An Indian national living in New Zealand has shared upsetting stories of racism he has been facing. In a reddit post, a user named Lopsided_Tennis69 revealed that he has had an ‘unwelcoming’ experience in the island nation where he moved to two years ago.
“I had this ideal image of NZ being welcoming and multicultural, but my experience has been far from that, unfortunately,” he wrote on the social media platform.
Claiming that he is facing more racism that expected, the 29-year-old revealed how he is being discriminated sometimes subtly and sometimes not so much.
“From random strangers yelling stuff at me on the street to getting weird looks or rude comments at work because of my accent or appearance. Even in social settings, I feel like people avoid me, or I get treated differently. Sometimes it’s subtle, like people talking over me or excluding me from conversations. Other times, it’s blatant—like being told to “go back to where I came from,” he said in his post.
The man said that it is getting exhausting to gel into the Kiwi culture adding that he doesn’t feel he belongs in the country even after two years.
“I never felt like an outsider growing up in India. It’s tough because I really want to make New Zealand my home, but there are days I wonder if I made the right choice,” he said.
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His post received hundreds of response including from those who have also been victims of racism.
One user commented about racism in Canada and the problems immigrants face while trying to run their businesses. “People don’t trust immigrants at all especially when they pay for your experience and advice,” he said.
Another noted that New Zealand is infamous for discrimination against non-whites. “Even the Māoris have been discriminated by the Anglo elites. Also recently many anglos have become rather insecure of Indians and Chinese people across UK, AUS, NZ (CANADA is a separate issue all together)” the user wrote.
Another Indian living in Auckland wrote how relatable it all was. “As an Indian living in Auckland for the last 6 years, I can definitely relate OP. NZ culture is a tough nut to crack, people are generally friendly but it’s mostly surface level friendliness,” the user commented.
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