• Life Skills and Leadership Manual Unit 3: Goal Setting and Action Planning
• Youth Livelihoods Financial Literacy
• I designed a curriculum specifically for Fijian youth that teaches Goal-Setting, Budgeting, and Basic Entrepreneurship. I’m happy to do a work exchange to share these training modules with the youth at your site.

Here is an article written by a Fijian in response to skin whitening ads that program Fijians to believe that lighter skin is better.