foreign worker in the dust

I googled on the name of the Japanese mother, and found that the incident happened in March this year, not recently. I went to the newspaper's webpage and sent them an inquiry, asking for the boy's address.

There's been a few reports in the papers about Singaporeans' prejudices against foreign workers. One letter reported how a woman didn't like the way the foreign sweeper, having covered his face with a cloth against the dust, would peer at her and her daughter over the masking cloth. Looked sort of sinister, I guess! So they complained to the supervisor. Henceforth, the worker removed his cloth, and when the women passed he would turn aside and avert his eyes.

I'm touched by the docility and humility of the foreign worker. Does it suggest low self- image? Is it reminiscent of Jim Crow days in the South when a black man was expected to step off the path to make way for a white? I wonder whether the woman felt abashed every time she saw this man lowering his eyes before her. I wonder whether she might take the time to smile at him and say "good morning" -- to show that she doesn't regard him as less than human.