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One of the most common questions I get as a Black American man living in Germany is, have I experienced racism in Germany?
A Black American man shares his nuanced experience with racism in Germany, contrasting it with his life in the U.S.
Key Takeaways
- Racism is a complex and personal experience that varies widely between individuals and locations.
- Past experiences with racism deeply influence how one perceives and reacts to new environments.
- Racial profiling and stereotyping are common issues faced by Black individuals in the U.S., shaping expectations abroad.
- Living in Germany involves both challenges related to standing out and positive experiences of acceptance and growth.
- Simple answers about racism often miss the nuanced reality of individual experiences.
What the video covers
- The video addresses common questions about the creator's experience with racism in Germany as a Black American man.
- He explains that his perspective is shaped by 34 years of racial experiences in the U.S., which influence his expectations and perceptions.
- He clarifies that his experience is personal and does not represent all Black people, immigrants, or expats in Germany or Europe.
- The creator describes everyday racial profiling and discrimination he faced in America, such as being followed in stores and frequent police stops.
- He discusses the emotional toll of racial stereotyping, including assumptions of aggression and the impact of childhood warnings about safety and behavior.
- He emphasizes that racial experiences do not reset when moving to a new country; they shape how one interprets new environments.
- Upon arriving in Munich, he was highly aware of standing out due to his race and cultural differences, which influenced his interactions and observations.
- He notes that while there are instances of prejudice in Germany, the experience is complex and not wholly negative.
- The video highlights the importance of understanding racism as a nuanced issue that varies by context and individual experience.
- He encourages viewers to recognize both challenges and positive aspects of living abroad, promoting growth and cultural exchange.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction and Common Questions About Racism in Germany
- 01:36Background: Racial Experiences in America
- 02:54Everyday Racial Profiling and Stereotypes in the U.S.
- 04:47Emotional Impact and Childhood Lessons on Race
- 06:22Driving While Black and Police Interactions
- 07:58Carrying Experiences Abroad and Expectations in Germany
- 09:29Initial Impressions and Awareness in Munich
- 11:05Nuanced Experiences of Racism and Acceptance in Germany
- 22:07Conclusion: Growth, Understanding, and Moving Forward
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
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And honestly, the question is harder to answer than people realize. I think people usually want me to say one of two answers: yes, I've experienced racism in Germany and Germany's terrible, or no, I haven't experienced racism in Germany and Germany's perfect.
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But after living here for a few years, my experience is a little towards the middle. The reason this question is a little bit difficult is because I didn't arrive in Germany with a blank slate.
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I arrived here as a Black man who has had 34 years of racial experience in America.
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Now, unfortunately, I have to say this: this is not a video of me speaking about every Black person's experience. This is not every immigrant's experience. This is not every expat's experience. This is not talking about every city in Germany
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or every city in Europe. This is just my experience, and my experience will be different than another person's experience.
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Now that that's out of the way, let's get to it. Unfortunately, coming from America, I've already had expectations, and this kind of goes to anywhere that I go. I have expectations of receiving at any given point in time. This is
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because this is 34 years of what I've grown to know and what I've experienced and what I've had to overcome. If you really want to understand my answer, then we have to go back way before I boarded a plane, way before I got to
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Munich, way before I got to Germany. We have to go where it all started.
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America. Contrary to popular belief, Black people don't just go around thinking about being Black all the time.
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You guys hear it online all the time that all Black people talk about is the unfair treatment and those things. We don't actually think about them all the time.
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We go and live our lives. We go to school, we go to work, we hang out with friends, we have family time, we do the same thing as everyone else. We experience these things all the time,
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but we don't think about them. We don't hold them as the topic of discussion every day.
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That being said, the experiences that we do have to experience every day are things like whenever you go to the store, you're being followed or watched in the store because people automatically assume that you're going to steal something.
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And when you're driving around in your car, people think, "Oh, okay. Let me go ahead and type his license plate in because he is a wanted individual. He's going to do something." That being said, I've always gotten or I've always experienced
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being treated differently. Simple things like walking in the store was something that you had to worry about because you can just be going to get your groceries of any sort or some clothes, and you will always feel eyes staring at you and
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watching you. And that's because there's always this assumption that Black men or Black people in general are going to steal something. There's always this assumption that we don't have money and that we need to be watched whenever we go into the stores. And on
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top of that, you're getting rushed a lot of the times depending on which store it is and who's running the store. A lot of the times you get a lot of, "Okay, get what you want," or, "You done yet?" or,
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you know what I'm saying? So they can get us out of the door. Some areas of the U.S., you get people who are a little bit more brave and outspoken, and you start hearing things like the N-word or being
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you know, comments about the color of your skin or that you look like a monkey or little stupid stuff like that, you know, things that you hear kids in first grade saying to each other. You get to hear those kinds of things and that I
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should go back to Africa. Mind you, it's a place I've never been to. But that's one thing that we always heard growing up: go back to Africa and blah blah blah. People always tend to think just because we speak, if I spoke with
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emotions like I'm really excited or even if I'm upset or if I'm confused or something of that nature, anything with a heightened sense of than the regular docile, you're considered aggressive.
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Why? Don't know. Never been aggressive to any person or anything like that. You don't have to be. It's an assumption. Now as an adult, there's this thing you experience called DWB, and that is driving while Black. My
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experience personally in one summer, I was in Longview, Washington, Portland, Oregon, and Kelso, Washington, and Vancouver, Washington.
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I got pulled over in one summer. I think it was like 30, 32 times or something like that.
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Always the same reason. You matched the car that was described of committing a crime. Some faulty or you were speeding or some things like that, and never got a ticket because they couldn't prove anything. They wanted to and they wanted
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to test your rights and see if they can search your vehicle because they're hoping to find something or plant something depending on how dirty the individual is. But those are things that we always had to be
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aware of when you're driving. You know what I'm saying? So, you couldn't be driving really fast or you couldn't make any kind of mistakes or look mysterious in any sense because then you would definitely get pulled over. I got pulled
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over without doing any of that, and this was consistent. That was just in one summer.
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Now, this happens throughout the year. Now, I'm not going to get too much into the police brutality thing just because everybody at this point has already seen what's going on on the TV and on the internet and all those
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things, so that speaks for itself. I've had history with that as well,
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but I will tell y'all that in another story.
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Now, when you're younger, you're going through these things and other things as well, you don't really understand even when you have the conversation because as a child, you get these conversations quite often about being careful about what you wear and be
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careful about where you go and be careful what, how loud you are or what vocabulary that you use. You get those conversations, and you never really understand them until you grow a little older. You know that you shouldn't do
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them. You know the reason why you shouldn't do them, but you don't really understand why you shouldn't do them because when your friend Timmy over here doesn't have to worry about those things or experience those things, it's harder for you to
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really grasp why you have to worry about those things and he does not. So, the thing about experiences is they travel with you. They don't just delete and go away every time you go to a new country and you start your life
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over. You still have those expectations of what to receive and how your life is going to be. The way you interpret things is different. The things that you notice are going to be different.
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The way that you communicate is going to be different. What is uncomfortable to you will be different. And I was no different. So, even before I got to Germany, I had questions. Would I be accepted? Would I stick out?
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Would people give me the same energy, you know what I'm saying, that I got in America?
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I had no idea what to expect. So, even before I got to Germany, I had questions and expectations. Like, would I be accepted? Would I stick out? Are there any other Black people there like myself? You know, are there? Would I be
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able to get a job? Would I be able to, you know, walk down the street and walk at night by myself without people walking across the street so they didn't have to walk by me? Like, would I have
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to experience those things? I did not know what to expect. So, when people ask me, "Have I experienced racism in Germany?" that is why it's a loaded question.
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But when I first landed in Munich, I was aware. I was searching. I was eagle-eyed.
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I definitely understood that I stood out. I understood that I dressed differently, talked differently. I didn't know the l...
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the parks. I started traveling and going to restaurants. And most of my experience was defined not by race, but by living my life.
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Now, I did experience a few incidences. My very first incident started when or happened when I started my first job.
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Well, I guess it's my only job, but um when I started uh working at the kindergarten, and this lady looks [clears throat] at me, and then she just starts screaming at me, and at first it was in Deutsch,
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and I didn't really understand cuz it was very fast, and I had just gotten there. But then she switched to, you know, as much of English that she could, but you can definitely understand. And she was just telling me to to she I
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guess she thought I was African. And she was telling me to go back to Africa. And then she was telling me that um I'm unwelcome.
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And that oh, you people uh need to stop coming to Germany and the most things.
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And then when I asked her, I believe I asked her "What is your problem with me?" And I think that's when she noticed that I was American. And then she just went on a whole tangent and [clears throat]
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um went back to to to Deutsch and was just really aggressive and stepping towards me. And I and I put my hands out like this and I told her I was like, I wouldn't do that if I were you. And um I
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think she understood the look on my face and she stepped back, but she just kept going and going and going and she was like spitting at my feet and all those kind of things. So, um that was my very first experience. You
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know, someone really telling you that you're not welcome and that um oh, yeah, and that um all we do is steal and and harass women and all those things. So, um clearly not me, but that was my very
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very first experience. Actually, I don't think I've told many people about that. I don't think I've told maybe one other person about that.
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There you go. There's another time and this is something that's kind of a an ongoing occurrence. Um it's not like it's every week or every month or like that, but it's whenever me and this person cross paths, there's always something.
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Now, I have this neighbor who lives upstairs from me. I think at the very very top.
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And our very very first interaction is she thought I was breaking into the basement.
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Now, mind you, this lady has seen me a couple of times. But be um before that. But she saw me going into the basement and I had the keys. I was clearly in like home clothes. I had flip-flops on, basketball
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shorts, um a black uh uh tank top on, you know, and she was just asking me all these like, do you work here or do you live here? What are you doing? Where you going? And and and and why you going
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downstairs and all those things? I'm like, and then she was getting in front of me trying to cut me off. Now, mind you, I'm not the biggest dude in the world, but I am definitely not the smallest dude in the world. And so I'm
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big and towering over this little lady, and I'm telling her I'm looking at her.
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I'm like, "If you do not move, I will literally move you." And so um and she speaks a little English cuz she understood that and she slid out the way. But um she ended up calling the the police on
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me actually. And so I go downstairs, I get whatever I was getting out of the out of the storage, and I come back up, go in the house and all that, and then cops just knocked on the door. And I'm
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like, "Yes." And they you know, they could tell me basically that it was calling me that I was doing um breaking into the basement and all those things. And so I explained to them. They see my name on the door of
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course as they went there. So they obviously knew um cuz she she knows where I going where I walked into. That was just a whole thing that started. And now every time she sees me, she just glares at me and she nitpicks about things like
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the cleaning. Um we clean the front steps and everybody's supposed to clean their little area. And anytime there's a speck of dust on the floor, she calls the landlords and tell them, "Oh, they're not cleaning their portion and blah blah
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blah blah." And so she even left a note on my door um telling me about uh how much I'm not cleaning up the spot and all that kind of stuff. And um so yeah.
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Uh [clears throat] those little things. She's like a nagging neighbor. Uh happens periodically, you know, at least maybe twice a year. There's always something that goes on with this lady.
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And I don't know why. I've never said anything negative to her. Actually, the two times before that we met before she even spoke to me, I held the door open for her to go inside. Uh so yeah. But
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for [snorts] whatever reason she does not like me. There's a black family. I think they're African family and she's always looking at her window just glaring at them. I'm like what is her disdain? We've done nothing to this lady.
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But anyhow, very mild very mild interactions. Dealing with these interactions, it really made me feel a little bit like a hint of what I felt in America that I should be more aware of my surroundings and who's watching me
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and who's has this negative intent towards me. It made me feel I wouldn't say uncomfortable, but it made me feel a very alert and a little unwanted.
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I got over very quickly cuz as I said after 34 years of this, so but in the time [clears throat] I was very I was upset about it cuz I'm like This is my home. Like This is my place of peace.
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You know what I mean? I've been here for months and now you want to start all this? I've done nothing to you. I'm just walking past you going to work. And yeah.
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Yeah. So that's is just how it made me feel at the time. There have been other incidences, but I put them under the category of just being curious.
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From my understanding a lot of Germans don't really come into contact with black African-Americans very often.
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And so they tend to stare a lot and yeah, you have the German stare of course, but this is more of a different kind of stare. This is a very direct I'm staring at you kind of stare. not I'm
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staring through you or just visioning off or something like that or in thought. This is a more as I'm staring at you. I am curious about this individual. And coming from America, sometimes you can get that mis- construed as, "Okay, so
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this is Here goes another racist person." Give it patience and allow people to be people. And you will really understand that it's not always that. Sometimes it's just curiosity. Like I get questions about like my hair. First off,
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um German folks, please stop reaching to touch black people's hair. Stop doing that. We do not like it. It is an invasion of privacy and it is very disrespectful. We take care of our hair, especially if it's natural.
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We take care of our hair. And we love [clears throat] our hair and our hair means something to us.
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And so for you to just go out there without permission to touch our hair, please stop doing that.
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Um it will save you a lot of attitude and discomfort. So, please. Now, but feel free to ask questions. There's no harm in trying to connect and to learn. And um and you can stop staring. You can ask
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and conversate. We're very approachable people. You know what I'm saying? So, don't get the social media and the the [clears throat] the American viewpoint of how we are misconstrued.
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We're generally really nice, welcoming, um approachable people. So, if you have questions, ask them because I've gotten questions about my skin tone, um a lot from kids, but also from older kids and adults of asking why my for instance,
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why my hands like these are different color. I'm like, well, it's the same as yours.
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Uh questions like that or why my hair is curly or details about my hair because a lot of times they think locks or braids and this and that. And you get those kind of questions, but you also get
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assumptions like um all black people like to eat this chicken. Like I got invited somewhere and they had nothing but freaking chicken of some form. I'm like, you do know I eat things other than that, right? Um chicken is
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actually not my favorite thing to eat. Uh it's steak is by the way, if you want to invite me for dinner. Steak uh and potatoes. I would love that.
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But um those kind of things, it can definitely be construed misconstrued and perceived as um you know, racism or bigotry or something like that. But give grace, give uh understanding and wanting to connect a chance and you will
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understand that it's not all um about a dislike. [clears throat] It's about uh wanting to understand something that they don't experience every day. Now, when I said that I stand out, I don't stand out in a way of being mistreated.
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I just stand out just because I'm a fairly big-sized uh uh black American man who has a fairly deep voice especially if I have to raise my voice. It can shock people because I have I may have a deep voice,
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but I'm very soft-spoken and sometimes I do have to raise my voice for maybe to get someone's attention or something like that. And um but those there's little things like that that tend to come about, but I'm not getting mistreated because the
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police are staring at me all the time and and following me like like I've I've yet to have any kind of negative interaction with police here. Not one.
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And for us that says a lot. Also, like experience in America is I'm often one of the only or few black men or black people in a group. Um that's just is what it is. If I'm not in a black
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neighborhood or a black city, usually which you know, is quite common not to be in America. So, when I come over here, it's pretty much more of the same.
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I'm usually the There's the the term coined the token black guy. That's usually where going to be If you're over here, you're going to be at some point the token black person.
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It doesn't necessarily mean a negative thing. It means that you are with people who are inviting and who care for you and make you a part of their circle and their family. So, take pride in that.
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[clears throat] A lot of times it's seen as negative, but when you think about it as an adult and the grand the grand scheme of things, you are not many of you around, so you're going to be that. So, accept it. Embrace it.
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One of the biggest things sometimes you would get these questions about being black or about America and those kind of things. So, feed feed them. They want to learn. They want to get to know you, the real you,
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the real truth and not just what Hollywood shows who you are. That's what you don't want because we're always painted in a negative light. And for those people who want to give you the quality of time to really learn who you
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are, embrace that, respect that, love that. Well, when you ask me, "Have I experienced racism in Germany?" the answer is yes, some.
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Now, what I've experienced more so of is just that there's going to be different difficult people, difficult situations, um difficult questions, but it doesn't always mean that it's racism or so about race or so about disdain. Sometimes it's
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just pure curiosity. Sometimes it's just humans being humans. And even if that is the case, not everything requires your attention, not everything requires your reaction.
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Sometimes you just ignore uh whatever's going on, and then other times, yes, you should address it. But know when to do each. One thing I've learned from posting online is that people love simple answers.
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[snorts] They want to hear that America is either terrible or great. Germany is either terrible or great, but the reality is we're all a hot mess. None of us can fit into these neat little categories. We're complicated.
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Life is complicated. People are complicated. The answers will be complicated. You have to remember that most of the time what you see on social media is not going to be 100% authentic, is not going to be 100% accurate.
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It's just not. Countries are not characters in a movie. You have to te- see each individual as an individual person and learn accordingly.
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Moving abroad is just going to be uncomfortable. Now, if you're black and you're thinking about moving abroad or just a colored person in general, it does not Well, you're going to be uncomfortable. And being uncomfortable does not mean it has anything to do with
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race. Sometimes it's just a language barrier. It's a cultural difference. You're literally in a place that's 110% different than where you spent all of your life.
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But at the same time, [clears throat] I'm not saying dismiss uh situations and things that you're in, just think about them with real consciousness.
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Because it is not helpful to to think that racism does not exist just because maybe um like for instance Germany doesn't have the race uh thing as much as America [clears throat] does, but that does not mean that it doesn't exist. It doesn't
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mean that you shouldn't acknowledge it. It doesn't mean that you shouldn't feel comfortable wherever you are in this world. But take heed and understand that Germany is not perfect. America is not perfect. Italy, Africa, Asia, Jamaica, nowhere is perfect. You're going to have
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some a-holes no matter where you go. You're going to have some angels no matter where you go. Wherever humans exist, you're going to have bias and prejudice. Now, the biggest lesson I have learned since moving to Germany wasn't actually about racism. It's that
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people are individuals no matter where you go. And people will surprise you with the welcomeness and or the hospitality and the love and the compassion that they have for you and your experience even if they've never experienced it or don't understand it.
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Some people will disappoint you and some people will stay and tinker in the middle.
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And that's in everywhere you go. America or Germany. So, after years of living here, all the experiences, all the conversations, when someone asks me, have I experienced racism in Germany?
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This is what I'll tell them. I have, but it's not on the top of my list of things that I think about.
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On any given day, it's not even on my top 50. When I think of Germany, I think about growth, I think about travel, I think about friendships, I think about experiences, I think about becoming a different person than I was when I first
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got here. Germany has changed the way that I see the world, how I see myself. It's taught me how to be introverted and not feel guilty about it, how to start over and be independent on my own in a
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different world. I think one of the biggest mistakes people make is making one or two experiences decide your whole outlook on a country or on a, you know, experience in general. So, for me, yes, racism is a part of my experience in Germany, but it
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is not the whole experience. It is not an important part of my experience. Not even close.
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Now, my experience is not everyone's experience. Everyone's Some people are going to have better experience, some people are going to have a worse experience, but I can only speak for myself.
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And if someone asked me, would I move to Germany again? The answer would be yes.
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Now, if I compare the person that got on the plane to the person that's talking to you now, they're not the same.
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And I believe that is the real story. And if you like this content, subscribe and send me a question to answer later.
Topics:racismGermanyBlack Americanexpat experienceracial profilingcultural differencesliving abroadracial discriminationsocial commentarypersonal experience
