If you’re not a minority, why are you so sure of your anti-racism tourism?
If you’re not a minority, why are you so sure of your anti-racism tourism?
White people, please stop telling me to leave America to escape racism
I woke up, climbed to the edge of my bed and grabbed my smartphone — a routine I’ve had for a couple of years now to start my day. When I saw a new message from my official website, I sighed. It’s usually one of two things: 1) a new fee-dodging client on Upwork who wants to hire me for a job that’s not been created yet and cannot afford to pay; 2) someone trying to convince me to plug their company and/or product in my next Medium post. It happens at least once a week. But what I did not expect to find was a two-page message about why I needed to move to Germany to escape racism. Pardon me?!
Recommended Read: “Japan Police Accused of Racial Profiling”
From the “Stop calling black women intimidating” post that I wrote well over a year ago until now, I’ve lost count of the number of “I Do See Color” and “We Need to Talk” readers who have tried to convince me to leave the United States to escape racism. The suggestion is almost always to travel to Europe.
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Although the usual tourist spots in Europe have not particularly ever caught my interest, I’m definitely not opposed to traveling — my Hawaii bucket list plans are still in effect. And a trip to Canada taught me more about my own history and native history than I ever expected. Traveling outside of your comfort zone and familiar areas expands one’s mind (unless you just go to tourist spots to see more people like you).
I’m not even knocking the idea of visiting Germany. Unlike the United States, they took action (both financially and morally) to apologize to Israel and the Jewish population for the Holocaust. (The art installation with Nazi ashes was mind boggling though, but I digress.) If Tina Turner is living her best life with her German husband in Switzerland, then Europe just earned a long-legged music icon. Enjoy her! But that doesn’t mean I need to follow her.
Recommended Read: “Yes, Millennials, the Holocaust actually happened ~ Almost two-thirds of U.S. young adults unaware 6 million Jews were killed in Holocaust”