Whats the most uncomfortable/racist thing you witnessed abroad?

fakearms123 · 15-06-2010 02:44PM #1

I went abroad with my basketball club to a summer camp in Massachusetts, US when i was about 16 years old, we went over to Boston first, stayed there for a few days before we left to go to the 2 week summer camp, anyway when we were staying in the YMCA in Boston we (group of about 10) decided to find an outdoor basketball court to practice before the camp, surely enough there were some nice black gentlemen occupying one the courts so we took the other court and played. We were all so pale and pasty it was embarrassing but we were good at basketball which made up for it.

The black gentlemen came over and started talking, in all honesty i knew it was english these boys were talking but it still sounded like beatboxing or something. Anyway they challenged us to a match and we were hestitant at first but we played, i was the youngest by about 2 years. They were doing these silly tricks and were trying crazy shots while we were playing as a team. We were beating them pretty badly and they were calling each other and us "b*tches", "p*ssies" and "n" word was flying around. We all felt really uncomfortable and after we won, we had to jog back to the hotel cause it started getting real sketchy near the end.

Have you ever just been so uncomfortable when your holidays?

Kiera · 15-06-2010 02:46PM

Abroad? I've witnessed some horrible stuff right here in Dublin.

Dunjohn · 15-06-2010 02:49PM

When I was in Warsaw two years ago, I accidently got myself trapped in a tour around a Boy Scouts museum and had to spend the next half hour studying the various exhibits intently and pretending I knew WTF was going on.

recylingbin · 15-06-2010 02:51PM

I was once traversing a basketball court in Boston when these irish punks challenged my workmates and I to a game of basketball just because we were black.

arybvtcw0eolkf · 15-06-2010 02:51PM

Kiera wrote: »

Abroad? I've witnessed some horrible stuff right here in Dublin.

But thats not the question!.

Abroad, I guess in Lebanon when I was told by a member of Hezbollah to cover up my Star of David necklace or I'd be shot dead

alwaysadub · 15-06-2010 02:57PM

I've noticed more stupidity than anything abroad. Questions i've been asked like: "where is Ireland"
"oh,you're from Dublin, it must be awful living there with the Troubles, do you get bombed much"
"you have very good English"

who what when · 15-06-2010 02:58PM

Went on holiday one year to spain with a crowd of lads, 6-7 of us altogether. Anyway one night we were in a pretty packed english bar and as usual we were pretty mullered. Then out of nowhere one of the lads (the smallest of the group) decided to sing some rebel songs!

At first i have to say i was feeling a bit nervous, didnt really know how it'd go down. But as the place slowely but surely emptied i started feeling more at ease and eventually we all joined in! A great little sing-song was had it has to be said.

Now as the last group to leave were passing us on the way out, a pretty big guy shouted over to us 'irish pricks'! It left us stunned needless to say. That would probably be the worst case of racism ive ever experienced!

PaddyBomb · 15-06-2010 02:59PM

In Ayia Napa and getting caught in the middle of two rival London gang fight. All the bars shut their doors and kept everyone inside. So many people got stabbed, it was crazy!

Mint Sauce · 15-06-2010 03:00PM

well there was this one time, at band camp...

prinz · 15-06-2010 03:01PM

A friend getting stalked by a self-harming looney who eventually was caught by the cops and the men in white coats (literally).

fontanalis · 15-06-2010 03:01PM

alwaysadub wrote: »

I've noticed more stupidity than anything abroad. Questions i've been asked like: "where is Ireland"
"oh,you're from Dublin, it must be awful living there with the Troubles, do you get bombed much"
"you have very good English"

Why are they stupid questions. The rest of the world doesn't need to know about ireland. Do most irish people know what's going on in countries like Denmark, portugal, Kyrgystan?

fakearms123 · 15-06-2010 03:02PM

who what when wrote: »

Went on holiday one year to spain with a crowd of lads, 6-7 of us altogether. Anyway one night we were in a pretty packed english bar and as usual we were pretty mullered. Then out of nowhere one of the lads (the smallest of the group) decided to sing some rebel songs!

At first i have to say i was feeling a bit nervous, didnt really know how it'd go down. But as the place slowely but surely emptied i started feeling more at ease and eventually we all joined in! A great little sing-song was had it has to be said.

Now as the last group to leave were passing us on the way out, a pretty big guy shouted over to us 'irish pricks'! It left us stunned needless to say. That would probably be the worst case of racism ive ever experienced!

had a similar experience in spain with english, not much singing just shouting at us

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 15-06-2010 03:04PM

who what when wrote: »

Went on holiday one year to spain with a crowd of lads, 6-7 of us altogether. Anyway one night we were in a pretty packed english bar and as usual we were pretty mullered. Then out of nowhere one of the lads (the smallest of the group) decided to sing some rebel songs!

At first i have to say i was feeling a bit nervous, didnt really know how it'd go down. But as the place slowely but surely emptied i started feeling more at ease and eventually we all joined in! A great little sing-song was had it has to be said.

Now as the last group to leave were passing us on the way out, a pretty big guy shouted over to us 'irish pricks'! It left us stunned needless to say. That would probably be the worst case of racism ive ever experienced!

so you go into an english bar and start singing songs about how the english are all bastards? and a reaction left you 'stunned'?

stovelid · 15-06-2010 03:05PM

Has to be The Brits.

Whenever I visit England, I conduct Irish history tests on random citizens in the street.

When they (a alarmingly high number of them) complain that they can't answer some of the more detailed questions, I smugly tell them, "maybe you should have raped a different country then?".

Hazys · 15-06-2010 03:11PM

I love the racial undertones in these posts, claiming the others where the ones being racist.

Mint Sauce · 15-06-2010 03:12PM

'green hills' santa ponsa, anyone whoes been there will understand

:eek:

fontanalis · 15-06-2010 03:13PM

stovelid wrote: »

Has to be The Brits.

Whenever I visit England, I conduct Irish history tests on random citizens in the street.

When they (a alarmingly high number of them) complain that they can't answer some of the more detailed questions, I smugly tell them, "maybe you should have raped a different country then?".

How do you do on the Brit test?

Handsome Bob · 15-06-2010 03:14PM

Twas in Melbourne, Australia. We get into the taxi, tell the bloke where we want to go and he then mumbles (but very audibly), "****ing Irish".

Other than that, nothing major. I've seen more racism in Ireland than I have abroad, and in what you might think were sophisticated settings too.

who what when · 15-06-2010 03:16PM

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

so you go into an english bar and start singing songs about how the english are all bastards? and a reaction left you 'stunned'?

Well if you think about it all we were doing is recounting historical events through the medium of song! If english people dont like to see themselves portrayed as the bad guy then maybe they should have re-evaluated theyre foreign policies in the past!

brianthebard · 15-06-2010 03:17PM

fontanalis wrote: »

Why are they stupid questions. The rest of the world doesn't need to know about ireland. Do most irish people know what's going on in countries like Denmark, portugal, Kyrgystan?

Most people in Ireland know basic stuff like people in Canada speak English* not Canadian, they speak Portugese in Brazil, Spanish in the rest of South America, etc. Fair enough Dublin was bombed at one stage during the troubles so I'll let that one go but the troubles have by and large been over since 1998, and it was obviously huge news in the US with Clinton's involvement so there's little excuse for that either.

*if you point out that there are also French Canadians I will slap you super hard!

IvyTheTerrible · 15-06-2010 03:18PM

About 5 years ago on holidays in France, there was an English couple who were friends of friends of the people I was staying with. The woman was introduced to me, and then started in on a drunken rant about how the Irish are scum. She was a cow in general though so didn't bother me too much.

Other than that, I've never really experienced any racism.

stovelid · 15-06-2010 03:19PM

fontanalis wrote: »

How do you do on the Brit test?

It takes 800 years to do so I skipped it.

FearDark · 15-06-2010 03:19PM

You do know about the French-Canadians, right?
Pffffft :rolleyes:

Ickle Magoo · 15-06-2010 03:22PM

People who think Brit = English...

IITYWYBMAD · 15-06-2010 03:23PM

Kiera wrote: »

Abroad? I've witnessed some horrible stuff right here in Dublin.

I think all of us have, however the premise of the question involves "abroad". Hence the title.

I played hockey in South Africa in 1994, just after apartheid was abolished . I will never forget the way the indigenous black people were treated. They were looked down upon with such disdain, it was horrible. Too many examples to give, but I remember one guy telling us how he could not get any good "staff" since the emancipation, all in the presence of a black girl serving us food on his veranda. It was cringing.

IITYWYBMAD · 15-06-2010 03:24PM

Ickle Magoo wrote: »

People who think Brit = English...

Brit does = English. It also = Welsh, Scot and (in the context of the UK) UK and N.I.

Whats the prob?

bonerm · 15-06-2010 03:24PM

fakearms123 wrote: »

I went abroad with my basketball club to a summer camp in Massachusetts, US when i was about 16 years old, we went over to Boston first, stayed there for a few days before we left to go to the 2 week summer camp, anyway when we were staying in the YMCA in Boston we (group of about 10) decided to find an outdoor basketball court to practice before the camp, surely enough there were some nice black gentlemen occupying one the courts so we took the other court and played. We were all so pale and pasty it was embarrassing but we were good at basketball which made up for it.

The black gentlemen came over and started talking, in all honesty i knew it was english these boys were talking but it still sounded like beatboxing or something. Anyway they challenged us to a match and we were hestitant at first but we played, i was the youngest by about 2 years. They were doing these silly tricks and were trying crazy shots while we were playing as a team. We were beating them pretty badly and they were calling each other and us "b*tches", "p*ssies" and "n" word was flying around. We all felt really uncomfortable and after we won, we had to jog back to the hotel cause it started getting real sketchy near the end.

Have you ever just been so uncomfortable when your holidays?

Another victory for the Ayran race. Go white-boy, it you're birthday!

alwaysadub · 15-06-2010 03:24PM

fontanalis wrote: »

Why are they stupid questions. The rest of the world doesn't need to know about ireland. Do most irish people know what's going on in countries like Denmark, portugal, Kyrgystan?

No,but most of the questions were asked by people from the UK who i met on holidays. Most grown adults would have a basic notion of the history and language of their neighbouring countries. Bar the where is Ireland one, i got asked that a few times in America.

brianthebard · 15-06-2010 03:26PM

FearDark wrote: »

You do know about the French-Canadians, right?
Pffffft :rolleyes:

footnote reading fail.

fontanalis · 15-06-2010 03:26PM

brianthebard wrote: »

Most people in Ireland know basic stuff like people in Canada speak English* not Canadian, they speak Portugese in Brazil, Spanish in the rest of South America, etc. Fair enough Dublin was bombed at one stage during the troubles so I'll let that one go but the troubles have by and large been over since 1998, and it was obviously huge news in the US with Clinton's involvement so there's little excuse for that either.

*if you point out that there are also French Canadians I will slap you super hard!

I'm from Donegal and I've had Irish people ask me if we use sterling and if Donegal is in Connacht.
But my point was on the world stage Ireland is small fry and most people probably only get snapshots and as for language, people being surprised about Irish people having good English isn't that crazy in most European countries the languages tend to go thusly (with some regional exeptions like the Basque region and Belgium)
England - English
France - French
Spain - Spanish
Italy - Italian
Portugal - Portugese
Scotland - Pictish (oh sorry the Irish wiped that out)

Funky Kingston · 15-06-2010 03:28PM

FearDark wrote: »

You do know about the French-Canadians, right?
Pffffft :rolleyes:

While working in Quebec I got a ton of refrences about the 'Fighting Irish' from alot of the Quebecois .... one guy asked me not to punch in him in the face once becuase apparently i will automatically pick a fight with him....because i am Irish .

For a finish i also got sick of the alcoholic references too.... 'oh shes irish , she will drink EVERYTHING '

yes i will ..... after i punch you in the face

Whats the most uncomfortable/racist thing you witnessed abroad?

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