ONTD

I imagine it stems from Euro countries being relatively homogenous/not made up of immigrants to the extent that the US is.

I appreciate your overall comment and agree (I'm from New Zealand, and we have a lot of ties with the UK so are quite European in terms of cultural heritage), but this bit here comes from a very US-centric POV. The Asian example aside, your other examples are all tied very much to US/African-originating racism. So I'll just point out that it's not that non-US cultures are necessarily homogenous (some are, of course). But many have quite diverse ethnic makeups but those makeups don't always include many people of African ancestry and so the specifics of US racism aren't always well-known. I'm hoping you understand why I'm pointing this out; you're not wrong in that there's all sorts of racism outside of the States, but there's a strong bent to your comment of expecting people in countries with tiny African-originating populations to understand that variety of racism as well as other types which are endemic in our own societies.

New Zealand, for example, is a country very much populated by immigrants. We have a similar sort of history to the US, only it all happened much more recently: white people from Europe find country with a native people, shit all over them, then proceed to treat the native people like shit after stealing all their land. We have a white majority like the US (referred to as Pakeha here) but our largest minority groups are Maori, Pacific Islanders and those of Asian descent. The racism we experience here and are most familiar with centres around the makeup of our population. We're not homogenous, but people have varying degrees of knowledge about racism in the US. And honestly, I bet that most Americans scarcely know where New Zealand is on a map, so it's only because of the USA's global dominance that people outside of the States know much about its racial history at all.

None of this is to excuse racism. People are ignorant everywhere, and often willfully so. In the modern world there's no excuse for remaining ignorant when things are brought to your attention; there's the internet. But I do object when Americans expect people all over the world to understand racism which sits very much outside of their own history/experience. Eg. I wouldn't expect anyone from New Zealand outside of people like myself with a strong interest in US politics/racial history to have any idea that watermelons and fried chicken are horrible stereotypes associated with black people. It's just not something to which many people here would have been exposed. BUT if it were explained to them and became a controversial topic with some media attention, I would expect people to recognise that it's offensive and to learn from then on. Golliwogs are one such topic. They still carry them in some shops here, and they're revolting and racist. It has blown up in the media about three times now, including when American celebrities have visited NZ and been horrified they're in stores in some places. The people who continue to insist that golliwogs are inoffensive dolls from their childhoods can fuck right off. At that point they've been educated, chosen racism, and no longer have any excuses.

Anyway, I do mostly agree with your comment and I hope that's pretty clear, but I think your diagnosis as to Europe/the rest of the world lacking in sensitivity has some US blinders on. If I threw some racial slurs/stereotypes common in New Zealand at you, I'm betting you'd never have heard of most of them.

Thank you bb.