If you’re visiting mostly tourist areas and big cities, you’ll be fine. You might notice some people doing a double take, but it should be pretty harmless. Now if you go to rural, bumfuck nowhere places, your experience might be different.
We were looking into hiking and exploring national parks, maybe around Great Smoky Mountains and visiting Nashville (Tennessee) cause we’re country music lovers.
scytale@lemm.ee 1 week ago
GrumpyDuckling@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
You have nothing to worry about. There’s a handful of areas across the country with people who are outwardly racist, these places are nowhere anybody would ever have a reason to visit on vacation. It’s not the norm. If you have a weird accent most people will immediately be welcoming.
Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 week ago
The Smokies are beautiful, I’m sure you’ll both have a good time. Chattanooga is worth visiting if you have the time, it’s a good mix of college town and rural Appalachian beauty.
Just be aware of your surroundings and whether or not anyone is giving you the stink eye or staring you down, and assume any dude giving you shit has a gun (ie, don’t escalate and just leave). The majority of people are not gonna be a problem, especially in urban areas. But anyone telling you it never happens is living in denial.
pwnicholson@lemmy.world 1 week ago
I live in Nashville (and my sister lives in Germany). You should be fine. It’s a great place to visit.
Any place in the world has the small chance of a drunken idiot making a fool of themselves by revealing themselves to be racist. We’re no different. But you’re not going to be harassed by police officers or anything like that (unless you’re doing something worthy of their attention anyway).
The only places where I’d be the slightest bit concerned would be in the small town rural areas between Nashville and the national park. Even then you should be fine, but the odds of running into a racist idiot will go up from like 1% to 3%. And even if you do, it’s not like you’ll be in danger. They’ll just do their best to make you uncomfortable by saying something nasty. They won’t refuse you service or anything crazy like that.
Honestly, even in those areas you’re likely to be looked at suspiciously because of your foreign accent more than the color of your skin.
FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 1 week ago
if you visit Minneapolis or St Paul (“the twin cities”… in Minnesota) let me know. I can give you some good recommendations on places to go. (if you want to be outside, dress accordingly. I like camping at the Zumbro Bottoms, there’s also Itasca State park, which is the headwaters for the Mississippi.) (the cherry on a spoon is a must see, though maybe not in winter.)
A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world 1 week ago
I live near there and honestly nobody’s likely to care enough to give you trouble