9 steps to a vacation free life

- Shades of white in Europe range from ‘freshly fallen snow’ to ‘I am frequently mistaken as being from the Middle East’

- White European is a thing. When you fill out a form, under ethnicity, there are several options for white; white British, white European, white other. Because people make that distinction

- There are Europeans who don’t class their ethnicity as their skin colour, but as their nationality. I have family who don’t think of themselves as white, they just think of themselves as Italian and don’t really give much thought to their skin colour

- People here in Britain always question if darker skinned white Europeans are ‘actually white’. I get it a lot myself. My response is always ‘well I’m not anything else, so obviously I must be’

- Despite being white, a lot of Europeans from Italy, Greece, Spain etc, don’t feel white in the traditional sense. We’re not white like white British people. We’re not white like white Americans. We’re our own white. White British is one thing. White Italian is another thing. White Greek is another, etc

- Which is why we have this notion here in Europe of ‘nationality over race’. Being white isn’t as important as where you’re from

- So this really only becomes an issue if you’re an immigrant

- So being white in Europe doesn’t save you from racial discrimination, because sure, you’re technically white, but you’re not white white. Not the right white

- Here in England, Europeans with really blatantly foreign names, such as myself, find it more difficult to get job interviews, because they take one look at our name and don’t bother reading the rest of the CV. A guy I know was actually told by his boss to reduce the pile of CVs he had by ‘chucking away any with a name you can’t fucking pronounce’

- And then even when you do get an interview, half the time you walk into the joint several shades darker than everyone else and feel like you’ve walked into the ‘Swedish supermodel’ clubhouse and you just know you’re not getting hired

(That’s Mila Kunis. She was born in the Ukraine.)

(Sebastian Stan. From Constanta, Romania.)

(Mia Wasikowska, from Poland)

(Nina Dobrev, who was born in Bulgaria.)

They are white! Just because they are white, it doesn’t mean people from their countries cannot face horrible discrimination, and it doesn’t mean that they can’t be constantly told that they don’t work as hard as people from Western Europe, and that they don’t deserve basic human rights.

But as somebody who has lived in England and the US, I can vouch for all of this. The race issues in Europe and the race issues in the US are not the same.

For the last few years, there has been an awful backlash against immigrants from Poland, with some of the same language used that Americans use about “Mexicans” (By which, half the time, they mean anyone from south of the US/Mexico border).

It’s worth understanding that

1. Racism and discrimination are everywhere.

I was yelled at in the street because a lady thought I was Polish. People have pushed their chairs into my parents and insulted them in a restaurant because they were recognised as Germans.

i cannot tell you how many freshly immigrated Polish folks came to my neighborhood in NY calling black people “niggers” to our faces. i just had an argument with a polish bitch i thought was a friend, who thinks “America is great, so if the BLACKS dont like it they can take their monkey asses back to africa”. 

I was also born in Berlin, i went back to live in my fathers house, the Polish neighbors are so…very “pleased” despite not being citizens, either the men sexually harass me on the daily, and do what men do when ignored, call me a “fucking nigger” , or their women are both jeolous AND disgusted at the mere presence of a black woman. 

they face inter-ETHNIC discrimination in Europe. they are all the same race (white), but of different ethnicity(culture). ( plz get this right) 

but at the end of the day , they all flee to greener pastures, where they can become the bully, and foam at the mouth, gleefull, at the mere prospect of being able to perform horrors upon black bodies. 

the NY times did a whole piece on a young man, who’s family (who are polish) were killed by Neo-nazi’s in England, only to come to the United States,join the KLAN. and kill a black man. for no reason. 

“the irish and Italians were discriminated against”. certainly, they got themselves out by becoming faithful guard dogs to the very people who stood on their necks. Police are protected by the fraternal order which was created by and FOR the Irish. what a lovely tale for those seeking to overcome oppression: just start murdering all the darker people, and you too will overcome!

the only thing this post has highlighted for me is that europeans are horrors even to their own. when their are no people of color around, you turn on those more likely to have our features on the continent. brava!

Xenophobia=/=racism 

Colorism=/=racism 

white people abusing each other=xenophobia, inter-ethnic discrimination and/or colorism 

European poc often experience an intersection of xenophobia, colorism and racism. I’ve experienced xenophobia (among other things) from white French people, even though my nationality is French. I’ve had all kinds of white Europeans be racist to me: from the top of my head, Czech, Portuguese and Irish. Being “different” categories of white sure didn’t stop them from being racist!

There may be more variations of xenophobia towards white folks in Europe but European racism still fundamentally resembles US racism. (miss me with the “we don’t say “race” in Europe so we’re not racist!!!!” nonsense too) 

Najwa Zebian is a Lebanese Canadian author, poet and educator. Her two books Mind Platter and The Nectar of Pain empower people by speaking the truth about pain. It allows her readers to feel in depth and let go of their suffering. In our world to speak about feelings and emotions is a taboo. It is seen as a defect. And to top it off, we are taught that vulnerability is a weakness. But in her TEDx Talk she emphasizes the importance of being vulnerable and to feel.  She has been through hell and back, and through  writing she has been able to heal. So I have interviewed her on the importance of feeling in a world were you are told not to feel. Through writing is Healing Power.

Continue Reading: >>> X <<<

Najwa Zebian is a Lebanese Canadian author, poet and educator. Her two books Mind Platter and The Nectar of Pain empower people by speaking the truth about pain. It allows her readers to feel in depth and let go of their suffering. In our world to speak about feelings and emotions is a taboo. It is seen as a defect. And to top it off, we are taught that vulnerability is a weakness. But in her TEDx Talk she emphasizes the importance of being vulnerable and to feel.  She has been through hell and back, and through  writing she has been able to heal. So I have interviewed her on the importance of feeling in a world were you are told not to feel. Through writing is Healing Power.

Continue Reading: >>> X <<<

Najwa Zebian is a Lebanese Canadian author, poet and educator. Her two books Mind Platter and The Nectar of Pain empower people by speaking the truth about pain. It allows her readers to feel in depth and let go of their suffering. In our world to speak about feelings and emotions is a taboo. It is seen as a defect. And to top it off, we are taught that vulnerability is a weakness. But in her TEDx Talk she emphasizes the importance of being vulnerable and to feel.  She has been through hell and back, and through  writing she has been able to heal. So I have interviewed her on the importance of feeling in a world were you are told not to feel. Through writing is Healing Power.

Continue Reading: >>> X <<<