Refugee crisis in Sweden

How exactly does this question relate to travel?

Sorry, forgot to mention that I'm planning to travel to Sweden for at least 10 days, and since I have dark skin, I wanted to know if this was true because I don't want any trouble, I don't want people over there to possibly discriminate just because they think I'm a refugee.

I think it's easy to tell a tourist and refugee apart - for one thing, tourists typically do "touristy" things like sightseeing, eating out, staying at hotels, taking photos, etc. Simply put, they have different travel patterns. Plus Sweden has non-white Swedish citizens living there, especially in Malmo. I don't think you need to worry too much - obviously if you do see some random thugs on the street, just walk away.

desurinam, it's a topic that is due serious and frank discussion. That is how common ground and peace is found.

The quick answer is I suspect that with a bit of common sense that Sweden will be as safe or safer for you as any place in Europe. Go enjoy.

The poster asked about racism. Desurinam, I suggest you pay attention to Agnes' post. I agree with it also. I think you will have a lovely time in Sweden. Every country has internal issues, but I really don't think you will be affected by them. So go, and have a lovely time. Sweden is beautiful. And I believe you will find the people you come across as wonderful as I have. Wray

I cleaned out a side conversation that didn't belong here. The topic at hand relates to encountering racism while traveling in Sweden. As a reminder, our number one guideline in this forum is to stay on topic. Thanks for keeping this in mind from here forward.

RS Webmaster

It's a complex situation. Refugees are coming into Sweden and getting tons of free resources (money, food, clothing, housing, education, etc.) and some Swedes are getting upset about this open door policy. Meanwhile, there have been problems with all of the refugees coming in.. take a look at the recent news. Most recently, there's been an uptick in rapes (by migrants). http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/06/world/europe/swedish-police-investigate-over-40-reports-of-rape-and-groping-at-2-music-festivals.html?_r=0

People of different cultures don't always have the same mindsets...

I wouldn't say that they will be racist towards you.. especially if you are polite, dress well, etc.

Thanks sarar for a reasonable comment that clearly was not racist.

Desurinam --

From my position of acknowledged white privilege, I can say that I saw less evidence of racism in my visit to Stockholm last September than I see in my daily surroundings in northern Alabama. (That might be considered a pretty low bar.)

The rise of nationalistic and racist political parties in Sweden is something that was discussed in the tour I took of Riksdagshuset, the Swedish Parliament. It was certainly acknowledged that there has been a rise in some of those sentiments of late, just as some of the U.S. political movements of late have promoted some of the same agendas. But I strongly doubt that you will have any problems if you are civil and polite.

If you want some evidence of how Swedes interact with a dark-skinned man from England, check out some of Big Steve's videos on YouTube. Given, he's a minor celebrity, and people are likely to be nicer on camera, and he's probably not as likely to include low-end slights in his videos. But certainly he doesn't seem to have problems finding friendly people to relate to in his videos.
https://www.youtube.com/user/BigSteveFromEngland

As others note, the anger is usually directed towards refugees, not temporary visitors and the difference between the two is usually obvious to anyone paying attention.

I don't think this is a particularly new phenomenon in Sweden. The Kurt Wallander series of novels by the late Henning Menkel, which started in the 1990s, often have plots that revolve around issues of integration and nativism. Although these are works of fiction, the popularity of the series both in print and on film suggest that they struck a cord with the Swedish public.