Racism and discrimination in Munich

My opinion would be that racism is present here in Munich but then it is in most places.

From what I've seen it's less aggressive than it is in the UK (you may get a few funny looks and comments but, as posted before, that happens regardless of colour). In the UK for example you'd seriously consider going to certain parts of a city if you were the wrong colour but I've yet to see anything too threatening within Munich and for me the odd comment is shakable (whereas the threat of someone doing you physical harm isn't).

Perhaps I've yet to see the worst (whilst it seems common to trivialise fears about the presence of racism in recent times in its truest form, as with most discrimination, it can be pretty horrific) but from what I've seen Munich is one of the better places I've been in when it comes to people judging on the basis of skin colour.

I will post about racism in Munich, Germany as long as the topic is running. The subject is about what goes on in Munich as far as racism and discrimination goes.
I am not intimidated by a few 'numb skull hooligans' from Great Britain, who don't know that 'football' is a sport instead of a 'religion'.
And do have wonderful day!

@dsevebth son

your attempts at piss taking are brutal. Give it up, and do have wonderful day!

@dseventh son

Are you sure you have actually experienced racism, or do people just react badly to you for being a complete fucking plum? Evidence is mounting steadily.

can this 'dseventh son' not have his account barred or something? his sole contribution to TT is his uneducated shit-stirring.

I don't see how staring can be an indicator for how racist people are. People in Europe stare a lot more than in Anglo-Saxon countries where it's considered impolite to do so - it doesn't mean they're racist though.
I am undoubtedly Caucasian but I sometimes get the urge to ask people, "Can I help you?", but it ends there...

I recently read an article about a black, female rapper who grew up in Germany (can't recall her name for the life of me). Her family moved to Berlin from Ethiopia when she was very young. She said that one of the biggest challenges for her was growing up in a country where your many people "stick you in a specific drawer" (that was a direct translation of a German idiom. I guess we could say "label you") because of your skin colour and where many people constantly ask her where she's from despite the fact that she grew up in Germany.

Been asked where you come from is not really racist, this is a country that has only recently seen a lot of immigration (of varied skin colors) so naturally one would ask where you come from. On the other hand, say in the US or UK a black person would not be asked where he came from.

@arshoo

You're right, I wouldn't call it racism either. But there is a degree of discrimination i.e. although she speaks the language and considers Germany her home, the people here single her out because of her skin colour and treat her as a foreigner.

it is neither racism nor discrimination. It might be considered ignorant, though.

Awright, fine. Feck. I stand...uh, sit corrected again. I'll go with the Oxford definition of discrimination:

"discriminate /diskrimminayt/ • verb 1 recognize a distinction. 2 make an unjust distinction in the treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, sex, or age. "

Merriam-Webster just said distinction, not "unjust distinction"

I agree with OG.

She isn't from Germany though is she, because she came over from Ethiopia at a young age, so technically she is from there. I think it would work both ways, if I white person was in Ethiopia from a young age they would probably still get asked the same question.

I don't think asking people where they are from can be classed as racism or discriminations, sometime people just like to know out of interest.

Hey, I admitted that you guys you were right about this not being racism or discrimination

I'm familiar with her situation. My family moved to Canada from the Philippines when I was a baby. But as most of you know, I'm comparing apples to oranges for Canada (a nation of immigrants) and Germany. I wasn't constantly asked where I came from when I grew up in Canada. To Canadians, I'm Canadian. And that's why I found the rapper's comment interesting.

I know a guy here who was born in Germany but has Greek origins. He says he dreams of a day when Germany will consider him as German, too. And judging from the younger German generation and from my German friends, that day's coming.

Jules, dude, peole stare at you because

1 - you are freakishly tall*
2 - You look like David Blaine

*I love standing next to people taller than me. Makes my centre of gravity feel really low, and I feel really tough and wanna hit people.

Makes you wanna hit people in general, or those stood next to you who are taller? Interesting theory..

A friend of mine told me his stories about this once. His parents are from Korea but he grew up in Germany. He said he routinely answered the question "Where are you from?" with "Lower-Saxony" and got amused about peoples reactions. If people told him "Wow, you really speak good German!" he would answer "Thank you. You too."
Seemed to me he had quite some fun with that. Even though he also said it annoys him some times.

This reminds me of the time I was in Canada on the Columbia glacier, in this tracked vehicle and the driver, a young Canadian student doing his summer job, asked us all where we came from. There was a couple who to my European/Brit eyes came from what the Brits would call the Far East and the North Americans would call Asia, who answered Seattle! This brought it home to me that North America really is a melting pot of people, who regard themselves as Americans/Canadians, no matter where their ethnic origins place them. A good thing in my opinion.

this made me smile

Hej everone!

Wow, I made it, I read every page...now my head´s buzzing a little, but back to the topic.
The things all of you wrote are partly very sad, which I´m awfully sorry for!!!
But at the same time very confusing. You may not realise that, nor is it in the same league as discriminating someone, but you made me feel really awful. Which I shouldn´t by the way, since I don´t stare at people, I get asked/screamed at for my ticket on several occasions, the police isn´t very friendly either and "Negerkuss" has never been a valid term in the house I grew up (we called it schokokuss).

Unfortunately only bad examples really stand out, so you may have not seen me walking down the street and NOT staring. Honestly I never noticed that there was a lot of staring going on in Munich, be it regular or not. Except maybe for disabled people. Since my mum is in a wheelchair I´m more sensitive about that subject. She noticed the increase in looks too, but didn´t mind. She said it´s common human behaviour to look a little bit closer when there´s something "out of the ordinary". And for god´s sakes, when I grew up, black people where really very exotic and just seen on TV. And considering I´m not that old, it´s not hard to imagine that it may need/needed/will need some time for some people to catch up.
But obviously sometimes you can´t help it: A few weeks ago we saw a celebrity at a restaurant and we tried so hard not to look at him because we knew that´s stupid and he wouldn´t want that...in came my mum in her wheelchair and all he did was stare at HER!

Anyway, did you know that in Scandinavia it´s considered incredibly rude to sit too close to someone on a train when there´s plenty of space somewhere else...well, you never know who you could possibly piss off next, do you? (I hope I didn´t right now...)

Not at all.

That really is a relief!

On this forum, it definately should be.