Danish experience

Submitted by Jennifer Cox (United States), Nov 15, 2005 at 19:11

I was in Denmark to study for two weeks last summer. I was intrigued by the way some Danes seemed to be very opposed to foreigners, even us Americans. While my group was treated very well by our hosts overall, some individuals seemed to continually emphasize a sort of superior way of doing things the "Danish way." One Danish young woman, when I asked her about crime in Denmark, answered nonchalantly, "We have some violence, but not too much because, you know--in Denmark we don't really have any black people." Her racist comment left everyone in our group speechless. She innocently did not even understand the meaning of what she had just said.

I understand what the Danish are having to deal with. They have been culturally isolated since the ice age. There are going to be some serious growing pains in the coming years as Denmark is forced to assimilate with other races and cultures.

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