Excuse Me, What Is Your Race?

image from: http://vimeo.com/22660887

The poem is a person having a monologue regarding the issue of race and identity. The poem talks about the different aspects commonly used to identify people in Singapore. Citizens of Singapore can be segregated based on their race, religion, language, historical background, identity card, ethnic group and culture. Singaporeans are overly concerned over race and would normally want to know what race the person is from, whether they are Chinese, Indian, Malay or others. The identity card is also an important object to Singaporeans as it prove that that they have an identity and it being pink proves that they are Singaporean. Singaporeans also speak in many different language and it is common for someone to know more than 1 language. However, not everyone knows the same language or dialect and this way, people are differentiated based on which dialect they speak. Religion also plays a big role in the identification in Singapore. in Singapore you will be able to find Buddhist, Christians, Taoist and many others. although there are people in Singapore who are free thinkers. However, people are still segregated based on their religious believes and might be influenced to believe in a certain religion very easily. They historical back ground in a person's family also somehow stands out in people as well. People would talk about their origins and where their ancestors came from. whether it's from china, Britain, Dutch, Portuguese. However, the poet conveys a sense of confusion in herself as she uses a lot of question marks, showing that she is confused about her roots and wishes to be able to answer people when people question her identity. It also can be seen as the poet is very frustrated in having to answer questions that she is unclear about and is unable to give a clear and direct answer. The poet wishes to find her true identity and be able to answer confidently when people questions her.

image from: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/unreasonablefaith/2012/08/sandra-bullock-no-race-no-religion/