Personal Experiences Of Racism Nigerians Face Abroad

As for me being in America, I haven't experienced racism per se, although I do hear silly questions about Africa, and a number of Whites always tend to be ingratiating in their "fear and respect for blacks", making it obvious that we are Black and so they must not offend us. Really, just seeing me as another human being wil

@Nnenna1 - i understand what u mean by this, i sometimes notice this "trying" not to offend me because am black, i sometimes notice this attitude of white people going out of their way so i don't feel they are being "funny" , because am black - this only reminds me that they feel am different and must be treate me with caution , so i don't accuse them of "seeing" me as a different kind of human - i just wish they would be normal and see me as any other human being

Nubian, your first post about the South African divers wound up with the just ending that such tales rarely have, and it is rather entertaining to hear how them Boer boys had no trouble taking money from a black-run African government, yet still considered themselves superior to blacks.

On your stateside observations about silly, patronizing and condescending questions from whites, I only wish I had a dollar for every time a white American "innocently" asked me if there are motor vehicles in Africa, or whether folks in the Dark Continent still live up in trees and hunt for critters to eat with spears like in the Tarzan movies. 

Another observation I made in America is that blacks who speak with non-American accents are treated with far less fear, distrust and loathing than are American-born blacks.  From time to time as the need arises I open closed doors in America by faking a British accent to confuse and momentarily deflect that instinctive bigotry, while privately marvelling at the ease with which some race-obsessed folks can be misled and confused.

   

Hello Drusilla, how are you?


I saw you viewing this topic, right about now you should be posting 

Sista,

I am fine. How are you? Smile.

Sista,

Goodnight. Enjoy that other forum. Smile.

Candy,

That sentence alone shows you understand the West perfectly. I am always aghast, when I hear people talking about: if the Black people will just be "good", then whites would stop acting that way.

Yeah,I agree I was lucky. I was really scared he was going to hurt me,infact for almost three weeks I was scared to go out alone,even during the day.But I called naija o, fasting and prayer finish for church! It's just by God's grace. I guess what helped me most was the fact that we had people from different Countries(It's an international organization) so there was no real fratenal relationship among the whites.

criminals came to my house penultimate weekend and stole a couple of items. nobody was home, i went to London for the weekend. when I returned I tried to tell my landlady to repair the doors but she has bluntly refused to do that. these guys came when the doors where locked, now the doors are open for further violence. yet my landlady insists I must pay my rent before anything happens.

 I have never owed rents. I just refused to pay this one until my room is safe. A lot of teenagers in the UK now carry arms. these guys can harm me if they entererd my house at night to steal and they see me. why can't some people value the lives and security of others.

the worst one is when non-white people are racist and patronising towards Africans

I have been in the US for about 4yrs now and it never fails to appaul me when i meet total white strangers at bars or clubs or whatever and when they get to know am from Nigeria cause of my accent,then they impress it on me that i am somehow better than african americans,just to make themselves feel good or whateveri get real mad and never fail to check them,one white lady was relating how she was mugged in N.Y and kept telling me,"well you are different,not like those people". . .i had to let her know that i didnt appreciate that and that in my opinion,robbers and thiefs come in all shades and i could easily be mobbed in an all white neighbourhood and wont think all white people are the same. . .

Then there was this chic i was trying to pick up in a bar,and she asks me where am from i tell her,then she goes into diatribe of how jews and Africans have been persecuted,and plundered(she was jewishi didnt know until then),and how i should be able to relate to that. . . in my mind am like well save me the history lesson lady,the only plundering am trying to do tonight is with u. . . lol.

But i think that apart from the few hardcore racists, America is full of psychos who don't know how to acti have a coupla friends who have to be on pills daily just to maintain focusthat really sucks.

the hideously racist ones are the ones who pretend to love you but are constantly trying to ridicule you.

DRUGILLA is one of such people. she constantly patronises Africans and her mission here seems to be to make sure Nigerians ditch their own ways and follow American ways.

my brother make you no follow book o; look am and go your way

I 've been attacked by some where around 40 white dudes before, I narrowly stayed alive, there was another time I was attacked by 5 white dudes then I kicked their but, if that hippie dude on the cross is Jesus [which I know he is not], then I don't trust him.

Don't get me wrong I believe in Jesus and that he died for our sins, but definitely not that blue eye blonde dude on the cross.

Not a Nigerian. But I've been followed in shops in different European countries - they were afraid I'D steal something, especially in the more expensive shops. I admit that sometimes I made a bigger purchase than I planned in such cases to show them, hey I got money, I do not need to steal. Shops with expensive perfumes were the worst!
And I got a funny experience in a bank. When I moved, I wanted to set up an account in the new place. Now, I was born in Europe and I have the citizenship of one of the European Union countries, but this didn't help even though my passport was on the desk. The customer service lady without even looking into the visas in my passport assumed that I was a visitor, not somebody entitled to work and live here and said that only limited banking services are available for people like me, eg. I can't have a credit card. When I explained my status, she apologized; then I said: hey I'm new in this place, anything I need to know? I meant such things as taxes on money earned on term deposits and the like, but she started to explain me, uh, the very basics, like "you can give the account number to your employer and he can send your wages to your account and you can get then money from the ATM with a card we give you or by coming to the bank, " I was quite speechless didn't say anything, but then changed the bank, told the story when they called and inquired why I want to resign of their services and I got apologies and that lady doesn't work there anymore. I changed the bank anyway and I felt great satisfaction explaining them how much money they've lost, 'cause my husband earns a lot and it's me who manages money, chooses the bank and all services. I hope they will train their staff appropriately now.
And,  nferyn, how long a post do you want? I got hundreds of stories, I could write a book, am just too lazy. And note that I'm an EU citizen and middle class, proficient at "acting white" when necessary.

I've been treating this with a lot of humour and humour has been my good defense. Getting a good story to tell is always of value to me and I also feel quite confident and always react, but I'm careful to avoid fanaticism and bitterness. I do not want to add to a negative image.

People who tell they never met racism,  Well, I assume they were sticking with their bros and sistas most of the time and not paying much attention to the outside world, or having roles that are silently accepted as appropriate for them. As for me, I work and live among white people and I'm married to one and when you cross boundaries like this, you meet reactions that reveal a lot.

excuse me bro but i don't get why you decide to protect the country where you experienced racism! are you kidding me!!!!!!!!!