Not the one about sex, or about how to handle yourself as a Black man if stopped by the police. Many people of color living in the Czech Republic are currently having a talk with friends and colleagues about the impact of race on their daily lives. These conversations were prompted by the media storm over the killing of a Black man, George Floyd, by a white policeman in Minneapolis.
The Minneapolis episode is just one of a slew of viral videos capturing the shocking regularity of racism in the United States. From an entitled dog walker threatening a Black birder to a policeman pepper-spraying a peacefully protesting teen, these images have galvanized supporters of Black Lives Matter on a global scale. So how do people of color experience racism in the Czech Republic? Bila, whose parents are Slovak, was born and raised in Connecticut and only learned that his mother was a member of the Roma minority β often referred to as Gypsies β when he was William Bila says discrimination was one of the reasons he left Prague.
Bila, who has done extensive volunteer work in the area of anti-discrimination, has since lived in Munich, Richmond, Va, Toronto, and Paris where he currently resides. Racism is about people in power keeping their power. Still, he was hopeful about the future. Such experiences are not unusual in Prague, said Barbora, a prominent business owner who has lived in the city for 18 years.
She is married to a software engineer from Kenya who completed his university education in Prague. Barbora, a prominent business owner who has lived in Prague for 18 years says she experienced hateful language at a tram stop. Her son, now 11, moved from a public Czech school, where Barbora said he was bullied, to an international school. He is now brimming with confidence. For her daughter, 7, things have been more complicated. You know how it is, everyone wants to be a princess with long blonde hair.
Barbora believes her children would have more educational and professional opportunities in the United States. Nancy, who as a teen moved to Britain from Kenya, balks when people claim that Britain is a beacon of equality when compared to the Czech Republic. No one in management was Black. Nancy said she rarely faced racism in the UK. But then she ticked off a long list of incidents that such as poor treatment in restaurants compared to white patrons; a canceled apartment viewing when the landlord saw she was Black and a colleague jokingly referring to her with a racist epithet.
