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Dealing with Racism | ||
Tags: Cultural Identity | Difficulty | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5556 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 1 of 14 14 April 2010 at 1:31am | IP Logged | ||
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I was out walking this evening, when a drunk middle-aged German, who overheard my girlfriend and I quietly speaking a little English together, started shouting racist abuse at us. He then threw things at us and attacked us with a broken bottle. The locals on the street just laughed it off and were very unsupportive on the whole, joining in with the insults. I needn't mention here that we did absolutely nothing to encourage or deserve this treatment, apart from being English speakers.
We had to seek refuge from the attack in a late night supermarket, and an assistant then called the police. Not surprisingly, my German speaking skills took a swan dive and I found it almost impossible to string together a decent sentence to explain things to the authorities (as you can see, even in the most stressful of situations, my mind still wanders over to thoughts of language learning). We took a safer detour home you'll be glad to hear, but we were both lucky not to have ended up in hospital tonight and I'm a little shaken up to tell the truth. I'm sad to say, this is not the first time I've sustained racist abuse here in Darmstadt. In fact it happens quite a lot, being English, even last weekend in plain daylight. I've had to be very patient and let many insults and refusals for entry into establishments slide over the last year. However this is the first time I've been physically attacked here in Germany, and so I'm particularly sad today. I guess you get good and bad people in every country, and racism is unfortunately part and parcel of daily life for many foreigners living abroad, no matter how much you try to integrate and fit in with the culture. The Turkish and other minority communities suffer attacks and discrimination on a regular basis, I see it with my own eyes all the time, and I really empathise with anyone in this position. I even sort of feel a connectedness or solidarity with these lovely communities, who all too often have to endure real ostracism, poor job prospects and far worse abuse than I do. No wonder they stick to their own communities for safety and prosperity in number, and this is an unfortunate vicious circle as you can imagine. I've only lived here for a short while, but I've learned a lot in this time. One thing that I've taken on board is that you really need plenty of patience, open-mindedness and forgiveness to weather such storms and come out stronger on the sunny side. So my post here today has two main messages. One is simply to say that anyone else on this forum who has ever sustained racism, be it either home or abroad, is not alone. Being different is sometimes deemed dangerous, and I admire anyone who can fight through this needless abuse and not give in to cynicism or end up discriminating themselves. How we react, adapt and shape our lives in response to the difficulties life presents us with "showeth the man" or woman! The second is to just say that my respect for the German people and this country has not changed, not now, nor over the past year, nor ever. It's a wonderful place really, and this type of antisocial behaviour does not deter me from learning German on the whole, although it does make me a little more afraid to go out at night or talk to local native speakers sometimes. If anything I feel even more determined now to reach my goals, embrace the culture regardless, and meet hate with love and better understanding in the future (wow, I sound so new-age hippy hehe). Well, these are just some thoughts and personal observations I'd like to share with my favourite forum tonight. Perhaps some of you out there may even relate all too well, and take some succour in this, so I hope you don't mind my midnight ramblings on this subject... Edited by Teango on 14 April 2010 at 1:35am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Smart Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5339 days ago 352 posts - 398 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Latin, French Studies: German | Message 2 of 14 14 April 2010 at 2:14am | IP Logged | ||
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I would not call that racism, I would call that prejudice against Anglophones in general.
They would do the same no matter what you were. Perhaps being an obvious English-native made them upset or feel invaded. But again, no need to call it racism. They were also apparently drunk which can cause people to not think properly. Perhaps releasing an under-lying hatred of Anglophones. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ManicGenius Senior Member United States Joined 5481 days ago 288 posts - 420 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, French, Japanese | Message 3 of 14 14 April 2010 at 3:55am | IP Logged | ||
:-( By far one of the harshest things I've heard on this forum. If you haven't I suggest taking up some form of self-defense if possible, Tae Kwon Do has saved me in a few instances like this in life. Though now I'm actually a tall stocky guy so it doesn't happen as much, but any form of self-defense is invaluable regardless of your size or gender. I'm unaware of the laws in Germany, but at least where I live it's illegal to have pepper-spray/mace/tasers, so you're kind've left to your own wits. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| robsolete Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5385 days ago 191 posts - 428 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin | Message 4 of 14 14 April 2010 at 4:41am | IP Logged | ||
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I don't know anything about your race or ethnicity, so whether or not it was racially motivated is something I can't really comment. Still, bigotry is bigotry. What's sad isn't the one drunk angry man so much as the general lack of support from others in the area (although at least it seems the grocery clerk did the right thing).
The idea of hating someone because of the language they speak is an incredibly absurd notion to me. We have a few irritating hotheads here in the U.S. who are feeling invaded by Spanish-speakers, and it saddens me but I'm sure many Hispanophones here probably suffer similar incidents (or worse). I understand how cultural understandings can make different groups of people awkward around or suspicious of each other, but outright xenophobia still baffles me in this day and age. Try not to let it shake you up too much. Every country has its share of idiots and bigots--I'm just glad you got out of it okay. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Tally Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Israel Joined 5608 days ago 135 posts - 176 votes Speaks: English*, Modern Hebrew* Studies: French | Message 5 of 14 14 April 2010 at 5:35am | IP Logged | ||
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I've never heard about someone being hassled because they spoke English,
what is this world coming to... Edited by Tally on 14 April 2010 at 5:35am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Levi Pentaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5567 days ago 2268 posts - 3328 votes Speaks: English*, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Italian | Message 6 of 14 14 April 2010 at 7:02am | IP Logged | ||
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I think the best way to deal with bigotry is to reach out more to people. Don't let bigots scare you into shying away from people. The more you have meaningful personal interactions with people from another culture, the more they will see you as another human being with feelings, ideas, dreams, experiences, interests and beliefs just like they have, rather than a strange outside entity they can feel indifferent towards.
Historically, bigotry has been beaten back in this way, by creating meaningful interaction with groups previously seen as outsiders. To take just one example, look at the dramatic increase in tolerance for homosexuals over the last few decades, which coincides with a massive campaign to get homosexuals to come out of the closet to their family and friends. It's hard to be prejudiced against homosexuals when you have them in your life showing you every day that they're not the despicable creatures some would make them out to be. Sure, there will always be narrow-minded morons out there, but it is possible to make people aware of the narrow-mindedness, and create the societal conditions whereby bigots find themselves ostracized even by others in their in-group. We all need to do our part. Edited by Levi on 14 April 2010 at 7:11am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5669 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 7 of 14 14 April 2010 at 8:30am | IP Logged | ||
Oh, it happens quite a lot in some countries. I have experienced it myself in a few places (including right here in the Czech republic). Sometimes it is subtle, for example an old man on the metro said to his friend in Czech (assuming I couldn't speak it): "First the Nazis, then the Russians, now the Americans". I pointed out (in Czech) I was English. He got flustered. He was harmless. More extreme was three drunken guys on the tram, who heard me speaking in English on the phone, came down towards me and starting punching me saying (in Czech) that I was using public transport subsidized by their taxes and I wasn't even Czech. I managed to punch one of them back, but there was no was I could defeat three at once. Luckily, two other passengers came to my defense and held the idiots down, and several other passengers were shouting at the idiots to not be so stupid. The idiots were thrown off the tram at the next stop, and an elderly man came up to me and apologised for the three idiots and said he felt ashamed how they had behaved. So, a tiny handful of people are prejudiced morons, but most people are decent people who dislike prejudice as much as you and me. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 meramarina Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5967 days ago 1341 posts - 2303 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, French Personal Language Map | Message 8 of 14 14 April 2010 at 8:34am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm very sorry to hear of this incident and glad that no one was injured, and I think that you have exactly the right and most sensible attitude about the bad experience. Unfortunately, this kind of thing can happen in any place where there are aggressive, xenophobic people, which is pretty much anywhere. Not that it makes it any less upsetting, though.
Maybe you were a random target for a few delinquent people, or did they definitely go after you because of you language and country of origin? It's wrong either way, but I suppose more so if you're a victim of nationalistic discrimination at the very same time you practice the opposite of that bias by learning the local language and culture. It's unfortunate that they apparently perceived your presence there as a threat, when you are there enthusiastically and appreciatively. They were only projecting their fears onto someone else, most likely, and they got the wrong guy. I'm happy that you will not allow this event to deter you from your goals and your enjoyment of your time in Germany. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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