(not intended to stir hate, a sincere vent, if you will) As a brown student studying here, please explain to me why :

• I get called the n- word in public (I'm brown and calling me that makes no sense) -I get laughed at when I'm seen in public

• I get called a savage, or someone who doesn't know anything

• I get called an animal

• get yelled "allahu akbar" when they see anyone wearing hijabs

• gets rejected help, or cab rides sometimes because of complexion

• gets followed on the streets by teenagers, video recording you and calling you names (and then not have anything done about it by bystanders?)

• your students take pictures of us and laugh at us if we share a class with them. Sometimes even the teachers laugh at us. Also, making fun of someone if they can't speak russian well is not cool.

why can't people just be nice? I agree I love the kinder side of Belarus and as a country it has interesting things about it. I have met very nice people here who are helpful, kind and funny and love to know about other cultures 🤍 .The good side of Belarus is always appreciated.

But, seriously this xenophobia really gets out of hand. We are people too. Just because we don't look the same, does not mean we don't deserve to be treated normally. I wish more Belarusians would understand that.

P.s. these experiences stated were unprovoked. There's a difference between provoked and unprovoked reactions. I was minding my own business in all these cases. I can only speak about my own experiences here. This is NOT meant to hate on Belarus entirely. But racism, xenophobia is not acceptable. Thank you.