Black and Abroad: The Untold Stories Vol. 1
Underrated Travel Destinations Worthy of a Visit
December 14, 2019
New Year’s Travelution: 21 Vacation Destinations For 2021
March 5, 2021
Spoiler alert #1: I’m Black aka African American.
Spoiler alert #2: I’ve lived and traveled extensively abroad. Thus, the title, Black and Abroad.
Alright, now that we’ve got the out the way, it’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty and share the good, the bad, and the ugly from journeys around the globe of being Black and Abroad.
Black and Abroad: The Good—Celebrity Status
I initially encountered this phenomenon in Asia. Surprisingly, in several countries throughout that continent, I share a striking resemblance to Will Smith, 50 Cent, and Barack Obama all rolled into one. Pretty much anyone famous with the slightest bit of melanin was who I’d often be mistaken for. One particular instance, in Hong Kong, a woman chased me down the street repeatedly yelling, “Supa-star Supa-star!” To this day, I have no idea who she actually thought I was, but I’m convinced those pictures we took together will go down as one of the greatest moments of her life.
Black and Abroad: Everybody loves Eddie
Black and Abroad: The Bad—Color Me Bad
Don’t get me wrong, I lived in South Korea for 4 years and LOVED it. There was one incident that really stands out to me, however. During my second year in the country, I decided I wanted to learn the language. Doing so meant I would only be able to work part-time. During my job search, I found one particular gig with hours that fit my schedule. It seemed like a match made in heaven. The job posting stated they were looking for an “athletic, fun-loving male to teach English lessons and PE class in the evenings.” I applied and, sure enough, given my athletic and educational background, they responded that I was the perfect candidate. Their only request was that I send in a photo to complete my application file, so I obliged.
One day passed with no contact.
Two days.
…
By the third day I followed-up to see what the hold up was on the hiring process. I STILL received no reply! At that point, I went back to the original job listing to see if I missed something that would have possibly disqualified me from the position. Well, to my surprise, the requirements had indeed changed since that initial application. The job listing was updated to specify, in all caps mind you, that they were looking for an athletic, fun-loving, WHITE male to teach English lessons and PE class in the evenings. I re-applied using a picture of my roommate at the time (a White male from Canada). I stated that it was a more recent image but, somehow, I don’t think they were fooled because I never heard back from them again.
Can’t you see the resemblance?
Black and Abroad: The Ugly—We Don’t Like Your Kind ‘round Here
Although I never lived in Poland, it is a country I have visited on multiple occasions and fondly enjoyed traveling through. So much so, I have an entire episode of my YouTube series, “One Minute Motivation,” dedicated to the kindness I received from complete strangers during my first trip there.
Two events that stand out; however, both involved extreme racism projected towards me. The first: getting berated on the subway by a man who continuously called me a “stupid African.” And the second: being harassed by a group of young men who yelled racial slurs toward me while I walked down the street. They even went as far as directing their comments toward my Polish friend as well, simply because we were walking together, providing a stark contrast to my previous experience alluded to above.
Now it’s your turn!
Have you ever experienced preferential treatment, good or bad, while traveling just because you were different? If so, in the comments below, share one of your untold stories!
22 Comments
Off the top of my head I can’t think of being treated negatively because of my skin color. Most of that happens to me right here in the USA. In Dubai during a Desert Safari they told us they loved Americas and were extremely nice.
I did once. I was walking with my husband, I’m Latina, he is white and a lady came to me and yelled at me because I married a white guy. So ridiculous, ignorance and racism shouldn’t exist in our world.
I totally agree with you.
I can’t say I’ve experienced preferential treatment while traveling. What I have experienced was racism from other entitled Westerners of the non-melinated complexion while traveling abroad. I appreciate you sharing your experiences.
As much as I traveled I haven’t experienced direct racism. More like stares or following me through the store. I would say in Marseille, France I could tell a restaurant owner did not want us to eat there. He started making up all kinds of rules. So we just left.
I’m so sorry to hear about the bad experiences. The photo story was kind of funny. I wonder who she thought you were too. 🙂 I’ve only ever been to Mexico with my husband and his family. While I did get a lot of stares, everyone was very friendly and went out of their way to make me feel at home.
Once you get past the stares and physical differences, kindness is universal and knows no language.
I’ve never experienced this myself but a family member has. Racism is ugly and it evokes the worst of people. I like your positive attitude about everything.
I can’t even believe this is still a discussion. I am so sorry that you lost a job because of it. But I am glad that you have moved on. And now it sounds like you are living a wonderful lifestyle and traveling! Good for you!
I do hope that we all live to see the day that all people get to know each other for who they are instead of for their skin color.
I, too, hope and believe that we will in fact live to see that day.
I’m so sorry to hear about the negative experiences you’ve had to endure. But I love that you don’t allow such negativity to keep you from living your life, the way you desire to. Cheers to a lifetime more of traveling.
This was such a good read! Back in college I studied abroad in Klaipeda, Lithuania. I got a chance to travel to St. Petersburg, Moscow, Russia and Tallin, Estonia and Riga, Latvia. I enjoyed all the places. One day coming back from getting pizza in Klaipeda, me and another African American female was called niggers. I was shook! I never had been called that outright to my face before. That was my only bad experience. Every where I went people thought I was a celebrity over in the states. They took pictures with me and of me, haha. One said that she never saw a Black person before and wanted to take a picture with me. It was quite the experience. When I went to Russia, the men were just amazed and asked a lot of questions about how I got to Russia and why I was there. Overall, it was a life changing experience that I’ll never forget.
I can complete relate. We can’t allow the ignorance from a small percentage of individuals impact the life-changing benefits that travel rewards.
Man, I enjoyed reading this then the content started to scare me. I’m so sorry we still have to go through racism especially certain parts of the country. Totally no fun. The world is brainwashed against us for absolutely no reason as we are not the problem here. You continue to do you travel!! Just keep up traveling the world abroad and just be safe with your travel endeavors. I thank you for sharing the world with us through your eyes, your lens, and your Video camera. I inspire to travel one day abroad myself as well. I want to move to Japan. Japan seems way more welcoming towards us and we would get jobs there was zero discrimination (I could be wrong but this is all based on my research in Japan. So now that is our plans to move out of the United States and live the rest of our lives in Japan).
I think it’s awesome you want to travel as well. If you ever have any questions about living in Japan feel free to message me. I lived there for 3 years, grant it it’s been a while…but I could probably still provide some insight.
I hate the fact that people are still so caught up on skin colour. It’s horrible in this century.
It’s sad that we still see this type of conduct nowadays. I’ve experienced it myself and just like you, I don’t let it bother me. I know my worth and I know that there’s a lot of uneducated people out there. A lot of people are raised with that small mindset and full toxic emotions.
Wow. I don’t even know what to say. I’m sorry to hear that some judge you simply based on your skin color, because you are so much more than that!
So sad that people cant see beyond skin color. There is a better job waiting for you.
Ohhh I’ve long moved on from that position haha. But I agree it is sad that people don’t look past skin tone and I just share that experience so that others may not be completely blindsided should they encounter something similar.
I am sorry about the racism you’ve encountered. There’s no excuse for that at all 🙁
I have been called a stupid American while traveling before, and I wasn’t even doing anything wrong.
I don’t let it bother me because I’ve learned that the root of racism is ignorance so I try to always carry myself in a manner contrary to that of someone’s incorrect, presupposed image of a person that is different from them.