#i'd never felt such solidarity with everyone from the so-called americas until the germans started saying stupid shit to my mexican friend

[peridot-tears]

Thanks for saying this @nebulousboundsofthisworld

I was in Germany as an expat, but I'm not white, and the difference between how people would treat me, an Asian American, and my white American friends, was egregious. Just based on my face, people thought it was okay to yell racist slurs at me, refuse me access in obviously-empty hotels, the list goes on.

I...can't even imagine what Turkish people in Germany, whether German-born or recent immigrants, go through. It's a place where people think it's okay to point at Black folks and say, "Look, an immigrant!" like it's a fucking zoo.

It wasn't just Germany either. Western and Central Europe were really like that for me. I do give people a bit more leeway when I'm in, say, Italy or Czechia because there isn't the same history of imperialism or level of privilege, but even then, there really isn't an excuse for when you actually decide to yell racial slurs at Asians. Which Italy is known for among Asian diaspora.

the dichotomy between the "immigrant" (someone from the global south who moves to the north) and the "expat" (someone from the global north who moves to the south) makes me feel fucking crazy. a white person who moves to asia is an expat but an asian who moves to the west is an immigrant. & how those terms are politicized and assigned class statuses, like the word "immigrant" tends to imply a blue collar worker (even if that isn't the case) while "expat" implies a white collar worker. the associations with "expat neighbourhoods" in asian countries is very very different from those of "immigrant neighbourhoods" in western nations. also how "immigrants" who dont assimilate are seen as "failing" and bad, lower class, a burden on society, etc. whereas "expats" not assimilating into local culture is expected and viewed as a sign of their higher status. the double standards are so insane