Racism from my point of view

In order to understand the feeling of being target for racism I have to use my own limited experiences.

Ages ago I was studying abroad. The Swedes in the town were supposed to have a Midsummer party but since it was raining someone came up with the idea of having a party in a kitchen instead. It happened to be in my kitchin in my student corridor, where a few other Swedes also were living. Of course I was participating in the party.

When I woke up the next day, someone had written "OUT SWEDES" on the kitchen wall. Even though my non-Swedish friends in the corridor were trying to remove the message, and they didn't think I should take it personal, it felt terrible. An anonomous person who obviously had been disturbed didn't bother to find out who was responsible and speak his mind, but seemed to hate everyone of my nationality.

Nobody was burning down the house...



Many years later I was on a business trip on another continent and had some time to stroll around in a forreign city. During those hours in that crowded busy city I only came across two other persons who looked European. I didn't think much about looks until I saw them. I realized how awful if would have been if the citizens had hated people with a European look. Since I was standing out from the crowd it would have been very easy to harass me. That wasn't the case, but it made me think about racism and how terrible unfair it is, since you can't help the way you look and where your ancestors come from.

Have you thought about racism from that point of view?