I am a Black American ex-pat (African-American? I’m not African, dude). I do not teach in Thailand, because I work in the Middle East. However, Thailand is like a third home. Yes, racism exists everywhere and in many different ways. However, there is one thing Americans need to know and this applies to every country where they are an ex-pat. If you choose to work in a foreign country, this means that you are going to have to adapt to the foreign country (values, morals, culture and non-existent civil rights). It’s not your country, you cannot expect or change it to be like your country, and you cannot enforce this country to immediately embrace your American values…unless you’re a multi-billion dollar conglomerate or fascist military. You can only enlighten some people and let them take it from there. Yeah, Thailand can be racist and racism is ignorance, but obviously it’s not bad enough to make you go back to Uncle Sam.

Whether in the Middle East or Southeast Asia, my fellow Americans have made an art of bringing self-inflicted headache and drama overseas. Try to avoid it…or what are you doing overseas in the first place? However, this is a good discussion forum. In a world where almost everyone wants to be White (except for rebellious Japanese youth) Black people will always need a place to vent. When African-Americans go to Africa, they leave the ‘African’ at home - Anonymous

F.Gibbs