A Major Crime: Travelling While Black?

I grew up in a predominately black country.  All of the Prime Minister’s from my country have been black (a Prime Minister is equivalent to a President), most of my teachers were black, most of my friends are black. Black for me has always been the new black, therefore when I began to travel around the world and go further, travelling while black was never a thing. I never thought about it because I never lived through racism or discrimination in The Bahamas.

When I moved to New York City for college, race still never hit me quite like it had gripped my classmates.  I schooled in one of the most diverse places in the United States of America, Brooklyn, NY, a melting pot of cultures, and ethnicities.  The closest thing to discrimination I encountered was a white woman snaring at me while I was in a Duane Reade in Penn Station. She looked at me like dirt, and I stared her back down.

Still, I never had a problem being a black woman who travelled, until I made a trip to Canada; it was Toronto to be exact. My co-workers and friends were filming a segment for tv on the streets and as I was standing minding my own business a white disheveled man walked slowly by me, looked me in my eye and called me a nigger.  I was startled. I was confused, “is he talking to me?’ That moment took me by surprise, it was then that I learned the difference between ‘nigga’ and ‘nigger’. I cried, I was hurt. Some say its just a word, but it’s never just a word until it happens to you. I told my coworkers, my mom, my friends, anyone who would listen. I was deeply hurt in that moment.

Travelling while black for some has become such a major problem that there have been companies that have emerged to combat this vexing problem. There is Travel Noire, Black Girls Travel Too, Black Travelista, Black Travel Hackers and tons more that have all emerged as resources to provide black travelers with authentic travel experiences. Most recently making the rounds in travel news has been NoirBnB & Innclusive, two black home sharing services that have been born out of the alleged discrimination of users on AirBnB.  These two separate entities are ran and owned by black individuals who all at some point experienced the racial bias, “AirBnBwhileblack”.

While my experiences have been few and far between, I refuse to allow racist people to define my life and my travel experiences. In Italy, my best friend and I were called ‘strays’. We didn’t know what it meant, but the look we got while walking through Capri was hilarious to us. We cracked up!  We paid money to be there and we enjoyed it. In Greece, a man yelled at us, “I love black women!” In China, we were like zoo creatures. Everyone pointed and stared and ran to take pictures with us.  

Travelling exposes us to prejudices, yet it can also ease and erase them.  If you are a travelling black, wear it as a badge of honour.  Go and see the world.  A world that belongs to you just as much as the person that looks nothing like you!

I know I certainly will!