Racism v tribalism

I was in Prague last week and I was so amazed at how people in the country were staring at me as if they have not yet come in contact with a black person. The first night there, the looks I was getting began to make me nervous. Some one said to me not to worry that they were admiring me. I carried on, saying to myself that I should just relax and maybe they are admiring me or they have not truly been exposed to many black people. The second day, I still got lots of stares, I mean these stares where just like some one ripping your clothes off and just looking at every single part of your body. They never took their eyes off me even when I stared back. The third day I was getting irritated and annoyed by this behaviour I considered rude. I started feeling low, and I started feeling like something was wrong with me. Why will they not stop staring at me? I mean even though they have not seen black people on the streets surely they have seen movie stars and musicians who were black on TV? What broke my heart was that the children who were supposed to be innocent stared at me in the same manner as the grown up. I loved the country. It was such a beautiful country with lots of historic buildings and places to go to. I loved the summer weather. It was just as hot as in Africa. But all these beauty, I couldn’t wait to go back home. I just wanted to leave and not have people stare at me as if I was a creature from space. It may not have been a racist look, it may have just been curiosity and just sheer amazement at another human being with another colour but for me, it felt really scary. No one came to me or said any profanities but the looks I got, I did not like it. It made me feel for one minute that before they even got to know me, I have been stereotyped because of the colour of my skin. I may be wrong in my analysis. It may just be me and my paranoia but I have never gotten such stares in my life before.

Well with all that gone now, please do visit Prague. It is such a lovely and beautiful country. I will put some pictures later. I was discussing this incidence with a friend of mine and he said well anywhere one goes especially if it is not your country, one will get such feelings. He now said to me, which is worst, Racism or tribalism? God help me in this world!