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I keep thinking of the report by Bryant Gumble on the heckling and such of black soccer players in Europe including in Spain where they made ape sounds and threw bananas at black players and the coach call a black player a black piece of s**t and only recieved a slap on the wrist.
One english player said he was frequently called the N word by his own white teammates.
It was even worse in Eastern Europe where large groups of skin heads and Nazis attend some matches.
The administrator in charge of major soccer in Europe in an interview basically blew it off saying we americans don't understand how emotional a thing soccer is in Europe.
With the influx of so many Nigerians to many European countries, the ‘black’ image has deteriorated. The vast majority (according to many reports) come in the guise of Asylum Seekers and end up involved in crime and welfare abuse (e.g. having welfare payments sent directly to their bank in Nigeria). Unfortunately some Europeans when seeing a black person assume that they are Nigerian and consequently react negatively.
There are many blacks in the UK, the city where I live there is a few black communtites and many live in predominantly white neighbourhoods and dont seem to have any problems and treated fine. I dated a black girl for a while and she said that she never encounted any problems such as racism, but ofcourse it will exist just as anywhere for any colour. Unfortunately many blacks in the UK are pressured into gangs just like the US, and gun crime as well as knife crime is a way of life for many, Moss Side Manchester the UK's version of Compton seems to be on the news weekly with someone being shot or killed. I cant comment on the other Countries as I dont know
I'm black and I have been to Germany, Italy, London and some other places. I was not treated badly at all. Actually people saw me as 'American' first and 'Black' second. I do have to say that North Germany gave me some looks because I was with my husband who is white, but Southern Germany was wonderful. Italy was fantastic and I wish I could live there. London didn't seemed phased at all.
Overall, your experience would probably be "fine" for the most part. By "fine", I mean its not like you are going to be met with burning crosses.
In my travels though, I have seen some things that simply would not fly anymore over here in the States. Cops rousting blacks in broad daylight with everyone else seemingly oblivious is one example.
When I resided in Germany, it was quite common for the locals to refer to African-Americans as "you're blacks" with unmistakable disdain. They also said that as blacks, they were not true Americans. On the other hand, lots of German girls fancy the black GIs. And its not like you do not see some black immigrants or expats living enjoyable lives there.
More than a few times, various people would come right out and say how they did not want any foreigners in their country. I began to realize that they assumed that I, as an American, would agree, when in reality I found it rather offensive.
I had an interesting conversation on a long train ride in Germany when I shared a cabin with an African-American professor who had been living in Europe for several years, and a Ghanaian immigrant who had as well, about race relations in Europe. Both agreed with me that Europeans are nowhere near as colorblind as they claim to be, although this varies widely across countries. Much of this conversation however was about longterm acceptance of blacks as residents and citizens so it may not be applicable. There's a huge difference in treatment between tourists and residents/immigrants and a further difference in treatment between African-Americans and Africans. As an American tourist, you'll be treated infinitely better than you would as an African refugee.
As a whole, there just aren't that many black people in Europe which means you'll have to become accustomed to in many instances being the only one in any given situation, and in some places, that will mean stares or perhaps unintentionally ignorant remarks or questions in conversations with locals. Situations like Moth described aren't incredibly uncommon. I would say in the cities of the UK, France and the Netherlands, there's substantial black communities and you're unlikely to be treated any differently than you would in the States.
There's a definite lack of political correctness in Europe in regards to racial issues meaning that you may see some things or hear some things or be asked questions that would seem incredibly ignorant were you to see or hear the same in the U.S. but oftentimes, the intent is not malicious. Black soccer stars are all too often subjected to racist remarks at matches, music in record stores in much of Europe has a section devoted to "black music" where there is no similarity in the styles of music (i.e. Lenny Kravitz and Macy Gray and Toni Braxton and 50 Cent) and the artists are grouped together based on race, white kids rather frequently use the "n" word as they've heard it in rap songs, not grasping the significance of the word or the difference between an -a and -er as non-native English speakers, etc. You may be met with curious stares or remarks. I had a friend who served in Italy who told me about some of his encounters over there as a black man and said that he was routinely asked ridiculous questions about things like his hair, his penis, his basketball-playing abilities, rap music, etc. that just scream stereotype but were not intended to offend.
All in all, as an American tourist, you shouldn't face many problems, especially if you stick to the cities in Western Europe. When you get into Eastern Europe, and even in some sections of Berlin and other cities, things may get a bit iffier as there's some of that skinhead element remaining and far fewer blacks (or non-whites of any sort).
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