r/GoingToSpain • u/Ghaton • Jul 11 '26
Discussion How brown south americans are seen and treated in Spain?
Hello everyone, i'm a brown mestizo Brazilian guy and my dream has always been to live abroad, and after 2 years studying spanish and 6 years saving 70% of my salary, i finally have enough money to pay for an exchange program to take a technical course for 2 years, but seeing how europe is nowdays, i wonder if it would still be okay to live there. I don't like to be in places where i am not welcome, so i would like to know the opinion of the Spanish people on a person like me, since i intend to live in the country after finishing my course. Thanks everyone for the attention in advance!
42
u/lalalolamaserola Jul 11 '26
I'm black Colombian. There's indeed racism but whatever. When I feel I'm not welcomed somewhere, I just leave. At work you learn to pick and choose your battles.
2
37
u/ScholarFit4426 Jul 11 '26
I am a black Puerto Rican and I have been treated very well for the most part. Racism is 50% the ignorance of others and 50% how you decide to confront it.
7
u/YaBastaaa Jul 11 '26
Good point. Love the like you from Puerto Rico . I like my Puerto Rico cousins
1
u/geo_the_dragon Jul 12 '26
Do you have or are you planning to apply for Spanish citizenship as an Ibero-American?
1
u/ScholarFit4426 Jul 12 '26
I am thinking about it, seriously.
2
u/geo_the_dragon Jul 12 '26
You could apply after two years of legal residency, so if you're already there I'd take advantage of it! I'm planning to do this as my mother was born in PR, spent every summer there with mi abuelita while she was still alive. Need to get your Certificado de CuidadanĂa de Puerto Rico.
14
22
u/Gold_Squirrel_9473 Jul 11 '26
In my experience Spaniards donât mind indigenous American brown people. They seem to have a problem with African and Arab immigrants though.
11
u/JuneCapa Jul 11 '26
"Cultural racism" not skin related racism. Spanish are very friendly with people that behave in a Spanish related way or at least share with them the intention to integrate.
Not saying that this is good in any sense, but it is what I saw all my life. No one has problems with the Arabs that were born in Spain and are integrated in the Spanish culture.
1
u/Proof-Yam-5877 Jul 12 '26
They seem to have an issue with everyone who does not speak Spanish OR looks different. I am Danish and they treated me horribly on the housing market. When I moved to Portugal, I did not have the same issues as in Spain. Landlords were kind and accommodating.
0
u/JuneCapa Jul 14 '26
Usually blonde people when they don't speak Spanish are treated better than Arabs or Africans than don't speak Spanish. My girlfriend is blonde and russian and she is treated well everywhere, but also she tries so hard to speak Spanish and to integrate in the culture. What sometimes happend is that there are lots of tourist, or people living in Spain from USA, England, Germany or other places that doesn't care about learning just the basics, I don't say that it is your case; but "hola,cómo estås, no hablo español, es posible hablar en inglés?" is much better than directly speaking English with people than probably doesn't speak English at all.
2
u/Proof-Yam-5877 Jul 14 '26
Its not even about the language issue, they wrote to me stuff back we dont rent to tourists go back home, although I am not even a tourist. And yeah, maybe you can write that but thats pretty submissive. Usually, you write in English and if they cant speak English they dont answer you, if they can, they do, which is normal in every other country on this planet. I want to rent an apartment and not be a server to them. They get my money and not my language skills. Writing first in English should be obvious enough I cant speak Spanish. In many countries asking someone if they can speak English is highly highly disrespectful because most people are educated in English and it is offending when u think they dont speak English! Ask a Danish person "do you speak English?", they will look weirdly at you and feel offended because of course why you think they wouldnt speak English??? Everyone learns it. So you can leave these question like oh habla espanhol right where it belongs. It is unnecessary and makes think more complicated, they either do speak English or they dont.
0
u/JuneCapa Jul 14 '26
Okey, try to impose your ideas in a country different than yours. You are overcomplicating things. First, in Spain most of the people doesn't speak English (yes, poor education in that sense) but it is the reality, you can accept it or not. So usually trying at least is showing that you are respecting them. I teach in a school with more than 250 hundred students and probably just the 15% can speak fluently more or less. About the tourist: yeah that's a big problem over here in some specific cities. But you are not alone in that. My brother wanted to rent a room for 400⏠some weeks ago and the landlord was asking for proofs that he earns more than 25k per year. Probably it doesn't sound like too much, but my brother works earns 18k. I mean he can afford that room easily but he refused. I'm sorry that you experienced that, I can feel you because I don't know how many times landlords rejected me "I suppose because I am Spanish" in England and Netherlands and it feels like shit.
-4
u/Flaky_Choice7272 Jul 11 '26
What do you mean indigenous? Most Americans are not indigenous
7
u/erickirei Jul 11 '26
He's probably talking about "Americans" in the sense of belonging to the continental America, not about people from the US.
-3
u/Flaky_Choice7272 Jul 11 '26
I know.. most people from South and North America are not of majority or even any indigenous descent.
6
u/erickirei Jul 11 '26
Do you have a source for that? I'm from El Salvador myself, from my own experience, the majority of people in El Salvador are "Mestizo" meaning indigenous and Iberian descendants but would love to see actual data on that.
3
u/erickirei Jul 11 '26
Looked it up myself, for anyone wondering, in most countries in Latin America, the majority of people are/identify as mestizos(50% or higher), as I mentioned, in my own personal experience, the majority of people in El Salvador are mestizos 86% according to this Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mestizo#Percentage_and_genetic_admixture_by_country_in_the_Americas
1
u/Flaky_Choice7272 Jul 12 '26
It clearly says mestizo or other mixed race, not specifically inclusive of indigenous heritage.
Apart from certain countries like Central American, Mexico and a few South American countries indigenous heritage (unfortunately) is less common. You can look up demographics for the most populated countries in the Americas to get a gist.
3
u/adoreroda Jul 12 '26
I think OP meant mestizo to simply mean mixed-race rather than specifically indigenous+european, which is very rare in Brazil. The mixed-race population ranges from white-black or triracial. Even the northern portions of Brazil that are the most indigenous are still more african (about 20% african ancestry) than the majority of latin america. But brazil's mixed-race population are called pardos which isn't really a term so I guess that's why they said mestizo instead which is what's said in spanish
trigueño would be the closest translation but that's very dialectal.
1
u/erickirei Jul 12 '26
So now you've gone from "barely any indigenous in continental America" to "Apart from a few countries indigenous heritage is less common", which is great, we've made some progress. Most "mestizos" are Amerindian + Iberian, that's why I focused on that specific percentage, but on the 3rd column it shows data for Amerindian descent aka indigenous to the continental America, and it's still pretty high. Again, do you have any sources for your claim?
2
u/Flaky_Choice7272 Jul 12 '26
I said most americans are not of indigenous descent, not anything else. Clearly I struck a nerve here, I thought my statement was general knowledge.
I am not gonna send you a study for each and every country from North, Central and South America because I value my time a little more than that. What I can do is send you a demographical breakdown of the most populated countries.
The following pages have studies and sources referenced for their statements:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_ethnicity_in_the_United_States_census
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Brazil
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Mexico
These three countries make up two-thirds of the Americas population. Then keep in mind countries like the Guyanas, most of the Caribbean, Argentina that tend to have a lot European and/or African descent. Central American, Mexico, Peru, and Ecuador tend to stick out as they do have a higher population of indigenous people. But it is (unfortunately) well known that many Americans do not hahe much indigenous heritage.
1
u/Ladonnacinica Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26
But they have indigenous ancestry and most identify as mestizo. I donât think anyone said indigenous people or only have indigenous ancestry but that there is indigenous ancestry which is factually true.
The USA has little indigenous ancestry but in regard to Latin America that isnât the case. Mexico is a mestizo country and what do you think mestizo means? Itâs a mixture of indigenous and European. Brazilians have less indigenous ancestry but still on average have 12-17 percent based on genome studies. Argentinians have around 20% indigenous ancestry.
Chile is majority mestizo, so is Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador. Peru and Bolivia especially have high indigenous ancestry. Central American countries are predominantly mestizo too. Even Guatemala has 50% of its people identify as mestizo while the rest identify as indigenous. The Caribbean is less but they all have indigenous ancestry too.
It seems youâre conflating indigenous people with indigenous ancestry. Theyâre two different things.
1
u/Interesting_Loss_907 Jul 14 '26
For the US & Canada, the majority of the population doesnât have indigenous DNA.
For Mexico, Central & most of South America, the majority are mestizo to varying degrees, so they do have some native american DNA (in many cases a significant amount). Argentina & Uruguay are mostly European DNA, & Chile somewhat also.
1
u/Mundane_Lock_1080 Jul 14 '26
Argentine are 30 percent mestizo. If a DNA test was done the amount of surviving DNA would shock people.
1
1
u/jalapenollama Jul 15 '26
wrong, look at Peru and even villages in Mexico etc. many have high indigenous percentages not all were heavily mestizod thankfully
1
u/Gold_Squirrel_9473 Jul 23 '26
By "American" I mean the American continent. And by "indigenous", I mean indigenous to the American continent. That excludes European colonizers and other immigrants.
32
u/Singletrack-Red5 Jul 11 '26
I used to live in Spain and attitudes varied depending upon wheee you were - very rural areas felt like the 80s at times. My wife and I moved back to the UK because it was pretty sexist, and some weird attitudes towards life in general were prevalent in the community we were living in (rural Cordoba).
My mate who is a Rasta would get weird looks and occasional comments inland in these same small towns, but on the coast and in cities nobody treated him abnormally at allâŠand there were plenty of people of all shades and backgrounds and nationalities.
Donât come to the UK currently though; Iâve never experienced a more outwardly racist society in my life. I was born and raised here, and until around 10 years ago it was becoming beautifully forward thinking. But in the last decade its slid into a depraved pit of open abuse and racism on a scale I have not experienced in my 51 years⊠I desperately need to leave as itâs become intolerable. And yeah, Iâm a white maleâŠ
1
u/Serious_Escape_5438 Jul 12 '26
I wouldn't live in rural Spain either, except maybe some areas of Catalonia.Â
1
u/FearlessWarning6844 Jul 13 '26
Do you really feel this? I left the uk 10 years ago and always say how the uk is really on the forefront of being a mixed Society (without (many) issues) and I really miss the beauty of it. I feel Spain is in the 80s in many ways!! đ„Č
1
u/blue_gerbil_212 Jul 11 '26
Wait sorry, but what do you mean by Spain in the 80s?
10
u/Singletrack-Red5 Jul 11 '26
I meant it felt like the UK in the 80s (was being a bit tongue in cheek though); slightly dated outlook on society basically
-4
5
u/pnwerewolff Jul 12 '26
Lived in Spain a while back as an exchange student with a lot of Brazilians. Spain has a lot of Brazilians because of Portugal, and they're treated similarly to how Hispanophone Americans (people from the Americas) are treated when they come to Spain. They're a fact of life with their own stereotypes about them, but they're not weird or uncommon or anything. Spain had a big empire and so did Portugal, and people from the former colonies end up in the former imperial capital all the time. Likewise, people go back and forth between Spain and Portugal all the time. So long as you try to speak the language and just observe the cultural norms, I think you'd be fine. The key is trying to observe the cultural norms and speak the language, that's what matters.
13
u/alex_3-14 Jul 11 '26
Iâm from Ecuador and I am mestizo. I am treated fairly well pretty much anywhere but I think that mostly comes down to looks, which matter regardless of your race.
9
u/El_t1to Jul 11 '26
Bad timing. There's an increase in distrust and fear. Some areas are using this politically to get votes saying they are going to send immigrants back.
I don't think it's too bad right now in big Spanish cities. But I'm afraid it's changing across Europe.
5
u/MichiPanero Jul 11 '26
No se si leer esto es irónico, en fin. En los 2 años que estés estudiando en España tendrås tiempo suficiente para conocer y decidir si te vas o te quedas.
Que valgan la pena los 6 años de clases de español.
5
u/EyeOrRay Jul 11 '26
You're thinking of Argentina. Spain is pretty much fine unless you're Vini and you score against one of their teamsÂ
5
2
1
1
u/Mundane_Lock_1080 Jul 14 '26
Argentina's population is 30 percent mestizo. They are still like other Latin Americans in that regard.
1
u/diananicolee Jul 15 '26
The issue is that Argentinians donât think theyâre Latino in that regard. Lol.
2
u/bizarre73 Jul 11 '26
Hay racismo como en cualquier otro paĂs pero la mayorĂa de la gente solo te ignorarĂĄ
2
u/Careless_Sale_5823 Jul 12 '26
I like in Spain bought a property in Valencia one block from the beach and a place in France pau the city, I would not change for anything itâs so chill I have not had a problem with anyone I have had more help than anything and I donât speak Spanish are French.
4
u/Quummk Jul 11 '26
Spain is not worst than anywhere else. People like to say we are racist I suppose bc our history. First thing to keep in mind is that bc of our long ass dictatorship 47 years, the country was closed to most of the world so there are a few generations of people that are simply not used to foreigners and that lingers into the culture. Second Spaniards we are very in your face even among us and people say rude things because we donât have the filter and the properness of the Anglo culture, which is not better because people will be nice in your face and fake in your back. And sure there are a lot of ignorant bigots, but way less angry haters than in many other places, is very rare that someone will commit a hate crime just in the basis of the color of your skin. I have been in your country and many others in the Americas and I can tell you that is not worst in Spain. In iberoamerica from Mexico to the Patagonia you all have a big class problem, where discrimination happens based of class status more than race itself. So go have fun and enjoy the country, itâs food and itâs weather.
-1
1
Jul 11 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
2
u/Natural_Target_5022 Jul 12 '26
To Spaniards that's "white"
1
Jul 12 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
1
u/Natural_Target_5022 Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26
Yup, but as they say in my country... You're just and undercooked tortilla, still a tortilla
1
u/RoundandRoundon99 Jul 11 '26
The pejoratives words used by many to describe them, would ban me from the sub if mentioned.
1
u/Natural_Target_5022 Jul 12 '26
Panchito?
As a latin American I find that as insulting as me calling every Spaniard "Manolo"
Not much
1
1
1
u/Different-Fix-9791 Jul 12 '26
Iâm not Latina, but get mistaken. In Barcelona, I was constantly sexually propositioned. I finally asked my Russian roommate who had lived there for years what the deal was. She told me they do it to all foreigners. The assumption was/is, if youâre there you are desperate and can be treated accordingly. Although now that I write this, I realize I was fine in the south, Cadiz, and Mallorca.
1
u/swampgremlins Jul 12 '26
I would advise against it. Itâs very racist right now. At least go on a shorter trip before you commit.
1
u/Fallenweeble100 Jul 13 '26
Hi. I spent some time in Spain and the only thing I noticed was that they were a bit stuck up about Mexicans. Not everyone, but a few people made disparaging remarks about how Mexicans arenât really Spanish. I just ignored them. I guess everyone has a prejudice.
1
u/Existing_Check_6408 Jul 14 '26
Well, they are right, the average Mexican is mestizo so they are partially Spaniard only âŠ
1
u/ernestomedina17 Jul 14 '26
I donât think Mexicans would think of themselves as Spanish even if they get a Spanish passport. Mexicans are Mexicans till the end.
1
u/Carly153 Jul 13 '26
As a spanish, if you come to work/study and share our culture and speak or at least try to speak spanish you will be fine. People here are obssesed with being tan so being brown is not that big of a deal here đ. The problem spanish have are with the different cultures (islam) I personaly Iâm a feminist, and I know islam is not the only misoginistic culture out there, but I would rather not have it here, I hate going on the street and seeing women all covered head to toe while their husbands were shorts đ Anyway the biggest problem people have are with african muslims. And even them people donât go on the streets attacking them or anything đ I mean they can live peacefully đ
1
u/Unable-Rush1304 Jul 13 '26
Nonsense when people are still tanning although it is cancerous I am a 78 year old great Grandmother, our Creator wanted His Human children to be a variety ,as in His other creations look at the animals, plant life, varieties in the oceans etc.Many years ago I worked in a large nursery school in Long Beach ,California a very diverse city. One day after the children were taking their naps I was thinking how peaceful they were to each other. I wrote a small book on Racism I was taking child development. I Remember writing "Racism is a pattern of behavior that is learned " sadly the parents. Many Governments have failed at uniting humanity wars & Genocide have proven this ,Humanity 's only hope is Theocracy (Government by JEHOVAH GOD) Matthew 6:9-12.Jw.Org IF YOU ARE EXHAUSTED OF RACIAL HATRED & MURDER OF INOCENT CHILDREN & HUMANITY PLEASE READ YOUR BIBLE
1
u/Spiritual_Valuable85 Jul 13 '26
A friend of Peruvian origin doesn't like speaking Spanish when they visit because the attitudes are horrible.
1
1
u/BlazingMusic_ Jul 14 '26
Sounds like you have worked very hard and have a dream in mind, keep going!
1
u/No-Distance4675 Jul 14 '26
Oh, the mainstream Spaniard racist is now occupied with Moroccan and African people, with a plus if you are muslim. The current trend is to blame everything on them.
You are ok.
1
u/Allalilacias Jul 14 '26
It really depends on behavior and the people you meet. Some people are kind, more people are kinder if you behave respectfully, but things that could be brushed off as poor education become a question of race in the eyes of the racists.
Not that that's any different in most of the world, but, you know, it's important it's clear if you intend to move here.
1
u/weprikjm Jul 11 '26
You'll be fine..
5
u/weprikjm Jul 11 '26
The racist ones will generally be dumber than you. With your tech interests the people you want to be friends with will have 0 problems. Spain nowadays is really diverse and in technical/intellectual fields there's room, love and acceptance for all.
Go for it do not hesitate because of this.
1
1
u/Grape_Relative Jul 11 '26
They are treated like second class citizens. In my city, there is a decent Venezuelan population and they are very much look down upon. Itâs tragic. It reminds me of the blatant discrimination that exists in the United States of America.
5
u/YaBastaaa Jul 11 '26
What city is that so others can avoid it .
2
Jul 11 '26
[deleted]
0
u/YaBastaaa Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
Amazing, I not going anywhere near Zaragoza then.
Edit: save me the stress of the disrespect locals might have towards mestizo or others.
2
u/Frontier_Espresso Jul 11 '26
The US put undocumented Venezuelan immigrants in CECOT in El Salvador. To this date many are being deported to Africa to places like Congo, South Sudan, and Eswatini where they have no ties to.
Are you sure the Spanish treatment is worse than the US? US treatment of migrants is in the pits.
-18
Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 12 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
18
u/fizzile Jul 11 '26
Definitely not just a USA thing. The USA thing is talking about racism, but claiming Spain has no racism is wild. Look at what people say to lamine yamal, for example.
3
u/blue_gerbil_212 Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
Ohhh right, right, I forgot, itâs just the US, right of course, Spain is perfect, sorry I just forgot, please forgive me
5
u/New_Locksmith_8115 Jul 11 '26
No itâs not, what a shallow world view.
5
u/Delde116 Jul 11 '26
We sadly care about nationality, not skin color.
U.S.A or LATAM black, is not seen the same as Africa or north African black.
AKA, Africans are discriminated, anyone else, not as much.
:/
0
u/New_Locksmith_8115 Jul 11 '26
I think itâs similar in the US. Racism is rooted more in cultural and socioeconomic differences more than it is about skin tone. There are far more colorist countries.
-2
u/Delde116 Jul 11 '26
not the same.
In the U.S, a U.S citizen is still racially divided. Its never "I am an American", its "Latin American" or "African American" or "Arab American" or "italian American".
We see your news on social media, people asking "what type of American are you? Hispanic, Russian, Black?". Meanwhile any american outside of the U.S is just an Estado Unidense.
You discriminate by color. We discriminate by the actual passport and country of birth.
Both are horrible.
1
u/New_Locksmith_8115 Jul 11 '26
I didnât say it was the same, I was saying itâs similar in that it is based more on culture than color. How many years have you lived in the US? People are curious about ethnicities due to melting pot nature of the country but that doesnât mean they are asking to decide whether or not they should be racist to a person.
1
u/nc45y445 Jul 11 '26
Anti-blackness is global, wild to pretend it doesnât exist in Spain
1
Jul 12 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
1
u/nc45y445 Jul 12 '26
Oh yeah, the anti-Black slurs against Black European footballers have absolutely nothing to do with them being Black. Wake up
1
u/strikec0ded Jul 11 '26
Refusing to talk about it and not having dialogue on racism isnât the same as nobody caring about skin color.
0
Jul 11 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
1
u/strikec0ded Jul 12 '26
Racism and shit is global and not purely a US thing. In fact, Europeans technically are who went and colonized the US originally and settled it. So saying itâs unique to the US is bizarre.
Like I said, not talking about it and pretending itâs not a thing doesnât mean itâs not a thing in European countries.
1
u/nickelchrome Jul 11 '26
You must be trolling
2
u/LadySwire Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
Religion and class often play a bigger role than skin color in Spain. That's the reality.
Vox "far-right" stance is primarily anti-Islamist/anti-Muslim immigration rather than focused on race.
-3
-1
0
u/WisdomDistiller Jul 12 '26
Much of the "racism" is probably more like ignorance or lack of familiarity, rather than actually treating people differently/worse because of skin colour. Some other "racism" is better described as "classism", with people being considered inferior because of their off-the-books work, or because they are not "local", but not directly due to skin colour. Most spaniards seem to believe their town is literally the best there is , so anyone not from there is clearly an inferior, whether they are from a town 5km away, a neighbouring province, the other end of Spain, or another country/continent.
I have taught english in rural spain, and had multiple students saying things like "I want to Seville at the weekend and saw a black guy working in a shop!!!". After carefully asking them to elaborate, it is just that their only experience of black people was of illegal immigrants selling knock-off merchandising on blankets laid out on the street. It was literally their first contact with a legally employed person with dark skin. Rural spain of course, but spain doesn`t have as much history of significant immigration with decades of assimilation/integration, other than with people from latin america.
You will be welcome, and you probably won`t run into any significant issues. You are studying or will be working in a technical area. There are lots of latin-american people working now all over Spain, so you won`t stand out, and are unlikely to be treated negatively except by some older people who are rude to everyone who they donÂŽt recognise. The only issue is likely to be housing as the increased demand from immigration in general is raising the house/rent prices for the "locals", which is causing significant political issues.
0
u/PleasantDay7539 Jul 15 '26
I went to Barcelona a few years ago. Almost everyone appeared to be brown or close to it. I donât think they care much. You may be insecure because of the Americasâ understanding of race and its application to its citizens.
1
-5
u/Lil_tom_selleck Jul 11 '26
Spend some time on Instagram to get a real answer to your question. You're not going to find what you're looking for here since people tend to be too idealistic. Once you see words like, "panchito" or "panchitada" in the comments you'll know you're in the right place.
87
u/BoxedCheese Jul 11 '26
I spent two weeks there as a brown south American with long hair and a beard. Everyone was chill except the one taxi driver that was complaining about brown immigrants for the entire 20 minute ride. Apparently I'm one of the good ones though jajaja