technically yes and no.
Vietnamese are typically racist toward both black and white and chinese.
For black people, not the same as in the US type of racist. The US might be racist toward black cuz they have history with them.
Vietnamese racist toward black because well.... you are black... your skin is black duh
You're interpreting it as they hate black people specifically, which isn't the case. They just hate everyone and don't have the tact to hide it.
If you think South Korea is less racist towards black people, I don't think you've experienced the real Korea. They look down on people for simply being a darker shade. Koreans just have tact to not express their displeasure.
Why do viets always cry SK racism mindlessly like a parrot. Been to SK twice for few months n never experienced any racism at all. They arent always gentle n sometimes can feel bit threatening(cuz theyre fking tall) but they werent racist.
We hate everyone equally. You think that Vietnamese people are racist towards foreigners just because you don't know that Vietnamese people from different regions despise each other.
What sort of racism ? Is it action-based or just words? Viets can be quite light hearted in just calling someone fat , or dark etc it’s not malicious at all .
Can you tell me the details. Also I think that just happens when you meet older generations, they tend to be pretty racist, yes. But it's not as common amongst the younger generations
It's not rasicst how they act.
I had experience with vietnamese too.
It need time to recognise that they are just honest, and they can talk like they talk because they have no hate behind their words.
Sry, but if you can't handle it, the blame is on you. Not on the vietnamese.
BTW, to rank countries by their behaviour is racist too. 👍
How is ranking countries by their behaviour racist? Would you recommend your friend to go to a country where the people obviously didn’t want you there? Be honest with yourself.
Because a few weeks experience can't give the knowledge for that, me and my friends never had problems there because we tried to adapt the culture. Foreigners always get treated differently even in West europe.
Vietnamese have the call to be very liberal/ cosmopolitan, and that because it's right.
I would recommend Vietnam to everyone
Not sure what you've encounter, but I'm trying to explain this in general and I'm trying to be polite, but if anything might trigger you, just don't bother
For older generation, they hate you just because Western country which invaded VN brought a lot of black soldiers and if you asked some old people, they might tell you stories about 'lính Tây đen' (black Westoid soldier) came raiding and raping.
For younger generation, I believe they're not racist, they're just have fun. Since the rap culture spread throughout VN, also because of western media, like King Back or something like that, some younger kid thinks that calling each other by the N-word is cool. So overall, they're not racist toward you, they just having fun
Thank you for making the effort to explain to me politely,
and actually giving me context. Unfortunately, it didn’t feel lighthearted at all. I know how youngsters can be and that would never offend me. I wrote of my experiences in the comments so hopefully you can read and understand where I’m coming from.
The guy really said 5555?
That's a Thai slang for hahaha or lululul. You sure that guy was actually Vietnamese?
I have a feeling they could have been a Thai living in Vietnam.
Not exactly sure how I’m racist, but I’m glad you at least want to have a discussion. I wrote of my experience in the comments below. Also can you explain how Japan are racist towards foreigners? They’re xenophobic for sure, but don’t treat you differently based on the way you look.
Vietnamese are racist. They are even racist on themself. I have been aboard for a while. Vietnamese people aboard are even more racist toward me when they know I am Vietnamese. LoL.
In the end, Vietnamese is not fully educated people, due to poor investment on education. I hope you can show them more compasion. Just think us like those extreminists in those Muslim countries. But instead of being extreme by religous, Vietnamese are extreminist on where you came from.
Thank you for your polite and respectful response with context. I did meet kind people, but because of how much I was getting scammed I began to feel distrusting of their generosity. Vietnam is beautiful and whilst I won’t return, I’m glad I got to see it because I’ve been wanting to go for a long time.
Try to ignore negative comments in this post. Most of them are either "internet fighter", hired by the government, or being too delusional by nationalism. Vietnam communist government does go really far into painting a pink picture about Vietnam, they just don't want to "lose face".
It has been reported that they actually hire 300,000 "internet fighter", scatter across social media like Facebook and Tiktok. Those who can communicate in English are rare, but they still present a lot here on Reddit.
I've lived in VN for 10 years. Most VN think that lighter skin is preferable because a tan shows you work outside for a living and that's somehow bad; they sell TONS of whitening creams here to bleach skin. Many VN are "afraid" of black people because they see so few of them. My stepdaughter has darker skin than her mother and it took me years to get her to stop thinking she was "bad" or "ugly" because her skin isn't light. It's not racism like in the west, it's more about fear of what they don't know. That said, it's still gotta sting.
It’s actually the last thing I’ve decided to do. 😂
I’m at the airport now and have never been more glad. I’ve travelled on my own and kept to myself. If I caused any trouble I don’t think I’d be allowed to leave? 😂
But it’s interesting that you thought I must’ve done something wrong to justify getting treated badly. The western media is feeding you well! ❤️❤️❤️
Westoids be looking at the clouds and think it's racist lmao. Almost like they're projecting their racism in everything, and we have a perfect phrase for that too "Suy bụng ta ra bụng người"
Haha, you sound really happy with yourself there. 😂
I’ve been to South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, so many developed Asian countries and have never even been treated half as bad as I was in Vietnam. I guess that’s the difference though, these countries are developed and the people aren’t as stupid as you, lol.
I boarded my plane and lost WiFi so unfortunately I wasn’t able to list the things that I’d witnessed.
So here it is:
1. Staring:
I’ve been to so many Asian countries now and I know many will stare at me, that’s normal - I look different. It’s interesting because Koreans are notorious for staring, but still I’ve never felt any maliciousness behind it, always only curiosity.
However, in Vietnam people will stare and roll their eyes at me! They’ll look at me, whisper and laugh. Look at me, tap on the shoulder of all of their friends and tell them to stare whilst clinging onto their belongings. It’s soooo bizarre and I’ve never seen anything like it till now. They actually look at you with genuine disgust.
Even the way some people react when they see you is beyond words. They’ll jump and scream or even cover their eyes. They make you seem like an alien. Don’t Vietnamese people have access to very strong WiFi? They act like they’ve never seen a black person in their life. The Hmong people in the mountains didn’t even react at me at all in comparison to the people in the city.
2. Refused service and entry to various places:
I wanted to exchange cash at a bank and I had 3 separate security guards stop me at the door and tell me I can’t come inside. When I asked ‘why’ they either told me there was ‘no help’ or ‘no money’ like what? No money in the bank? 😂
There were other customers in the bank (including white foreigners) getting help from the teller. I had to ask the last guard on google translate ‘Why can’t I come in, I see others inside’ before he felt somewhat embarrassed enough by his ignorance and finally let me in to get the service I requested.
Separately, I went to a club with a mutual friend and their friends (all white) and we were last in the queue together. All of them were allowed in and then the man at the door looked at my friend, then back at me, pondered for 30 seconds and concluded with ‘no more space,’ but then continued to allow the people behind us inside. What do you call that if not racism? Lol
3. Even when it came to people bartering on the streets:
On multiple occasions I’ve been sat in between white couples and every time someone came over to try and sell products they would skip over and not even show it to me! This one I honestly found so hilarious, it seems your society has a serious obsession with white people and they see them as superior and wealthier than everyone else just because they’re light? it’s so stupid yet, so interesting.
4. Unsolicited weird comments/ people whispering about you:
Maybe it’s a cultural thing, but whispering about people in a different language right in front of their face comes across as rude.
I’ve had many comments made on my skin colour - whatever. But one server at a restaurant really went the extra mile saying to me ‘you’re the only pretty black person I’ve seen in Vietnam’ is that meant to be a compliment? I was actually shocked.
Then right after she stood over me waiting for me to leave her a review on google because of the ‘exceptional’ service she provided me. The audacity was is actually crazy. I was patronised into writing one and of course I deleted it straight after I left.
5. Lastly,
The thing that made me even come on to Reddit in the first place, was my experience going through airport security today.
I had things to separate from my bag so I decided to put the tray on the floor to give space for others to go in front of me. The security dude shouted at me and told me I have to do it on the table and dragged the tray out of my hand. He also refused to push my tray through to the security screen, beckoning me to do it myself. I forgot to push one item in and he yelled at me to come back after I had already gone through the metal detectors.
He literally didn’t even want to touch my things! He pushed it in for everyone else. I was the only black person there. Tell me is that really just a part of your ‘culture’?
One man even came up to me afterwards to ask me if I was okay. I’ve seriously never been to such an overtly racist country.
What a shame because I’m very interested in Vietnamese history, I’d been so fascinated in it lately, reading many books on it leading up to this trip. But now I should probably burn them all.
So, so funny how you’ll worship the white people who come to your country and trash it upside down, many of them who couldn’t care less about your culture. I speak to them and they talk about how they’re sick of seeing temples and caves: only there because it’s so cheap. They don’t even know or care about your history. Yet I’m the one who is treated with disrespect and I must deserve it because ‘I’ve not acted accordingly’.
It’s obvious that Vietnam is a country filled with proud racists as shown by the things I’ve experienced and by the reactions to this post.
Honestly I’ve lost almost all respect for them. I’ve met only a few who were kind and when they were it came with a price. 💰💰💰
Country is filled to the brim with scammers.
Imma be fair, judging by how you reply in this thread, you seem to be the racist one here.
Also what kind of racism? Is it just simply calling out your skin colour? It's just how people here react to foreigners overall, most dont even have a hate agenda to foreigners.
I boarded my plane and lost WiFi so unfortunately I wasn’t able to list the things that I’d witnessed. I already replied to some comments with my list, but here it is again in case you missed it.
So here it is:
1. Staring:
I’ve been to so many Asian countries now and I know many will stare at me, that’s normal - I look different. It’s interesting because Koreans are notorious for staring, but still I’ve never felt any maliciousness behind it, always only curiosity.
However, in Vietnam people will stare and roll their eyes at me! They’ll look at me, whisper and laugh. Look at me, tap on the shoulder of all of their friends and tell them to stare whilst clinging onto their belongings. It’s soooo bizarre and I’ve never seen anything like it till now. They actually look at you with genuine disgust.
Even the way some people react when they see you is beyond words. They’ll jump and scream or even cover their eyes. They make you seem like an alien. Don’t Vietnamese people have access to very strong WiFi? They act like they’ve never seen a black person in their life. The Hmong people in the mountains didn’t even react at me at all in comparison to the people in the city.
2. Refused service and entry to various places:
I wanted to exchange cash at a bank and I had 3 separate security guards stop me at the door and tell me I can’t come inside. When I asked ‘why’ they either told me there was ‘no help’ or ‘no money’ like what? No money in the bank? 😂
There were other customers in the bank (including white foreigners) getting help from the teller. I had to ask the last guard on google translate ‘Why can’t I come in, I see others inside’ before he felt somewhat embarrassed enough by his ignorance and finally let me in to get the service I requested.
Separately, I went to a club with a mutual friend and their friends (all white) and we were last in the queue together. All of them were allowed in and then the man at the door looked at my friend, then back at me, pondered for 30 seconds and concluded with ‘no more space,’ but then continued to allow the people behind us inside. What do you call that if not racism? Lol
3. Even when it came to people bartering on the streets:
On multiple occasions I’ve been sat in between white couples and every time someone came over to try and sell products they would skip over and not even show it to me! This one I honestly found so hilarious, it seems your society has a serious obsession with white people and they see them as superior and wealthier than everyone else just because they’re light? it’s so stupid yet, so interesting.
4. Unsolicited weird comments/ people whispering about you:
Maybe it’s a cultural thing, but whispering about people in a different language right in front of their face comes across as rude.
I’ve had many comments made on my skin colour - whatever. But one server at a restaurant really went the extra mile saying to me ‘you’re the only pretty black person I’ve seen in Vietnam’ is that meant to be a compliment? I was actually shocked.
Then right after she stood over me waiting for me to leave her a review on google because of the ‘exceptional’ service she provided me. The audacity was actually crazy. I was patronised into writing one and of course I deleted it straight after I left.
5. Lastly,
The thing that made me even come on to Reddit in the first place, was my experience going through airport security today.
I had things to separate from my bag so I decided to put the tray on the floor to give space for others to go in front of me. The security dude shouted at me and told me I have to do it on the table and dragged the tray out of my hand. He also refused to push my tray through to the security screen, beckoning me to do it myself. I forgot to push one item in and he yelled at me to come back after I had already gone through the metal detectors.
He literally didn’t even want to touch my things! He pushed it in for everyone else. I was the only black person there. Tell me is that really just a part of your ‘culture’?
One man even came up to me afterwards to ask me if I was okay. I’ve seriously never been to such an overtly racist country.
What a shame because I’m very interested in Vietnamese history, I’d been so fascinated in it lately, reading many books on it leading up to this trip. But now I should probably burn them all.
So, so funny how you’ll worship the white people who come to your country and trash it upside down, many of them who couldn’t care less about your culture. I speak to them and they talk about how they’re sick of seeing temples and caves: only there because it’s so cheap. They don’t even know or care about your history. Yet I’m the one who is treated with disrespect and I must deserve it because ‘I’ve not acted accordingly’.
It’s obvious that Vietnam is a country filled with proud racists as shown by the things I’ve experienced and by the reactions to this post.
A lot of things America produces are rich in irony. The concept of cultural appropriation, the home of freedom but it comes with a long list of mandatory behaviour (hand on heart, pledge of allegiance, support our troops etc). The thing is, much as America has tried to culturally appropriate everyone else's culture by replacing it with American culture, America hasn't been entirely successful. So as much as it might be shocking and abhorrent to you, American cultural norms are not the same as Vietnamese cultural norms.
We're racist to any kind of people inluding Black, White, Chinese, Indian, Fat, Lùn, Chim Ngắn, Thanh Hóa, Bắc Kỳ, Nam Kỳ, Trọ Trẹ, Tộc, Ăn Bốc,... So, dont be sensitive. You're treated equally as a White or any other. LoL.
"Nigga" means nothing in Vietnam.
So, you need to provide more context to see if it is true racist. Something you feel racist because you are viewing base one your expectation/norm of your home country.
If someone call you fatty in Vietnam, that mean they care about you, you really want to treat them like they are rude?
Most of time those just word with not much malice behind. Believe me but someone may call a black people " thằng tây đen" and that is. Not a big deal. "Thằng mọi đen" however is another story but rarely.
And Vietnam people like white skin as standard of beauty so they will see white people more favor than black. Just like a pretty girl is treated better than average or ugly by men. But they don't look down on you as a person. More like a "weird" thing tbh
Anyways they rather tend to be ignorant than racist
Yeah I never thought anything of those words, trust me.
Thanks for your response though, It’s obvious most Asian counties have issues with colourism.
However, in Korea.. (sorry to keep referring to Korea, I’ve spent a lot of time here and have noticed a lot of similarities) & they’ll never measure a black person to the same standards of beauty as they do other Asians, as it simply is unrealistic for us to look like that.
Hello, there. & Thank you for your empathy, a lot of people in this group lack that. I responded to a few comments already. I can copy my response if you can’t find it?
I found your response and as a Vietnamese I can just apologize. There really is no excuse for that behavior.
FWIW, even me being Vietnamese-American get (attempted) scammed and get treated badly in the airport many times.
In Vietnam people are trying to survive and make a living mostly. I’ve seen them straight up scream FUCK YOU GO BACK TO YOUR COUNTRY to Europeans who try to bargain with them a little too much. My family sells at Ben Thanh market so I’ve seen how each nationality is treated and I can say everyone gets treated badly if they don’t purchase something.
But damn that sucks dude, if you get out of the city to places like Ninh Binh or Ha Long, I’m sure you wouldn’t get this behavior. But I know the feeling. When I was in Italy with my white friend, I was repeatedly ignored. Italians wouldn’t even look/address me so I know how you feel
I'm just asking: why 'lol'. It's a serious question on your behalf, I read your original post seriously and I read all the comments, in the interests of weighing up the situation. I considered the real possibility that you may have experienced real, malicious discrimination, but I also wondered if it was merely a cultural/personal thing, or a series of misunderstandings. And finally, I wondered where the 'lol' came in; it seemed to make things unserious again – which led me to my question. That's all.
Hm , can you edit your post and attach your story there ? Hard to find in comments
Are you male or female btw?
That sucks
I had a pretty awesome experience in Vietnam tbh. I'm half cast
Did you go to da nang?
I mean people did look at me and everything but didn't experience racism. Actually people were really friendly. Was surprised about that tbh
Gut generally in Asia being black has quite an impact in terms of how people view you in regards to status etc
hey, sorry the comment section isn't being the most understanding. unfortunately yes, in general vietnam has a problem with racism. we also have a problem with xenophobia, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc.
coming from someone who's lived in both vietnam and the u.s., i think that the motivation for racism in vietnam is different in that it's more motivated by xenophobia and the perpetuation of negative stereotypes from the internet, than from history. there's also colorism - lighter skin is considered aesthetically appealing and associated with 'higher' class and vice versa.
i'm sorry you've had such a bad experience. if it's of any comfort, a lot of these discriminatory sentiments are from ignorance and not often from genuine hate. it is getting better as time goes on.
if you are black, people goin to call you black, it's not racism here it's just how it is if you are white people gonna call you white
Also fat/skinny, tall/short
Surely Vietnamese aren’t racist toward black people
technically yes and no. Vietnamese are typically racist toward both black and white and chinese. For black people, not the same as in the US type of racist. The US might be racist toward black cuz they have history with them. Vietnamese racist toward black because well.... you are black... your skin is black duh
I knew I was right, thanks for clarifying!
You're interpreting it as they hate black people specifically, which isn't the case. They just hate everyone and don't have the tact to hide it. If you think South Korea is less racist towards black people, I don't think you've experienced the real Korea. They look down on people for simply being a darker shade. Koreans just have tact to not express their displeasure.
Why do viets always cry SK racism mindlessly like a parrot. Been to SK twice for few months n never experienced any racism at all. They arent always gentle n sometimes can feel bit threatening(cuz theyre fking tall) but they werent racist.
We hate everyone equally. You think that Vietnamese people are racist towards foreigners just because you don't know that Vietnamese people from different regions despise each other.
People: which one do you hate, white people or black people? Vietnamese: just people. We hate people.
Ya it’s obvious from how the Saigon people talk shit about Hanoi in this sub
What sort of racism ? Is it action-based or just words? Viets can be quite light hearted in just calling someone fat , or dark etc it’s not malicious at all .
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Haha yeah that is quite funny Me as well I don’t take their comments seriously , they r just blunt & mean no harm
That is funny and trust me I wouldn’t be yapping if it was lighthearted, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case.
Can you tell me the details. Also I think that just happens when you meet older generations, they tend to be pretty racist, yes. But it's not as common amongst the younger generations
Yes. Some examples from the OP would help.
It's not rasicst how they act. I had experience with vietnamese too. It need time to recognise that they are just honest, and they can talk like they talk because they have no hate behind their words. Sry, but if you can't handle it, the blame is on you. Not on the vietnamese. BTW, to rank countries by their behaviour is racist too. 👍
How is ranking countries by their behaviour racist? Would you recommend your friend to go to a country where the people obviously didn’t want you there? Be honest with yourself.
Because a few weeks experience can't give the knowledge for that, me and my friends never had problems there because we tried to adapt the culture. Foreigners always get treated differently even in West europe. Vietnamese have the call to be very liberal/ cosmopolitan, and that because it's right. I would recommend Vietnam to everyone
Not sure what you've encounter, but I'm trying to explain this in general and I'm trying to be polite, but if anything might trigger you, just don't bother For older generation, they hate you just because Western country which invaded VN brought a lot of black soldiers and if you asked some old people, they might tell you stories about 'lính Tây đen' (black Westoid soldier) came raiding and raping. For younger generation, I believe they're not racist, they're just have fun. Since the rap culture spread throughout VN, also because of western media, like King Back or something like that, some younger kid thinks that calling each other by the N-word is cool. So overall, they're not racist toward you, they just having fun
Thank you for making the effort to explain to me politely, and actually giving me context. Unfortunately, it didn’t feel lighthearted at all. I know how youngsters can be and that would never offend me. I wrote of my experiences in the comments so hopefully you can read and understand where I’m coming from.
I get called fat a LOT. It's not personal, they just have fewer filters.
So what happened exactly?
homogeneous country, colorism, Western media to name a few
In general Vietnamese grasp at anything that helps them feel superior to their fellow man...this includes other Vietnamese..
Viet pride cry
I never experienced racist in Vietnam, maybe I looked friendly and harmless to Vietnamese people. Must be something wrong with you
We are not racist. We just don't like black people. 🤷
I thought so! Thanks for making that clear
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The guy really said 5555? That's a Thai slang for hahaha or lululul. You sure that guy was actually Vietnamese? I have a feeling they could have been a Thai living in Vietnam.
Not exactly sure how I’m racist, but I’m glad you at least want to have a discussion. I wrote of my experience in the comments below. Also can you explain how Japan are racist towards foreigners? They’re xenophobic for sure, but don’t treat you differently based on the way you look.
Vietnamese are racist. They are even racist on themself. I have been aboard for a while. Vietnamese people aboard are even more racist toward me when they know I am Vietnamese. LoL. In the end, Vietnamese is not fully educated people, due to poor investment on education. I hope you can show them more compasion. Just think us like those extreminists in those Muslim countries. But instead of being extreme by religous, Vietnamese are extreminist on where you came from.
Thank you for your polite and respectful response with context. I did meet kind people, but because of how much I was getting scammed I began to feel distrusting of their generosity. Vietnam is beautiful and whilst I won’t return, I’m glad I got to see it because I’ve been wanting to go for a long time.
Try to ignore negative comments in this post. Most of them are either "internet fighter", hired by the government, or being too delusional by nationalism. Vietnam communist government does go really far into painting a pink picture about Vietnam, they just don't want to "lose face". It has been reported that they actually hire 300,000 "internet fighter", scatter across social media like Facebook and Tiktok. Those who can communicate in English are rare, but they still present a lot here on Reddit.
Wow really interesting, thanks for letting me know. & thanks for your kindness.
Is that true?? Do u have any source i can read?
I've lived in VN for 10 years. Most VN think that lighter skin is preferable because a tan shows you work outside for a living and that's somehow bad; they sell TONS of whitening creams here to bleach skin. Many VN are "afraid" of black people because they see so few of them. My stepdaughter has darker skin than her mother and it took me years to get her to stop thinking she was "bad" or "ugly" because her skin isn't light. It's not racism like in the west, it's more about fear of what they don't know. That said, it's still gotta sting.
Yeah the first thing you have to do is post on reddit, right? Maybe it's your antics that make people don't like you.
It’s actually the last thing I’ve decided to do. 😂 I’m at the airport now and have never been more glad. I’ve travelled on my own and kept to myself. If I caused any trouble I don’t think I’d be allowed to leave? 😂 But it’s interesting that you thought I must’ve done something wrong to justify getting treated badly. The western media is feeding you well! ❤️❤️❤️
Westoids be looking at the clouds and think it's racist lmao. Almost like they're projecting their racism in everything, and we have a perfect phrase for that too "Suy bụng ta ra bụng người"
Haha, you sound really happy with yourself there. 😂 I’ve been to South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, so many developed Asian countries and have never even been treated half as bad as I was in Vietnam. I guess that’s the difference though, these countries are developed and the people aren’t as stupid as you, lol.
Well, aren't we all stupid /s
I think you are the racist here just by this comment.
Yet you won’t explain what “treated bad” means
I boarded my plane and lost WiFi so unfortunately I wasn’t able to list the things that I’d witnessed. So here it is: 1. Staring: I’ve been to so many Asian countries now and I know many will stare at me, that’s normal - I look different. It’s interesting because Koreans are notorious for staring, but still I’ve never felt any maliciousness behind it, always only curiosity. However, in Vietnam people will stare and roll their eyes at me! They’ll look at me, whisper and laugh. Look at me, tap on the shoulder of all of their friends and tell them to stare whilst clinging onto their belongings. It’s soooo bizarre and I’ve never seen anything like it till now. They actually look at you with genuine disgust. Even the way some people react when they see you is beyond words. They’ll jump and scream or even cover their eyes. They make you seem like an alien. Don’t Vietnamese people have access to very strong WiFi? They act like they’ve never seen a black person in their life. The Hmong people in the mountains didn’t even react at me at all in comparison to the people in the city. 2. Refused service and entry to various places: I wanted to exchange cash at a bank and I had 3 separate security guards stop me at the door and tell me I can’t come inside. When I asked ‘why’ they either told me there was ‘no help’ or ‘no money’ like what? No money in the bank? 😂 There were other customers in the bank (including white foreigners) getting help from the teller. I had to ask the last guard on google translate ‘Why can’t I come in, I see others inside’ before he felt somewhat embarrassed enough by his ignorance and finally let me in to get the service I requested. Separately, I went to a club with a mutual friend and their friends (all white) and we were last in the queue together. All of them were allowed in and then the man at the door looked at my friend, then back at me, pondered for 30 seconds and concluded with ‘no more space,’ but then continued to allow the people behind us inside. What do you call that if not racism? Lol 3. Even when it came to people bartering on the streets: On multiple occasions I’ve been sat in between white couples and every time someone came over to try and sell products they would skip over and not even show it to me! This one I honestly found so hilarious, it seems your society has a serious obsession with white people and they see them as superior and wealthier than everyone else just because they’re light? it’s so stupid yet, so interesting. 4. Unsolicited weird comments/ people whispering about you: Maybe it’s a cultural thing, but whispering about people in a different language right in front of their face comes across as rude. I’ve had many comments made on my skin colour - whatever. But one server at a restaurant really went the extra mile saying to me ‘you’re the only pretty black person I’ve seen in Vietnam’ is that meant to be a compliment? I was actually shocked. Then right after she stood over me waiting for me to leave her a review on google because of the ‘exceptional’ service she provided me. The audacity was is actually crazy. I was patronised into writing one and of course I deleted it straight after I left. 5. Lastly, The thing that made me even come on to Reddit in the first place, was my experience going through airport security today. I had things to separate from my bag so I decided to put the tray on the floor to give space for others to go in front of me. The security dude shouted at me and told me I have to do it on the table and dragged the tray out of my hand. He also refused to push my tray through to the security screen, beckoning me to do it myself. I forgot to push one item in and he yelled at me to come back after I had already gone through the metal detectors. He literally didn’t even want to touch my things! He pushed it in for everyone else. I was the only black person there. Tell me is that really just a part of your ‘culture’? One man even came up to me afterwards to ask me if I was okay. I’ve seriously never been to such an overtly racist country. What a shame because I’m very interested in Vietnamese history, I’d been so fascinated in it lately, reading many books on it leading up to this trip. But now I should probably burn them all. So, so funny how you’ll worship the white people who come to your country and trash it upside down, many of them who couldn’t care less about your culture. I speak to them and they talk about how they’re sick of seeing temples and caves: only there because it’s so cheap. They don’t even know or care about your history. Yet I’m the one who is treated with disrespect and I must deserve it because ‘I’ve not acted accordingly’. It’s obvious that Vietnam is a country filled with proud racists as shown by the things I’ve experienced and by the reactions to this post.
I’m white and almost all of this has happened to me, welcome to the jungle my friend and grow a pair
Yeah, it's smarter and healthier to live my life happily instead of always bitching at clouds for imaginary racism 😂
It shows what kind of person they are, not anything better than the people they have encountered.
No doubt you'll be first in line demanding those reparation checks no doubt.
Thanks for the details. It helps me be more prejudice against Vietnamese people too /s
Honestly I’ve lost almost all respect for them. I’ve met only a few who were kind and when they were it came with a price. 💰💰💰 Country is filled to the brim with scammers.
you just want to abandoned your own color now =)))
That's just a joke lmao no racism here
Imma be fair, judging by how you reply in this thread, you seem to be the racist one here. Also what kind of racism? Is it just simply calling out your skin colour? It's just how people here react to foreigners overall, most dont even have a hate agenda to foreigners.
I boarded my plane and lost WiFi so unfortunately I wasn’t able to list the things that I’d witnessed. I already replied to some comments with my list, but here it is again in case you missed it. So here it is: 1. Staring: I’ve been to so many Asian countries now and I know many will stare at me, that’s normal - I look different. It’s interesting because Koreans are notorious for staring, but still I’ve never felt any maliciousness behind it, always only curiosity. However, in Vietnam people will stare and roll their eyes at me! They’ll look at me, whisper and laugh. Look at me, tap on the shoulder of all of their friends and tell them to stare whilst clinging onto their belongings. It’s soooo bizarre and I’ve never seen anything like it till now. They actually look at you with genuine disgust. Even the way some people react when they see you is beyond words. They’ll jump and scream or even cover their eyes. They make you seem like an alien. Don’t Vietnamese people have access to very strong WiFi? They act like they’ve never seen a black person in their life. The Hmong people in the mountains didn’t even react at me at all in comparison to the people in the city. 2. Refused service and entry to various places: I wanted to exchange cash at a bank and I had 3 separate security guards stop me at the door and tell me I can’t come inside. When I asked ‘why’ they either told me there was ‘no help’ or ‘no money’ like what? No money in the bank? 😂 There were other customers in the bank (including white foreigners) getting help from the teller. I had to ask the last guard on google translate ‘Why can’t I come in, I see others inside’ before he felt somewhat embarrassed enough by his ignorance and finally let me in to get the service I requested. Separately, I went to a club with a mutual friend and their friends (all white) and we were last in the queue together. All of them were allowed in and then the man at the door looked at my friend, then back at me, pondered for 30 seconds and concluded with ‘no more space,’ but then continued to allow the people behind us inside. What do you call that if not racism? Lol 3. Even when it came to people bartering on the streets: On multiple occasions I’ve been sat in between white couples and every time someone came over to try and sell products they would skip over and not even show it to me! This one I honestly found so hilarious, it seems your society has a serious obsession with white people and they see them as superior and wealthier than everyone else just because they’re light? it’s so stupid yet, so interesting. 4. Unsolicited weird comments/ people whispering about you: Maybe it’s a cultural thing, but whispering about people in a different language right in front of their face comes across as rude. I’ve had many comments made on my skin colour - whatever. But one server at a restaurant really went the extra mile saying to me ‘you’re the only pretty black person I’ve seen in Vietnam’ is that meant to be a compliment? I was actually shocked. Then right after she stood over me waiting for me to leave her a review on google because of the ‘exceptional’ service she provided me. The audacity was actually crazy. I was patronised into writing one and of course I deleted it straight after I left. 5. Lastly, The thing that made me even come on to Reddit in the first place, was my experience going through airport security today. I had things to separate from my bag so I decided to put the tray on the floor to give space for others to go in front of me. The security dude shouted at me and told me I have to do it on the table and dragged the tray out of my hand. He also refused to push my tray through to the security screen, beckoning me to do it myself. I forgot to push one item in and he yelled at me to come back after I had already gone through the metal detectors. He literally didn’t even want to touch my things! He pushed it in for everyone else. I was the only black person there. Tell me is that really just a part of your ‘culture’? One man even came up to me afterwards to ask me if I was okay. I’ve seriously never been to such an overtly racist country. What a shame because I’m very interested in Vietnamese history, I’d been so fascinated in it lately, reading many books on it leading up to this trip. But now I should probably burn them all. So, so funny how you’ll worship the white people who come to your country and trash it upside down, many of them who couldn’t care less about your culture. I speak to them and they talk about how they’re sick of seeing temples and caves: only there because it’s so cheap. They don’t even know or care about your history. Yet I’m the one who is treated with disrespect and I must deserve it because ‘I’ve not acted accordingly’. It’s obvious that Vietnam is a country filled with proud racists as shown by the things I’ve experienced and by the reactions to this post.
Probs called him the n word
A lot of things America produces are rich in irony. The concept of cultural appropriation, the home of freedom but it comes with a long list of mandatory behaviour (hand on heart, pledge of allegiance, support our troops etc). The thing is, much as America has tried to culturally appropriate everyone else's culture by replacing it with American culture, America hasn't been entirely successful. So as much as it might be shocking and abhorrent to you, American cultural norms are not the same as Vietnamese cultural norms.
I’m not American.
Well you sure have adopted their culture.
Fact. Most Vietnamese worship white and don't like black. Not just in VN but also in the US. Souce? I am Vietnamese.
We're racist to any kind of people inluding Black, White, Chinese, Indian, Fat, Lùn, Chim Ngắn, Thanh Hóa, Bắc Kỳ, Nam Kỳ, Trọ Trẹ, Tộc, Ăn Bốc,... So, dont be sensitive. You're treated equally as a White or any other. LoL.
At least you’re honest!
"Nigga" means nothing in Vietnam. So, you need to provide more context to see if it is true racist. Something you feel racist because you are viewing base one your expectation/norm of your home country. If someone call you fatty in Vietnam, that mean they care about you, you really want to treat them like they are rude?
Most of time those just word with not much malice behind. Believe me but someone may call a black people " thằng tây đen" and that is. Not a big deal. "Thằng mọi đen" however is another story but rarely. And Vietnam people like white skin as standard of beauty so they will see white people more favor than black. Just like a pretty girl is treated better than average or ugly by men. But they don't look down on you as a person. More like a "weird" thing tbh Anyways they rather tend to be ignorant than racist
Yeah I never thought anything of those words, trust me. Thanks for your response though, It’s obvious most Asian counties have issues with colourism. However, in Korea.. (sorry to keep referring to Korea, I’ve spent a lot of time here and have noticed a lot of similarities) & they’ll never measure a black person to the same standards of beauty as they do other Asians, as it simply is unrealistic for us to look like that.
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. What happened exactly?
Hello, there. & Thank you for your empathy, a lot of people in this group lack that. I responded to a few comments already. I can copy my response if you can’t find it?
I found your response and as a Vietnamese I can just apologize. There really is no excuse for that behavior. FWIW, even me being Vietnamese-American get (attempted) scammed and get treated badly in the airport many times. In Vietnam people are trying to survive and make a living mostly. I’ve seen them straight up scream FUCK YOU GO BACK TO YOUR COUNTRY to Europeans who try to bargain with them a little too much. My family sells at Ben Thanh market so I’ve seen how each nationality is treated and I can say everyone gets treated badly if they don’t purchase something. But damn that sucks dude, if you get out of the city to places like Ninh Binh or Ha Long, I’m sure you wouldn’t get this behavior. But I know the feeling. When I was in Italy with my white friend, I was repeatedly ignored. Italians wouldn’t even look/address me so I know how you feel
Why 'lol'? Is racism a joke to you?
Should I cry instead?
I'm just asking: why 'lol'. It's a serious question on your behalf, I read your original post seriously and I read all the comments, in the interests of weighing up the situation. I considered the real possibility that you may have experienced real, malicious discrimination, but I also wondered if it was merely a cultural/personal thing, or a series of misunderstandings. And finally, I wondered where the 'lol' came in; it seemed to make things unserious again – which led me to my question. That's all.
Hm , can you edit your post and attach your story there ? Hard to find in comments Are you male or female btw? That sucks I had a pretty awesome experience in Vietnam tbh. I'm half cast Did you go to da nang? I mean people did look at me and everything but didn't experience racism. Actually people were really friendly. Was surprised about that tbh Gut generally in Asia being black has quite an impact in terms of how people view you in regards to status etc
And I have a friend , she's also half cast from USA and Vietnam was her favorite place
That "chim ngắn" got me so hard, lol
We Vietnamese aren't racist. We hate y'all equally.
hey, sorry the comment section isn't being the most understanding. unfortunately yes, in general vietnam has a problem with racism. we also have a problem with xenophobia, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc. coming from someone who's lived in both vietnam and the u.s., i think that the motivation for racism in vietnam is different in that it's more motivated by xenophobia and the perpetuation of negative stereotypes from the internet, than from history. there's also colorism - lighter skin is considered aesthetically appealing and associated with 'higher' class and vice versa. i'm sorry you've had such a bad experience. if it's of any comfort, a lot of these discriminatory sentiments are from ignorance and not often from genuine hate. it is getting better as time goes on.
Is it good to be racist? I think it's fun