But this speaks to a bigger issue. I was once abroad and walking in an upscale neighborhood alone. I was accused of being a prostitute. I was the only dark skinned, kinky haired woman in a town of mulattos. Everyone though I was Haitian or Jamaican.
Luckily, I was never hurt or injured but I do remember feeling like I was in a jungle and no one was looking out for me. No police, no friends and the US government treads lightly on intervening.
Maybe this kid was in the wrong place at the wrong time but either way, this was a racially motivated attack.
3. "I'd take precaution worldwide. People *hate* when they think black men....." In response to Reply # 0
...are taking "their" (lol) women. Young man literally got lynched.
Gotta have at least a few heads with you as a black man or else folks get heart and attitude all of a sudden, saying slick shit and thinking they can bully you around.
legsdiamond Member since May 05th 2011 79824 posts
Fri Nov-23-18 04:11 PM
4. "My biggest fear when going abroad. " In response to Reply # 3
**************** TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*
8. "Victim Blaming? Black Male Envy? White Women? " In response to Reply # 7 Sat Nov-24-18 10:55 AM by Mori
So his parents are at fault for exposing their son to his options in the world? I don't see how this excuses him getting beaten to death at a touristy location.
The only theme I see that keeps recurring is that there is a certain type of Black American man who desires white male company and white women at the expense of their lives. Thinking of Undercover brother when he called them the black man's kryptonite https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1G4glp986Q
I don't have a son, but I have younger cousins who exclusively party, date, and hang with white women. They do not walk around with the fear (that I have), that a white person will retaliate because of black comfort with white women. Henderson took MANY selfies with white women and particularly this white women at a bar in Greece which drew attention and prompted his death. Again, I don't get the obsession with white women, but I don't think this man should be killed because of it.
I also don't see the inverse. Black women flaunting with white men in all white crowds. Usually a black woman dating a white male carries a different composure, as she is grateful and afraid to bring attention to herself.
Emmitt Till still rings in my head. If I have a black son, I will raise him to know that he is beautiful and that a capturing the white man's woman is not an honor. She is just another tool in the arsenal of racial division.
legsdiamond Member since May 05th 2011 79824 posts
Sat Nov-24-18 11:20 AM
9. "So.... you agree with Riot" In response to Reply # 8
While we should be able to kick it and chill wherever and however we want.. that’s not how the world works.
**************** TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*
10. "When you word it that way...maybe" In response to Reply # 9
But I don't agree with the notion that you shouldn't go to white countries for fear of racism. Just prepare yourself.
It is the same as some of my male /female friends who go to the islands and find love. Don't think Dexter St. Jacques or the local Cardi B doesn't have a whole family to feed while you are enjoying a weekend fling. Pay that person for the romantic services rendered and keep it moving.
It is more a bit of American bravado regardless of race but mixed in with the awareness that we are still black.
legsdiamond Member since May 05th 2011 79824 posts
Sat Nov-24-18 01:37 PM
11. "You are all over the place. " In response to Reply # 10
You lost me with the pay statement.
I think it’s about preference. If you like white meat and white spaces the chances of something popping off over racial shit definitely increases.
**************** TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*
21. "Yeah, travelling abroad while Black can be off putting and even dangerou..." In response to Reply # 0
It's never simple or safe experiencing alienation by other groups, specifically Whites or Europeans while traveling.
When I traveled to Europe to backpack back around 2000, I had a number of experiences similar to the OP.
I remember walking out of a train station in Berlin to go to a meeting point to walk on a tour of the city. As I'm walking along, something makes me look up. I see a couple of men, who looked like skinheads walking on the otherside of the crosswalk among a throng of people making their way into the station.
I turn away slightly away but notice them looking at me. I look back at them and keep walking but notice a sense of rage behind their stare.
I thought that it was good I was at the station in the day because if they had caught me walking along at night I could have ended up with the crap beaten out of me or worse.
It was odd to experience the type of racism where not only is your presence not welcome but taken as a direct affront which can only be resolved by an act of violence.
Plus, if something did happen, who would I turn for help in a completely foreign place?
There was the time I almost got mugged in a Hungarian train station which I don't necessarily think was racial but just because I was alone and Western. I say that because these same thugs managed to grab the purse of someone else on the train. It had her passport and money. Really harrowing situation.
Thankfully, I managed to get out of that unscathed.
My brother actually had someone put their hands to him while he was living in Taiwan about ten years ago. He got out of the situation well enough.
But for as enriching as travelling abroad can be to your worldview or sense of Self, there's a sense of vigilance simply for being a POC that is enmeshed in the experience.
Unfortunately in the case of the young man it led to his life being lost.
There are pockets of tolerance in many places of the world, but I don't think I appreciated how anti-POC the places I visited were. Because there simply aren't sizable minorities in much of Europe, they haven't had to confront the ignorance of their values and change or update their outlook on men and women of color.
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