If you’re not white, you will experience racism in Europe especially outside of the major cities with large historic immigrant populations and you’ll less likely have bystanders come to your defense compared to like in the US, Canada, Australia
A close friend of mine is African-American. He’s lived in Spain for a very long time and is a highly visible person because he’s also big and tall (6’5"). He says there’s some anti-foreigner sentiment (people will call him a guiri until they realize his Castilian and Catalan are fluent), but he says the racism is far less, and less dangerous, than in the US.
Another close friend is American of Jamaican origin. He lived in London for several years and also found it less dangerous than the US. The risk during cop encounters is far lower.
My sons look Middle Eastern (their mother’s Arab and they have beards-- hipster rather than Islamist, but idiots can’t distinguish) and have travelled extensively all over Europe, as well as North Africa and the US. In Europe, the worst hassle they’ve gotten has been in some of the Slavic countries (rural Czechia was bad, as were non-urban parts of Hungary and Bulgaria), but it hasn’t been that severe. A bit of shit talk, no violence. Compare that to a physical assault in Texas and incidents of police harassment in California and Washington state.
My wife’s experience, having lived in both the US and UK for extended periods, is similar: there’s prejudice in both places, but only in the US have people gotten openly aggressive with her. Well, once in London, a skinhead started shouting at me because I was with her (I had a shaved head and was very fit back then, so I think he assumed I was another skin), but it didn’t escalate.
Regarding the Texas incident: accusing someone of being an Islamic fundamentalist while they’re drinking an IPA in a bar and flirting with a local woman requires a degree of stupidity that’s hard to find outside the US. Especially when the response is “Da fuck’s wrong with you?” Tattoos are also not common on Muslim fundies. Anyway, after the guy threw a punch, my son trapped his arm and held him like that until a bouncer could be stirred from his lethargy. The IPA was not spilled, but he had no luck with the woman.
Yeah, I know, anecdata. But overall, despite the recent rise of the hard right in Europe, I’d say it’s still not as bad as in most of tthe US.
A close friend of mine is African-American. He’s lived in Spain for a very long time and is a highly visible person because he’s also big and tall (6’5"). He says there’s some anti-foreigner sentiment (people will call him a guiri until they realize his Castilian and Catalan are fluent), but he says the racism is far less, and less dangerous, than in the US.
Another close friend is American of Jamaican origin. He lived in London for several years and also found it less dangerous than the US. The risk during cop encounters is far lower.
My sons look Middle Eastern (their mother’s Arab and they have beards-- hipster rather than Islamist, but idiots can’t distinguish) and have travelled extensively all over Europe, as well as North Africa and the US. In Europe, the worst hassle they’ve gotten has been in some of the Slavic countries (rural Czechia was bad, as were non-urban parts of Hungary and Bulgaria), but it hasn’t been that severe. A bit of shit talk, no violence. Compare that to a physical assault in Texas and incidents of police harassment in California and Washington state.
My wife’s experience, having lived in both the US and UK for extended periods, is similar: there’s prejudice in both places, but only in the US have people gotten openly aggressive with her. Well, once in London, a skinhead started shouting at me because I was with her (I had a shaved head and was very fit back then, so I think he assumed I was another skin), but it didn’t escalate.
Regarding the Texas incident: accusing someone of being an Islamic fundamentalist while they’re drinking an IPA in a bar and flirting with a local woman requires a degree of stupidity that’s hard to find outside the US. Especially when the response is “Da fuck’s wrong with you?” Tattoos are also not common on Muslim fundies. Anyway, after the guy threw a punch, my son trapped his arm and held him like that until a bouncer could be stirred from his lethargy. The IPA was not spilled, but he had no luck with the woman.
Yeah, I know, anecdata. But overall, despite the recent rise of the hard right in Europe, I’d say it’s still not as bad as in most of tthe US.