As a Black American, I think it’s normal for us to be on guard about how people will treat us when traveling while black. We deal with systemic racism and petty micro aggressions. We are made to feel that we don’t belong in certain spaces. And sometimes we deal with outright racial aggression. All of this has led many Black Americans to have a perspective tinged with a hyper-awareness of race and a suspicion of others’ motives/actions. I often see Black people who plan to travel abroad ask, “how do they treat Black people over there”.  

While I understand this sentiment and have even caught myself pondering this question before making travel plans, I am conscious to shift my lens from generalizing a group of people based on some experience that I or someone I know may have had. Also, I’ve come to be open to the idea that some bad encounters are not racially motivated. The other people may just lack good home training (according to what I, raised by a Black American mama, know to be good home training).

There are three instances that stand out to me that made me wonder: is the bad behavior I’m experiencing in another country driven by the fact that I am traveling while black?

Spain: They’re Probably Just Rude

I talked about my experience traveling in Andalusia in a different post. The culture and food was what I hoped it would be. But the experiences I had with Spanish people was overall disappointing. In general they were unhelpful or rude. In the beginning of my journey, I traveled with a friend (white American), and we had some less than pleasant encounters while interacting with Spaniards.

There were situations when trying to get a bus from Seville to Cordoba with a station attendant and the bus driver. I did all of the talking because my friend had limited Spanish. Basically the station attendant sent us away without helping us, ultimately leading to us purchasing the wrong bus tickets via machine. Then when we went to board the bus, the driver saw our tickets, suspected they were wrong, but didn’t say anything. And later, he tried to throw us off of the bus before we had arrived in Cordoba.

Luckily my Spanish was good enough to dig deeper and question the driver about our destination, and eventually I got him to admit that he could sell us tickets to reach our actual destination without us needing to leave the bus. The entire exchange was unnecessarily cagey and unhelpful. He kept insisting that we leave the bus. My friend didn’t really understand what he was saying. If I hadn’t been there and understood Spanish, we would’ve gotten off the bus in a random town. I just couldn’t understand why. Was this because I, the one doing the talking, was black? Or maybe because we were American? Perhaps he was just a sadistic driver who liked to get his kicks by leaving passengers stranded in unwanted destinations? I suppose I’ll never know.

At some points in our trip, my friend and I parted ways and did different things during the day. She had more stories to tell me of how she dealt with people being rude to her. I also had more stories. I came to the conclusion that my experiences probably were not because I was traveling while black. These people probably weren’t racist; they just had a different cultural context which didn’t necessarily include being helpful or nice. 

…or maybe they just disliked tourists. Or maybe everyone was having a bad day. Again, who knows.

Argentina: Service and Traveling While Black

I had a great time in Argentina. I ate well, had some unique experiences, and met a bunch of interesting people. However, there were some instances when I found myself wondering if race was playing a factor in my experience.

There was an instance where I went to a restaurant and sat and sat and sat, and no one said anything to me, brought me a menu, nothing. I know that I was out trying to have dinner very early for Argentine standards. But I was not the only person in the restaurant. And I watched as a waitress came to take care of an older white couple who were seated well after me.

I grew frustrated, and I wondered, are they ignoring me because I’m black? In this situation, that seemed to have been the case. But the truth is that I’ll never know. And I think this is the epitome of traveling while black; knowing that something is not quite right, and suspecting it’s because of your race. But usually not being sure. I met so many other people there who were great. So, I’d never lead with the advice that black travelers should be wary of Argentina.

Chile: When Traveling While Black Goes Wrong

I was in Chile for just a weekend. It was a whirlwind, fun trip. But I did have an experience that left a bad taste in my mouth. It was definitely about race, but not necessarily malicious. I had visited a park and walked up some hill to get some good views. I sat down and was resting at the top when a group of what appeared to be students, mostly or maybe all girls, came up the hill as well. My Spanish wasn’t amazing back then, so when one of them said something to me and motioned with her camera, I said “si” and nodded, assuming that she had asked me to take a picture of her and her friends. 

But she wanted to take a picture sitting next to me. She jumped in next to me and her friend snapped a picture. They caught me off guard. Then quickly one after another the girls came hopping next to me and taking pictures. I was trying to say no, but it all happened so fast. As if I was some tourist attraction, one by one, tween to teen aged girls jumped in right next to me and posed while their friends took pictures. That experience made me feel icky. 

I couldn’t see any other reason that they would want to take a pic with a random woman in a park besides my being black. While I don’t think they were being malicious, it was just plain rude. And this is something that black people tend to have to deal with; other people feeling like they’re entitled to make a spectacle of you, to touch you, to consume you. Whether it’s somebody wanting to touch your hair, someone in a foreign country staring, or wanting to take a picture of you, it can all feel a bit dehumanizing. Traveling while black can be tough.

Racist or Nah? It Doesn’t Matter

The reality is that we live in a world where certain negative ideas about blackness are common. Blackness is made into a spectacle or is made invisible. As Black Americans, we live in a country where through our experiences and upbringing, many of us are hyper-aware of race. We are aware of how it may be affecting us at any moment. For this reason, it’s likely that there’s always going to be someone, somewhere, that makes us feel uncomfortable or unwelcome. These are unfortunate truths. 

But the real point is, it doesn’t matter if a less than desirable encounter abroad is fueled by race. We can’t be preoccuppied by traveling while black. We have less than desirable racial encounters at home. So why would we let that stop us from experiencing the world? We have to consider these things when we’re outside of the country:

• People outside of the USA conceptualize race through a different lens than we do
• Their cultural norms that may seem downright rude to us, may be totally acceptable
• Folks in every country are individuals…a bad experience doesn’t equal a country full of racists
• People may not like us for reasons outside of being black. It could be because we’re from the US. Or because they didn’t like what we were wearing, or any other random thing

JUST KEEP TRAVELING. That is the point. I’ve had way more positive experiences abroad than negative. And although it can be a push outside of your comfort zone to go to a place where you’re not sure how you’ll be received, it’s all part of the process of learning and growing. Just be safe!

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