Thousands turn out in Auckland to protest the killing of George Floyd despite covid-19 restrictions. Video / Jed Bradley
An Indian-American said he was the subject of more racism in a week in New Zealand than the entirety of his life in the US and more than 30 other countries he's visited.
The man wrote about his experience during his visit to New Zealand in a post on Reddit, which has received more than 2000 comments in just a few hours.
Posting on the New Zealand Reddit page, he began by explaining how the current Black Lives Matter movement reminded him of his experience in New Zealand "a while back".
"I've been seeing a lot of New Zealanders posting about how America is so racist and posting various Black Lives Matter posts, and I just found it ironic since in my ~1 week in NZ I experienced more racism in than my entire life in the US and the 35+ countries I've been to," he wrote.
The man, who says he spent about a week travelling in New Zealand, proceeded to detail instances of racism he experienced while in the country.
"I was barred from entering a club because apparently 'all Indian men are rapists' (I was told this by a bouncer in Auckland ... ) I was repeatedly told I'm 'good looking for an Indian', 5-10 per cent of the tinder profiles there said 'sorry, no indians/asians', etc," he wrote in the post.
"I also made some British friends in Queenstown, and one night we were walking back from the bars and the streets were crowded, so we were going single file. My two white British friends went first, but as soon as I came after them this girl next to me gave me this dirty glare as if I was about to grope her," he added.
The man also said he has a cousin who lives in New Zealand and has shared stories of times she's been a target of racism, including "how her roommates were surprised she was clean, how they didn't want her bringing her Indian friends over, etc".
Protesters march down Queen St this week in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Photo / Getty Images
"I've seen some other posts on this sub about Indians being creepy and I've noticed that a lot of the top comments are along the lines of 'it's not racist if it's true'. It's interesting because that's exactly what many of my white (and non-white) American friends here in the US say about blacks," the man adds. "How people should be careful around them since they commit the vast majority of crimes. This is the definition of stereotyping, and we are seeing in the US what happens when you stereotype a group for so long."
The Reddit user went on to say he knows one week in New Zealand doesn't give him an accurate portrait of the society in the country but felt he should share his personal experience when he visited.
"I'm not trying to claim that these Indian immigrants are the perfect citizens and are doing nothing wrong, and I strongly believe if you move to another country you should assimilate and follow the rules of the new country. I've personally seen how many creepy Indian guys there are in the clubs and the way they talk about women. I hate them more than any of y'all, because every time they act creepy or aggressive it's one more person that may look at me the same way.
"All I'm saying is I know sooo many Indians who aren't like this (both raised in the West and in India). Also I realise the vast majority of New Zealanders are not racist and I'm merely commenting on my short experience, so the sample size is very small.
"All I'm saying is the next time you see an Indian give them the benefit of the doubt first, and if they start acting creepy then kick their a**".
After the man shared his experience, other Reddit users commented that they, too, had been the target of racism in New Zealand.
"Raised in NZ since I was 1 which is now three decades. Fijian Indian who grew up in a small town in the North Island where I was the only Indian at primary school. I often received racist comments from kids," one person commented.
"What confused me as a 7/8 year old the most was when the Maori kids would call me black, but were the same skin tone. Moved to a larger city for high school and noticed racist remarks/comments a lot more frequently. One that sticks out to this day is being yelled at from a moving car while I walked across a bridge 'to go back to your own f*****g country' in a thick South African accent. Oh the irony," he added.
Another Indo-Fijian commenter listed the instances of racism he'd been the target of in New Zealand: "Lived in Murupara when I was young and got called black on the bus (a whole chant until I cried), been called a Fijian worm, a curry muncher, a coconut curry, performed soul music at a Marae and got called out for being 'Indian'. Been called Apu. Been called Abdul. The list actually goes on. It's f*****g appalling."
The post received an overwhelming number of reactions on Reddit, with moderators having to temporarily lock the thread to curb the number of racist comments being posted.
"There's a lot of racism and stuff in the comments which is not okay. We're gonna lock this temporarily and go through to clean it out, might re-open it later," they said.
