Posted by Adeola
Original story at Prince 0772
Hi, I’m American and have lived in New York City most of my life. I’ve been living in the richest part of the city and have a successful international job. I am Filipino-American. My friends come from all different backgrounds: white, black, hispanic, indian, asian, you name it. I just moved to Sweden the last 11 months and already have I experienced racism 3 times! It was nothing hostile but I can account for 3 situations and the 3rd one was today, that’s why I searched for “racism in sweden” online. Here were the incidents:
1. I was walking my bike home on a rainy night and 2 drunk Irish guys were smoking outside a pub and cracked jokes in English how I just came off the boat from China. Assuming I didn’t speak English I just said “I’m American. I hear every word.” and walked away.
2. I was riding my bike home and a guy yelled “Nee-How”. Not so bad, but offended to assume I’m Chinese.
3. Today, I went to the supermarket. 5 Swedish kids around 13 years old (I’m 32) were bullying me! I’m 32 and twice their size! How were they bullying me? They just said stupid comments like, “Having a party tonight? Nee-How.”
Again, these incidents were minor. They were just comments. It’s just surprising to me that a culture that I assumed to be so advanced compared to the rest of the world is still struggling with racism issues. I guess Sweden is a bit more homogenous compared to New York. In all 3 occasions I walked away but I feel like educating them. It’s so difficult to have an intellectual conversation when the first impression is ignorance. I sometimes feel like packing my bags and just going back to NYC.
I don’t want to experience this every 4 months while I’m here. But I also want to fight for my belief and teach these people how ignorant they really are. It’s a battle that can’t be solved through violence but education and discussion. I’m starting to believe it’s only an American Dream.