White Privilege Abroad

 "...The benefits gained by the white population be they expats, tourists or residents is a result of the way they are perceived, a concept inherited from our colonial past." -Samira Salwani

For this post, I chose to read a blog of a first-hand witness of racism and discrimination in East Africa and how it applies to tourists. The author, Samira Salwani, recounts her story witnessing several occurrences of Ugandandan police officers, bank managers, and even waiters, showing favoritism to white foreigners over fellow black Ugandans regardless of other criteria besides skin color. She talks about how even a black friend who has a British passport was ignored in favor of helping white people pass through immigration services at the airport first. When asked, these perpetrators justify the active discrimination in many ways, including that white people tip more or are less likely to commit crimes. The origin of this binary of skin color is undoubtedly inherited directly from the colonial era, where black people became second-class citizens. It is especially interesting that black Ugandans no longer need the British imperialists in their country to continue the system of discrimination. The system can continue itself without their presence because of how deeply rooted in Ugandan history it is.

Salwani proposes that the reason for this is that "colonial rule infects the subjected people with a certain mental outlook, a certain pattern of thinking."After decades of being subjected to whiteness being known as the upper part of society, this legacy still remains, evident in procedures such as skin bleaching.

This ad is a great example of how whiteness correlates to happiness, especially in formerly colonial areas populated predominantly by blacks. Throughout colonial history, the whiter you are the more privilege you had because you were the one holding the elite positions.

How does this relate back to dark tourism? Clearly, skin color is still the most important determiner in who retains privilege even in the modern world. It is important to realize this when traveling abroad if this case pertains to you and not abuse the system that is favoring you. Similar to this author, calling out people who might show preference towards helping you over someone else based on solely skin color will begin to have people question the system which they're unwillingly a part of.
 
Link to the blog: http://mediadiversified.org/2014/10/14/tourism-white-privilege-and-colonial-mentality-in-east-africa/

-Anna Korotina