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Comment on Show HN: Anonymously Ask a Black Person Anything via SMS

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What could you possibly want to ask specifically of a black person? What difference does it make to what someone can tell you?

How about "ask a blonde person"?

How about "ask a blonde person"?

I've played that role.

I lived in Japan for 8 years, some of it in provincial areas. I have blond hair. You would be shocked at the number of questions I got about having blond hair. The most common one was "Can I touch your hair?"

More thoughtful ones were about hair treatment (I was told that my hair is quite fine by Japanese standards). While I didn't do anything special, and not all blond or Japanese hair is the same, there seem to be some treatments that differ based on the type of hair you have.

I am sure that my barber in Japan wished he had a Japanese version of "ask a blonde person" when I first walked in the door, because my appointment apparently caused him to stress out massively. I found this out later as my Japanese got better and I became more integrated into the community.

Are you truly in denial about the fact that black people (specifically in America, but even on a global scale) have a unique set of experiences due to systematic and institutional racism? Additionally, there is a unique brand of racism pervasive throughout American culture (and again, certainly elsewhere, but I can only speak from an American perspective) wherein ignorant comments and questions are routinely made to unsuspecting black people. So given that, I think there are a good number of reasons as to why it's different than "ask a blonde person".

"What's your favourite product to deal with razor bump?"

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