Locals Stare at Black People in My Country

But it’s not because of racism

With everything that’s happening in the world right now and all of the Black Lives Matter protests, I started thinking about how black people are treated in my country and how the community feels about them. Also about what I can do to make their experiences in my home country better.

I live in Bulgaria — a beautiful country in Southeastern Europe. There aren’t many black people that live here permanently or have lived here since childhood. But in recent years, there are hundreds of black people that come each year to Bulgaria to attend university. Most of them study medicine. In my university, for example, there are more international students than Bulgarians, which I actually really like. You can easily meet people from all those different countries and learn more about their cultures and way of life. A big percentage of these students are black.

Whenever I talk to some of them at the beginning of their studies, I ask them what their experiences in the country are so far. After explaining all the great stuff about their move and some of the general problems they have faced, normal for every student, they add:

“It’s really hard to get used to the stares”

This doesn’t happen on campus or near the university, where everybody is used to the multicultural environment, but everywhere else around the city. People from the older generations especially are sometimes not thoughtful and stare at them for no reason. Like every other person in this situation would, they think that’s because of their skin color and the staring means that there is some sort of negativism towards them. Most of the time the truth is very far from that. Yes, the color of the skin has some role in this as it makes them more recognizable as foreigners. The stares are usually just out of curiosity.

These people stare because they don’t understand why a foreigner would choose to study and live in Bulgaria. Their own children are probably amongst the thousands of young people going to study or work abroad each year. They don’t understand why someone from the UK, Germany or Italy would decide to come here when their own children have spent years studying and trying to get into the universities there. It’s frustrating for some of them, because they are so focused on the negatives, that they forget about all the good things about living in Bulgaria and all of the opportunities out there for young people.

Then there is this other group of people from the older generation. They love their country and are sad about the many young people leaving Bulgaria. Then they see a group of black twenty-year-olds (clearly foreigners), sitting in a coffee shop, laughing and enjoying their time, or helping in hospitals and participating in students volunteering projects, or going on a road trip to the mountains with friends to enjoy the beautiful nature. They see the amazing community you have built and are interested in learning more about you and the experiences you have had in the country. They often can’t ask you about it, even if they really wanted to, because many of them can’t speak English.

Bulgarians are generally very friendly and open to foreigners, but some of us are not very thoughtful in our actions. If you are a black person here you will most probably see people staring at you at one point or another, especially if you go to smaller towns or villages. Almost all of the time that has nothing to do with a negative attitude towards you and is just pure curiosity. Keep in mind that older people might not even know, how it can be received as rude or offensive. They have grown up in very different times and it’s taking them some time to get used to. That doesn’t make it appropriate or acceptable, but change takes time and we are slowly getting there.