The Colonials

The problem with Kristen Gray is not that she is living way below her means in a tropical paradise. Who wouldn't want that, honestly?

The problem with Kristen Gray is the hypocrisy of such action, especially if you consider yourself 'woke' or 'progressive'.

The idea in itself is genius and make perfect sense. Always try to get the biggest bang for your buck. If you have the means to get the biggest profit from the smallest expense, why on earth won't you do that?

Especially when it is culturally accepted. "Self-exploration". "Finding your innerself". "Opening your eyes to the world". This is any influencer/motivator's wet dream.

But is it not colonization? You came, you settled yourself among the indigenous people but not blending in, you took the resources. You established your own culture and slowly erasing the locals.  What did you give in return?

As someone who lived in the US where race and colonization have been a hot topic during the pandemic (between our sourdough making, of course), I find Kristen Gray's action problematic. It is a stark reminder of privilege some people have (yay US Citizen!) and that the privileged doesn't care the woe of the unprivileged.

In a country where healthcare is limited, where Covid handling is questionable, to call out other travelers to "Come here to paradise!" is beyond selfish. It is easy to not care if you become a global spreader when your home country will take really good care of you. 

Her bliss on finding comfort among the black community in Bali in the aftermath of George Floyd sounded tone deaf in my ear. Indonesian struggles heavily with discrimination, attacks, and violence from the religious majority and Chinese Indonesian have lived with "Do you want to get raped and slaughtered again?" since the 1998 riot.

Even the advertised queer-friendly area only works because she is an American. Indonesians, even in Bali, have been persecuted for being queer or homosexual. Generally you are a dirty, sinful freak for being queer and will be punished accordingly. Again, privilege.

The truth is, I don't really care. If anyone to be blamed for enabling colonials like Kristen Gray and Elizabeth Gilbert it will be the Indonesia government themselves (for the lack of immigration enforcement) and Indonesian people who still think US/European/Australian is better than themselves. Tourism $$$ is easy $$$ and you can easily (unknowingly) sell yourself for it. 

Like The Andrew Sisters said: "Both mother and daughter/Workin' for the Yankee dollar"

Here in the US, however, the conversation should be different. We like to see ourselves as the good guy. We have this vision in our head on what should have been done, a perfect 20/20 after-vision of a backseat driver. Doing it ourselves, however, is proven to be a whole different thing. 

What do we do now with this info? What do we do now that we know privilege is real and it transcend skin color? That colonization happens for a reason (better pasture and improved way of living). That it is not easy to adopt the local culture, and you can very well forcing your own to them instead. That the words "You should give back to the community" are easier to say than done.

Our responsibility for race-relation, for using our privilege to lift others, don't stop just because we are not in US anymore (or when we can't hashtag it anymore). It is a process that will end only when we stop interacting with other people, either 6 feet under or incinerated.

So the next time you said "Well they should have done [insert whatever here]", ask yourself can you really do that? Will you be able to be honorable and just? There is no shame in realizing you can't. Realizing your flaws is a step towards making it better.

And we could be better. We really could.

https://www.vulture.com/2021/01/kristen-gray-deported-from-bali-after-viral-twitter-posts.html