Anonymous wrote:When I traveled to China in the '90s, the AA women I was with were treated like freak show exhibits. (A white Caucasian, I was seen as an oddity, too, but I wasn't openly mocked.)

I would hope that's changed a great deal, but if I were an AA traveling to China, I might make sure I know what to expect.

They still do that! Black/Ecuadorian friend was stared and stopped and asked to take his picture by Chinese!

When I traveled to China in the '90s, the AA women I was with were treated like freak show exhibits. (A white Caucasian, I was seen as an oddity, too, but I wasn't openly mocked.)

I would hope that's changed a great deal, but if I were an AA traveling to China, I might make sure I know what to expect.

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thanks for the feedback. To the pp who found this thread sad. Well I agree. But it is the way the world is. It also makes me feel sad that I am limited in where I could go because of the color of my skin. Would love to see Budapest and Prague...

I think you'd be fine in both, especially Prague.

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Anonymous wrote:I am a dark brown minority and recently a fellow minority at work commented that he would not travel to certain places because of his skin color and how he would be treated. When I pressed him for places that he would avoid he said Hungary, Russia, Romania, maybe Greece and turkey. Is their anything valid to this? I haven't done extensive travelling and most of the places we have went was England, Italy and they were fine.

You can go wherever the hell you want in this world because truth be told as long as you're clinging to that 2nd class citizen mindset and are paranoid about how others perceive you because of your skin you really won't be going anywhere.

Oh please. Are you truly that ignorant?

Yeah I'm that ignorant, just like Rosa Parks was when she discarded her 2nd class citizen mindset and determinedly didn't move from the front of a segregated bus for fear of how she would be treated.

Not the same. You're comparing apples with oranges. Rosa Parks stood up the inequality she faced on a daily basis in the country that was her home. She did this after years of struggling for that equality.

You don't go into different country that you're just traveling through and start public demonstrations over inequality and equal rights.

Who said anything about starting a revolution in a foreign country? It was a metaphor dipwad, damn. You taking stuff literally like that and got the audacity to call me ignorant - lol yeah okay. Look here all I'm saying is when abroad just like when at home hold your head up and don't get it twisted - just because you're a minority i.e. 2nd class citizen here in the US that same racist social construct isn't universal - in other words the stereotypes of black and brown people are largely created and perpetuated by western media. The U.S.’s chief export is bullshit. While traveling these stereotypes largely form the crux of our international image, yes, but despite this most minorities will tell you that their experiences overseas are framed not so much by the color of their skin but by the quality of the people they interact with.

First, I was not the pp you responded to that called you ignorant, I was the one that explained to you that your "metaphor" was inaccurate.

Secondly, the definition of metaphor-

"A metaphor is a figure of speech that identifies something as being the same as some unrelated thing, for rhetorical effect, thus highlighting the similarities between the two. It is therefore considered more rhetorically powerful than a simile. While a simile compares two items, a metaphor directly equates them, and so does not apply any distancing words of comparison, such as "like" or "as." "

The OP's post is not coming from a second class mindset. It's a realistic mindset of not wanting to subject oneself or family to bullshit when we are trying to relax and vacation. If there are places that are best to avoid that, it's not a second class mindset to not want to spend our hard earned money or vacation time where people will treat us as less than.

If you could avoid getting from point A to point B without having to travel through a neighborhood where your skin color could put you in danger, you would.

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I am a dark brown minority and recently a fellow minority at work commented that he would not travel to certain places because of his skin color and how he would be treated. When I pressed him for places that he would avoid he said Hungary, Russia, Romania, maybe Greece and turkey. Is their anything valid to this? I haven't done extensive travelling and most of the places we have went was England, Italy and they were fine.

You can go wherever the hell you want in this world because truth be told as long as you're clinging to that 2nd class citizen mindset and are paranoid about how others perceive you because of your skin you really won't be going anywhere.

Oh please. Are you truly that ignorant?

Yeah I'm that ignorant, just like Rosa Parks was when she discarded her 2nd class citizen mindset and determinedly didn't move from the front of a segregated bus for fear of how she would be treated.

Not the same. You're comparing apples with oranges. Rosa Parks stood up the inequality she faced on a daily basis in the country that was her home. She did this after years of struggling for that equality.

You don't go into different country that you're just traveling through and start public demonstrations over inequality and equal rights.

Who said anything about starting a revolution in a foreign country? It was a metaphor dipwad, damn. You taking stuff literally like that and got the audacity to call me ignorant - lol yeah okay. Look here all I'm saying is when abroad just like when at home hold your head up and don't get it twisted - just because you're a minority i.e. 2nd class citizen here in the US that same racist social construct isn't universal - in other words the stereotypes of black and brown people are largely created and perpetuated by western media. The U.S.’s chief export is bullshit. While traveling these stereotypes largely form the crux of our international image, yes, but despite this most minorities will tell you that their experiences overseas are framed not so much by the color of their skin but by the quality of the people they interact with.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a dark brown minority and recently a fellow minority at work commented that he would not travel to certain places because of his skin color and how he would be treated. When I pressed him for places that he would avoid he said Hungary, Russia, Romania, maybe Greece and turkey. Is their anything valid to this? I haven't done extensive travelling and most of the places we have went was England, Italy and they were fine.

You can go wherever the hell you want in this world because truth be told as long as you're clinging to that 2nd class citizen mindset and are paranoid about how others perceive you because of your skin you really won't be going anywhere.

Oh please. Are you truly that ignorant?

Yeah I'm that ignorant, just like Rosa Parks was when she discarded her 2nd class citizen mindset and determinedly didn't move from the front of a segregated bus for fear of how she would be treated.

Not the same. You're comparing apples with oranges. Rosa Parks stood up the inequality she faced on a daily basis in the country that was her home. She did this after years of struggling for that equality.

You don't go into different country that you're just traveling through and start public demonstrations over inequality and equal rights.

Anonymous wrote:Why would you not travel somewhere simply because people might make you feel uncomfortable? If violence is an issue, that's one thing. But it seems as though everyone is relaying "sad" stories about people being stared at or yelled at in a foreign language. Who cares? Sticking out like a sore thumb is sometimes part of the experience.

If you're in a foreign country as an obvious minority and had people yelling at you or staring at you in a hostile manner on more than one occasion, you would not perceive even the slightest bit of possible threat or harm to your well being or to your family?

You would not, after such incidents, try to feel out where you likely not come of any harm on future travels? Really?

While much of the time we may be able to get by with just being yelled at or stared at, at what point are you going to stop and how worthy is it to visit a place if I'm putting myself or my family in possible danger. The stories posted here are stories that ended up with the people being okay, but those are not all the stories. There are so many incidents around the world where a stare or a yelling turns into violence, injury and/or death.

You are obviously not a minority, we are used to "sticking out like sore thumbs". NO ONE is or should be used to staring and yelling.