White people who’ve lived/traveled in non-English speaking countries: have you ever experienced racial slurs or ‘go back to your country’ type comments in public?
Posted by MechanicAccording616@reddit | expats | View on Reddit | 82 comments
For many non-white people, hearing things like ‘go back to your country’ or racial mocking in public isn’t uncommon. I’m curious about the reverse situation.
If you’re white and have spent time in countries where you were visibly a minority, have you ever been called racial slurs, mocked for being foreign, or treated differently in a hostile way in public? Especially in places where English isn’t the main language.
How did you react in the moment? Did you ignore it, confront the person, laugh it off, or did it affect you more than you expected?
I’m interested in genuine experiences and cultural differences.
gootchvootch@reddit
While part of the US, native Hawaiians are often not the biggest fans of white residents or tourists.
These complex sentiments were not helped when some entitled oaf from Seattle lobbed a heavy rock at a passing monk seal recently.
Anonymous30005000@reddit
I experienced a lot of racially-fueled microaggressions when I visited Maui and the big island of Hawaii. Smaller things I noticed was that everyone else would have their order taken and food brought out before my sister and I even when they came in after us. Even places like food trucks where it’s made to go on the spot. Oh well, I accepted that as like a white person tax. The situation that was hardest to swallow was when we drove to the remote side of Maui and I suddenly needed to go #2 super bad. We stopped by a general store and got in line to buy some stuff so at least I wouldn’t just ask to use the bathroom for free. The tan guy in front of me who didn’t look or sound Hawaiian but more like Filipino or Indonesian, etc asks the Hawaiian woman who was ringing him up if he can use the bathroom. She says, “Sure hun, it’s back there” and points the way. So then it’s my turn and I ask to use the bathroom. She says, “We don’t have a bathroom.” 😐 I was honestly shocked for a few seconds staring and then I had to just accept that she didn’t care that I knew what she was doing, so I tried to explain how bad I had to go and if she knew of any public restrooms in the town. I was honestly almost in tears at that point thinking whether I was going to have to disrespect the town by shitting in the forest somewhere. She said no, but then I guess finally had a moment of humanity and told me about the port-a-potty at a park nearby… I thanked her and gtfo of there.
hey_hey_hey_nike@reddit
That’s simply racism.
hey_hey_hey_nike@reddit
The hypocrisy is so real, because they’ll treat Asian or Hispanic residents and tourists well. So it’s plain old racism.
e9967780@reddit
A Russian or Ukrainian American to boot with a heavy English accent.
low_key_gnocchi@reddit
I did the Peace Corps in West Africa in 2012-2015 and groups of children would follow me singing songs that heavily utilized their local word for white person. It didn’t feel malicious but it was incredibly overwhelming and annoying. Sometime people would insist that I buy things for them in the market and get upset when I refused. I had a fair number of people ask that I give them my hair. Other than that I was treated with so much warmth and kindness.
Icy_Valuable9587@reddit
I am a white American living in the Netherlands. The majority of Dutch people are friendly to English speakers, but there is definitely a category of locals that really resent people like me. They blame Americans for the housing shortage, they have told me to go back to America on occasion. But honestly the worst discrimination I have ever experienced here was not from Dutch people but from Muslim immigrants. I have a small dog and I’ve been called all sorts of slurs (like “filthy”) because I have a dog with me. Trump hasn’t helped the image of Americans living abroad.
Odd-Huckleberry1719@reddit
Also, literally every single administration I’ve lived abroad under, locals have trashed the US, and US presidents. It is a pastime of pretty much all countries. Everyone everywhere has an opinion about the US and US politics and policies.
I lived in Japan during the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, and was working in Europe and Africa during the Invasion of Iraq when they were burning effigies of Bush in the streets. That was fun.
Odd-Huckleberry1719@reddit
Or dogs. Those bastards…
B3stThereEverWas@reddit
Anybody judging a person based on the actions pf their government is 100% a bigot, because that same mindset overlaps with so many other forms of prejudice. Like somebody is not going to prejudiced against someone for their government but then magically be open minded and tolerant to everything else. Theres parallels to these things
Fabulous-Web7719@reddit
Yes, absolutely. I’m a white male, the most privileged of humans, and have been given shit for being “foreign” in various European countries.
JuniApocalypse@reddit
Not in person, but on social media it is extremely common to direct criticism and insults at white, English speaking foreigners. Often with advice to "go back home." Many people stereotype white, English speaking foreigners quite openly on these platforms. However, I think it's actually coming other white, English speaking foreigners, much of the time (maybe even 50/50)! I will never understand this, as I think foreigners from other cultures tend to band together and support each other more.
Puzzleheaded-Sun7418@reddit
Yes. I got it in the Netherlands and I am also European only from the south. Especially during Covid where I got also mocked and insulted for wearing a mask. But I got it earlier as well.
TheSibylAtCumae@reddit
I heard SO much racist shit in the Netherlands (not directed at me though). !I'm white (and pale) so I guess they assumed I would agree with them?
contented0@reddit
Yes. In Japan. Ueno Park, Tokyo. It was by a drunk homeless man. Don't know if this counts.
Odd-Huckleberry1719@reddit
Yup, it happens in Japan a fair amount. I was the only westerner in an all Japanese company. They used to trash Gaijins to me all the time.
Everyone does it in every country.
graciewindkloppel@reddit
A crow attacked me in Ueno Park, does that count?
toasterwaffle3@reddit
I’m an American who lived in Spain for years and I definitely heard a few of these remarks. Was a bit bothered until I remembered what the Spanish have done to other countries (especially in the Americas) and could not help but laugh at the irony. Some of them are so ignorant about their own history
B3stThereEverWas@reddit
The Spanish were (by far) the most violent colonists. They essentially wiped out the Aztecs and so many other American indigenous groups.
Background_Shame3834@reddit
But the colonisers are the ones who LEFT Spain.
YejapBali@reddit
It's something that is bound to happen. I'm Italian and I experienced racism in every country I've been too: Sweden, the Netherlands, German, Austria, Switzerland and the UK. Having darker features is enough to set the racists off. Besides that, a lot of "educated" people have clear prejudice against foreign ethnicities too.
edwardsantes@reddit
Only once, but that was in London. It was a bartender and he didn't say anything rude, he just served a half pint, and started to pour a second half pint when we had ordered two pints. So I just stated "We'll be leaving now" - which was quite obviously what he wanted.
My father traveled extensively, and he taught me to try to not act like an American. Taught me to keep my voice lower, and my hand gestures less "Italian." Told me not to wear clothes that give it away too.
If you treat a person and their culture with respect they almost always treat you with respect.
The gringo tax doesn't bother me at all-but I avoid it. I'm moving to Latam, and once settled I'll give the four closest corner shops a couple tries each, and settle on the one that gives me the best prices.
NeedABetterPillow@reddit
I don't identify as white per se, but got called a "f***ing American" in eastern Europe. Just walked away, obviously not worth engaging. And would've understood what they were saying even if I didn't know the lingo, haha.
Unknown_Legend7777@reddit
I am a white woman with a lot of tattoos. Nothing horrible, just common 'old school style' tattoos. Like roses, hearts, daggers anchor etc.. I was traveling in the Philippines alone and many people treated me horrible! When I ordered food is was almost thrown in my face! The woman who gave me the food looked at me with a disgusted face.
I was talking to a nice Philippino lady and she explained to me that because of my tattoos people thought I was a criminal. She said to quote:" people think you are a drug lord". Whaaaaaaaat??? So... I won't ever travel to Asia again alone because of that. It was horrible to be treated that way because I have some ink. I understand the cultural differences and people with tattoos are uncommon there but to be treated like shit for 5 weeks is not something I want to experience again.
Amantes09@reddit
So the poor treatment was because of the tattoos, not because you are white. Lots of places have negative ideas about tattoos, I think Japan did, or does, as well because if the Yakuza.
Unknown_Legend7777@reddit
Both... after I knew what caused it I wore long sleeves and long pants. Was treated better but not much. Maybe it was because I was a woman traveling alone? Don't know.. Also have to mention I was not in a tourist area, very few tourists came there.
DumpsterSlunt@reddit
White male from the US here. Most frequent sources of slurs are from Anglo whites: Australians, Brits, Canadians, Western Europeans. Australians (aka Lesser Texans) have the lovely "Seppocunt" that sticks in memory.
Non-English slurs, I've heard 'mzungu,' 'gringo,' 'américon,' etc.
Amantes09@reddit
Mzungu is not a slur.
B3stThereEverWas@reddit
Nobody outside of terminally online internet Australians say "Seppo". just ignore that bullshit
0urobrs@reddit
"Anglo-whites: .. western Europeans" "at least I'm not European" It might be your anglo-centrism that people take offense with
DumpsterSlunt@reddit
I'm not Anglo.
Kroketten2@reddit
Google South-Africa and racism against white and you'll see what I have experienced for years.
Amantes09@reddit
This is entertaining to me as an African.
e9967780@reddit
Do Russians qualify as Afrikaners ? Just asking.
Nono_Home@reddit
That’s payback time for apartheid. I’ve worked/lived 15 years in Johannesburg and no issue at all nor did I ever feel any racial slurs. I’ve travelled all over Africa intensely for 25 years and can’t say I ever really feel being white was an issue. Security wise of course dangerous at times, Congo both left and right of the river yes, Nigeria yes, Eritrea very, Somaliland yes and so on but in South Africa not, guess was lucky. Mooi blijf!
themuritooo@reddit
Some people in the netherlands are really rude if you dont speak their dutch.
Travel_Dreams@reddit
I have experienced that in my own country when working in the south, because I wasn't from around there.
Accused of being a northerner, but was from California instead. I was allowed peace, as a non-combatant.
B3stThereEverWas@reddit
Damn dude, that's even worse!
ACapra@reddit
No but I'm taking Spanish classes here in Spain and I'm trying to live here as an immigrant and not an expat
badlydrawngalgo@reddit
I don't think that's got much to do with it. I'm an immigrant to Portugal, I've learned the language and generally just live my life inn the same way as my Portuguese neighbours do, but I've been on the receiving end of a couple of comments (over 4 years). It doesn't really worry me, there are ignorant people in every country.
ACapra@reddit
The only person here I have seen who was called out for being an expat and told to go home was a lady we met here our first week at a meetup from the UK. She was telling us how she has lived here for over 20 years and doesn't know any Spanish. Then she was super rude to the bartender and was kicked out of the bar. I told my wife as we walked back home that we have to be better than that lady.
It actually worried us a bit because we saw some real "expat go home" vibes on day 4 of our move here. But we are now going on 2 years here and haven't seen anything like it since.
InformWitch@reddit
Idk why you’re getting downvoted. This is the way to go.
thought-wanderer@reddit
I’ve lived in 7 countries (and visited almost 70) and the only place I’ve experienced a (pretty violent) racial slur was the only English-speaking out of them (the US). It was pretty shocking just because it was so aggressive, but I didn’t take it personally. I know the US has a lot of racial tension. I also thought to myself that having one bad experience is an incredibly small price to pay for having white privilege.
Kitten_81@reddit
I'm white. I heard that in my own neighborhood while growing up in NYC. No need to leave the country lol
NorCal1977@reddit
Never going to Jamaica again. I’m half Puerto Rican and my husband is Filipino. Not only are they racist, they’re homophobic. Shithole country.
snazzysid1@reddit
Not answering your question exactly but I was told to go home in England (I’m white and was told to go home by a an angry white lady)
CuriosTiger@reddit
I’ll also say that sometimes, it’s bot your skin color, but your nationality. If you are living in a non-English-speaking country, learning the local language can definitely help open doors.
LibrarianByNight@reddit
I've had more than one person tell me to go home and fix my own country.
CuriosTiger@reddit
I’ve felt what it’s like to be a minority, particularly in China. But while I stood out like a sore thumb (white and also tall,) the reaction was almost universally positive. Strangers wanting a photo with me, kids wanting to practice English, things like that.
I did get some stares, but nothing I’d classify as discrimination or disrespect.
SuperMarioFart@reddit
Reading through these comments realizing that white ppl have not actually experienced racism. Get over yourselves.
de_G_van_Gelderland@reddit
Just to be clear. Are you asking white people in general or just white people who are native English speakers from majority English speaking countries? Because most white people are from countries where English is not natively spoken and don't natively speak English themselves.
jasutherland@reddit
I suspect both groups. I recall my (German-born, Canadian-resident) cousin talking about some sort of xenophobic comments she got on a visit back to Germany - something about Hochdeutsch versus the local dialect I think; obviously not racial.
idemandpasta@reddit
Not only that, but not all English speaking countries are white. If a white Scottish guy gets told off in Guyana or Belize, does that not count here?
Breakfast_Pretzel@reddit
Italy back in the early 2000’s. Americans were the worst at the time and even though I was speaking Italian they knew. It was a young kid maybe 18-22 years old that went off on me to go back to my home when I asked where the Gelateria was
IllPanic4319@reddit
Absolute opposite. They love me and praise my white skin. Everyone wants a picture with me and calls me beautiful. Its crazy
dallyan@reddit
Racial issues as a white person? No lol. I have experienced as an ethnic person (im white passing depending on the country).
I was told to leave a bar once in Spain for being an American. But to be fair it was around the start of the Iraq War and America was absolutely in the wrong. I was involved in the anti-war movement but I wasn’t too upset. I’ve got a thick skin.
NewAstronomer6817@reddit
Never.
CalifMtnGrl@reddit
I've lived and traveled in lots of brown countries. I'm a tall, white female redhead whose family descends from England and Ireland. No one has ever said anything rude to me along the lines you suggested. Most of the time people look at me with either profound curiosity or adoration.
Gunzhard22@reddit
If you're wearing the red dunce cap and acting entitled, people will at least hate you.
PriorityNo6268@reddit
Yes even in my own country, I am a white man, we are responsible for everything and anything that is wrong, has gone wrong and will go wrong in this world. We are the sole reason of your personal issues!
Dormie98-25@reddit
I've lived in several non-white, non-English speaking countries. I have never heard that. They don't have the hate in their hearts that many whites in US have toward non-whites.
Parulanihon@reddit
I'm your huckleberry.
Been there. Worst I had was in Japan a long time ago, but I smashed it with a local language hammer and it was fine. Basically they were on me for having a local girlfriend but to be honest it was in a pretty congenial way.
You deal with it the same way everywhere: based on your relative power.
I told them to eat shit. "Kuuuso kurae, omae!"
Scary_Vehicle9023@reddit
Didn't get let into some nightclubs, but that was more for being foreign rather than specifically white.
Also once had a random woman walk into the English academy I worked at and started screaming at the management for how dare they employ foreigners to teach English, don't they know we spread AIDS etc.
silverframe202@reddit
I can’t believe no one has brought up Gwielo, canto for “white devil” or sometimes white ghost. It’s become a bit of a joke but at times can absolutely be used in a derogatory manner. I had a boss years ago often use it in negative reference to me.
Natertot1@reddit
When I was in high school we went to Sweden to visit family. My dad’s side is full Swedish so I have aunts and uncles, cousins etc in Stockholm.
We were walking down the street on the sidewalk and behind us two people were complaining that we were going slow, tourists are annoying etc.
My aunt turned and said “feel free to go around us then” in Swedish, and the they turned bright red with embarrassment and walked away without making any eye contact. We all had a laugh.
AccountForDoingWORK@reddit
I go to France every year and a guy didn’t like my kids cooing over a puppy on the train so he started complaining about how loud Americans are (maybe, but like…so were the French kids/teens/adults on the trains we were on), and that we basically needed to get out of ‘his’ country. (Bonus: my kids have been raised mostly in Scotland and don’t even really remember the US at this point.)
TroyismyKalabeezo@reddit
Lived in Jordan for nearly a decade. Never, not once, was anyone rude to me. Some oddballs here and there but most were polite.
Accomplished_Ruin133@reddit
I work for a company with extensive interests in West Africa and spend a lot of time there.
As a white person you’re basically seen as someone they can low level extort on a daily basis just going about your daily life.
Whenever we are dealing with government or regulatory bodies we generally have to put local faces in front of them as much as possible because they are highly fixated on everything being “local content “.
More often than not our local intermediaries and the officials dig themselves into a big hole because none of them really understand the technical side of things.
At that point we drop the pretence and just go over their heads to a minister in the government who understands how much we are investing and what’s at stake.
Exact-Newt4364@reddit
I've never seen other Mexicans say racial names at immigrants from the US who come here to Mexico City but I've definitely seen the signs all over the city telling US immigrants to go back home. The sentiment I think is quite large privately amongst many of us Mexicans here in Mexico City (and other places in the country) even if they don't voice it. But no, I don't see much of it in a hostile verbal way if that makes sense.
North_Artichoke_6721@reddit
Yes, a little, but it helps that I am a very petite woman and I am frequently mistaken for a child or young teen, especially from a distance, so even when I was older and working, I was often asked if I was an exchange student or what my parents did.
I think the worst was just people avoiding me, not wanting to interact at all, refusing to serve me, or crossing the street to avoid me. Nobody was ever outright violent or hostile to me, just exclusionary.
Whiskey_Sours@reddit
Yes, I'm a white woman and lived in Tokyo for 6 years. Someone walked by me and said in Japanese "Go die". I've also been bumped into by old people purposely. I've had friends make their eyes really round and call white people round eyes, that one was funny though.
I was upset about the go die comment, and I cried to my boyfriend at the time about it, he didn't seem to understand why it was a big deal. And for the old man who bumped into me, I yelled at him as he passed by but it's whatever, he didn't care and then I realized it's a normal thing that even has a name ぶつかり男 (bukatsukari otoko) bumping man and happens to Japanese people too.
Emily_Postal@reddit
Surprisingly it happens to white tourists (and expats) in Bermuda. There’s a significant number of black Bermudians who hate white people and they show it.
SmokimNoah@reddit
Come to southern Spain or Catalunya with sunburn and shorts on and you’ll be told to go back to your country quicker than most non European places haha
bighark@reddit
You can expect that treatment if you rock shorts or a baseball cap anywhere in Spain.
pheeelco@reddit
No, never. And I’ve been all over the world.
Forward-Smile-5531@reddit
Yes of course. I've lived in several countries. Some where my white skin makes me a minority and one country where the majority were white. In every place I heard racism or comments about my country of origin.
bsullivan627@reddit
I don't think I would classify it as racism but an Egyptian garbage collector once complained that most of his people could barely eat and yet foreigners treat his country like a playground. I wasn't bothered by it personally since I know he's absolutely right, but I felt a lot of anger in sympathy with him.
Sufficient-Job7098@reddit
This used to be more common for Eastern Europeans who moved to Western Europe.
At some point Russians speakers who lived in former Soviet republics ( Baltic countries, Ukraine, Georgia,…) had higher probability of experiencing hostility from locals.
After war started and a lot on Ukrainians ( and quite a few Russians) fled their home countries, while many were welcomed but there were some locals who were hostile to such immigrants.
SmokeAndGnomes@reddit
It's funny, on Reddit in the subreddits for those countries that are meant for questions and to help with immigration I experienced. Both for Spain and for Panama.
In person, not one person in Panama nor Spain has ever given me any kind of issue. Everyone has truly been warm and welcoming.
Solid-Inside-7988@reddit
We had to pay 1.50 dollar instead of 1 dollar in Cambodia for a tuctuc ride with four people because we (literally what the driver said) were white :(. Whole group started complaining about racism so I paid for everyone lol.
zedzzzdead@reddit
Yes.. I've noticed that every country suffers from the same immigration issues. The US is bothered by "Mexicans stealing our jobs". The Bahamas is bothered by Haitians. Costa Rica is bothered by Nicaraguans. And no one likes white people running around acting all entitled, this bit seems relevant as well.
Masty1992@reddit
Kind of but it just means so little to me that I can’t even say for definite or know what their intentions are. When you’re not looking for racism and you’re not a victim of a system of institutionalised racism, then off colour remarks just don’t carry any weight.