Racists Don't Take Vacations

Racists don’t take vacations.

This statement may be misleading, so I’d like to urge you to keep reading until forming an opinion or response.

My family and I made a trip to Tenerife in the Canary Islands for the holidays, and it was quite the EXPERIENCE. What is the experience I’m referring to? Blatant racism.

Don’t get me wrong, whenever I travel to different parts of Europe, I’ve grown accustomed to being the only black person. It’s something you just don’t miss. When you are black, you ALWAYS notice when you’re the only black person. Sometimes it’s worked to my advantage where I’m excessively hit on and greeted by free drinks and discounts at restaurants, and sometimes I’m treated just like everyone else.

When arriving at our 5-star adults-only resort ( I say this not to boast, but to entirely paint the picture for you), we were greeted warmly by the staff with glasses of champagne. The hotel itself was beautiful. Every interaction I had with the staff was a positive one. Even outside the hotel, the Canarian locals were amiable and welcoming. On the flip side, while the hotel staff and locals were great, the European holiday tourists who were visiting were far from it.

Throughout our week-long stay, my family and I had endured stares in every place we went. We’d walk into the hotel restaurant, and people would stare at us as we sat down. As we ordered. As we took a sip of our drinks. As we ate. As we laughed in conversation. As we pushed in our chairs. And ultimately, as we exited the vicinity. I’d walk to the pool to get a towel, and I could feel the number of eyes looking at me. When I later told this story to a friend, who happened to be white, his first response was, “are you sure they weren’t checking you out”? Such a naive and non-controversial assumption, right?

This wasn’t just a 5-second stare. This stare was the amount of time you’d spend staring at an exhibit in a museum. This was a mixed stare consisting of disgust and shock. It was like my existence alone was enough to ruin their day and inconvenience their stay at the hotel. I admitted to my family, “The hairstyle I chose for this trip isn’t helping, huh?”. I was wearing Senegalese twists- a hairstyle that fully exemplified my “blackness” and made it even more impossible to blend in. How crazy is it that strangers could momentarily make me question a hairstyle choice that I loved?

Four days into the trip, on the evening of Christmas was the moment my feeling of uncomfortableness transcended into sadness. I had noticed a handful of people purposefully avoiding riding the elevator with us. I watched them as they let my mom and I get on the elevator and waited for the doors to almost close for them to push the button again to wait for a new one. Their facial expressions exemplified fear. They were scared to be in close quarters with us. They were scared to have to speak to us. I was in shock for a good 3 minutes until I came to terms with the fact that racism doesn’t sleep because you’re on vacation. Racists don’t take breaks.

These people were supposedly celebrating the day Jesus was born (aka Christmas), and they were doing so all while exemplifying subconscious hate towards people with varying skin tones to their own. People who in their eyes were not “worthy” to ride with on an elevator. It was so disheartening. We returned to our room and told my father what happened. He replied, “oh, I guess it’s not just a black man thing then if it happened to you guys too.” The same thing happened to my father (who happens to be born and raised in the UK himself)!

The uncomfortable feeling I had transcended into sadness, and my sadness evolved into anger. It’s instances like these that serve as a reminder of why black people do their research before traveling anywhere. It’s why we ask questions like, “Will there be other black people there?”. It’s why we look around for other black people and give the “I see you nod.” Even in 2020, black people can’t just pack a bag and go wherever their hearts desire.

Post the abolishment of slavery in 1865, Fredrick Douglas once said, “You say you have emancipated us. You have, and I thank you for it. But what is your emancipation? But when you turned us loose, you gave us no acres. You turned us loose to the sky, to the storm…..”

In other words, we are “free” but still not free.

We were staying at the same resort, paying the same nightly rate, eating the same food, swimming in the same pool, and still not viewed as equal.

Why? Because racists don’t take vacations.

-B