Black Canadian interested to live in Thailand

The U.S.A. is 227 years young, compared to Asia's nearly 7,000 years (Thai people's current 2,560 Buddhist years) of "human growth & social development" influence. The interesting part is that the Buddha himself (Siddhartha Guatama) was a black-skinned, Tamil Indian from Nepal. So, go figure that factor, as a contradictory phenomenon, of a people's cultural maturity level

Ditto, and right on, Bill. You've hit that nail squarely on the head. Applause

Traveller61 wrote:

Hi all,
I just received a notification yesterday of a new posting. I've read through the responses, and appreciate those who have shared their insights, thoughts, etc. I still live in Canada, but very much interested to visit overseas. Thanks.

Racism and bigotry are all over the world, and always the fault and problem of those who are stupid enough to think skin colour, race, religion or whatever defines the personality of a given group of people.

Will the OP suffer racism? Yes.
That means the question is, "How wild is racism in Thailand and is is entrenched in society?"

The answers on this thread vary a lot from racism being fixed in the mindset to smaller numbers of fools.
The odd thing I noticed were very generalised comments about Asians; a little bit of mild racism there?

For the traveller - I suggest a couple of weeks exploration in Thailand to see what you think of the place and gauge reactions to you as a person.
Also, try to arrange interviews with schools or even offer free visits to local schools (if it's legal on a tourist visa) to get an idea of how the kids and staff will treat you.
Don't announce your skin colour before you visit, just saying you're Canadian. If you do it that way you'll see first reaction on their faces. Shock is possible as they'll assume Canadians are white, but you're looking for horror.

Hello, settling down in the beautiful Bangkok well and interested to meet other expatriates in the city....

Regardless of whatever your personal definition of "friendship" might be; you need to know (for a fact) that unless you are prepared to buy a canine companion upon arrival, the only real friends you'll ever have in Asia, are those that you (wisely) bring with, to Asia. Capisce? Adios, amigos!

It never works that way but it would be interesting if that original poster had checked back after moving to Thailand to let us know how racism goes here. 

As an American living in Thailand I'd like to say that it's a non-issue, that Thais don't pass judgment based on race or skin color, but my impression is that they do, at least as much as Americans tend to.  Of course all that varies by person, more so than by culture, as most perspective does.  To the extent that Thais do embrace racism they're not so into Indians either.  Thais are generally pleasant (which is a clear-cut and relatively universal part of Thai culture, an emphasis on being outwardly pleasant), so I wouldn't expect much to come of those holding negative bias, maybe just the occasional odd look.

BKK - I make your posting dead on, I have travelled to many countries and as we both know racism still exists but I also live in Thailand with my Thai wife and have never encountered it, whilst I am not saying it does not exist I am yet to speak to a Thai who holds such bigoted views.

It seems a bit odd to spell it out here but by my standards my Thai wife is racist.  She is biased against black people and Indians, and to some extent judges Thais by the color of their skin, although given how absurd that is lots of exceptions come up.  I think if you didn't know someone well here you'd not get such a clear impression of a related bias like that, even if they held one. 

I had a couple of close friends that were Indian when we lived back in the States, and one of them was such a nice guy you couldn't possibly judge him negatively for his race or background, but it didn't settle the error of her ways for her.

Generally Thai people are very welcoming and never felt out of place just coz of my colour...

Fred wrote:

Traveller61 wrote:

Hi all,
I just received a notification yesterday of a new posting. I've read through the responses, and appreciate those who have shared their insights, thoughts, etc. I still live in Canada, but very much interested to visit overseas. Thanks.

Racism and bigotry are all over the world, and always the fault and problem of those who are stupid enough to think skin colour, race, religion or whatever defines the personality of a given group of people.

Will the OP suffer racism? Yes.
That means the question is, "How wild is racism in Thailand and is is entrenched in society?"

The answers on this thread vary a lot from racism being fixed in the mindset to smaller numbers of fools.
The odd thing I noticed were very generalised comments about Asians; a little bit of mild racism there?

For the traveller - I suggest a couple of weeks exploration in Thailand to see what you think of the place and gauge reactions to you as a person.
Also, try to arrange interviews with schools or even offer free visits to local schools (if it's legal on a tourist visa) to get an idea of how the kids and staff will treat you.
Don't announce your skin colour before you visit, just saying you're Canadian. If you do it that way you'll see first reaction on their faces. Shock is possible as they'll assume Canadians are white, but you're looking for horror.

Thanks, that's a good suggestion. You're right, I think many people around the world assume that Canadians are all caucasian. Visiting does provide feedback on how it is to live there for me as a foreigner.

I live in Chiang Mai, the northern region. I attend various functions to learn whatever I can. During a few of them I have heard where some Thai's "distance" themselves from the northern mountain people. That's just something that I've heard about.
If you look at the Thai history you will see that there have been many conflicts between Burma and Thailand. I believe at one time the Burmese sacked Thailand's capital, which was prior to Bangkok. It would seem that these two countries have had conflicts for easily 800 years or more. Those conflicts flow into present day attitudes, even if both negotiate to keep a peace.

BKK - I am a "Black American" with imminent plans to move the CM by the end of Summer. I will also try to post my experiences as well. With that said I have traveled to LOS on Numerous occasions since the '00s (Been traveling to SEA since '96), spending months at a time during each stay. At worse I endured "the look (which I accept as a badge of honor)". I consider myself as an ambassador with the purpose of combatting the Stereotyped portrayals of my race by the media outlets. I have the advantage of not looking threatening, and in addition I am now greying and walk with a cane due to a stroke. All things considered Thais (and Asian in general) tend to respect older individual, regardless of ethnic and racial backgrounds, but from my youth I have not experiences the perceived racism noted in this thread. On the contrary, I was met with curiosity and wonder, and was asked about my views on current events of that moment in time.  Ironically, the women I have dated and had relationships with were more concerned about my rejecting them because of their skin tone, and finances, despite my skin tone being darker than theirs.

Good to hear.  Since tone doesn't come across well in text it seemed like maybe what I said came across more negatively than I intended it.  Thais are generally very kind people, and I don't mean to say a lot of them are closet racists, although to some degree that could be true of some of the people everywhere, in general.

They live with contradictions here, in that they don't completely shake prior habits and perspective, even though they don't completely hold to those either.  You won't see a Thai point at a rainbow, ever, because they fear it will cause them to lose their finger.  There's one day of the week Thais won't get their hair cut or trim their fingernails (Tues or Wed.?  I forget which).  On one level they know other people in other cultures get away with pointing at rainbows (not that it comes up often), that they really won't lose their finger, and nothing would come of it if they did clip their fingernails on that day of the week, but they don't. 

On the one hand Thais really are obsessed with whiteness and color, and on the other I'm sure most would take all that for what it's worth, not a valid way to judge people.

bkk tea blog wrote:

Good to hear.  Since tone doesn't come across well in text it seemed like maybe what I said came across more negatively than I intended it.  Thais are generally very kind people, and I don't mean to say a lot of them are closet racists, although to some degree that could be true of some of the people everywhere, in general.

They live with contradictions here, in that they don't completely shake prior habits and perspective, even though they don't completely hold to those either.  You won't see a Thai point at a rainbow, ever, because they fear it will cause them to lose their finger.  There's one day of the week Thais won't get their hair cut or trim their fingernails (Tues or Wed.?  I forget which).  On one level they know other people in other cultures get away with pointing at rainbows (not that it comes up often), that they really won't lose their finger, and nothing would come of it if they did clip their fingernails on that day of the week, but they don't. 

On the one hand Thais really are obsessed with whiteness and color, and on the other I'm sure most would take all that for what it's worth, not a valid way to judge people.

Thank you for your response. I didn't interpret your post as being negative at all. My response to your post was in addition to your comment, along with my intent to help the original poster and others following this thread, as well as expanding on your comment with my experience to date. My history of growing up in the states has given me much preparation for what I was expecting when I started traveling abroad. I was pleasantly surprised that my past experience knowledge was not needed to date. At worse I endured the long arduous process at immigration in BKK, but nothing beyond what any other Farang was experiencing. On my most recent trip I was ushered to the premium/express line at immigration because I am considered disable (I walk with a cane due to a stroke). Part of the problem is the entitlement attitude combined with the "chip on their shoulder" mentality. People forget that we are "GUEST" in another person home (country) and as such have to abide by their rules, with the option to leave and not return if we don't like it.

What I gather and conclude, is that each person's experience will be different. This is not just restricted to Thailand, but to any country one visits. And just like with any country, there will be some people that are open to those of different ethnic backgrounds, and others will not. So, all in all, travel for me is a way to expand my horizons, and I look forward to the day when I visit Thailand.

There is great joy and beauty in Thailand, both with the people and the land. It's just at times, like anywhere in the world, we all have to side step at times.