44 Celebrated vs. Tolerated: Global Travel and Vacation Racism

"I want my people to be celebrated and not tolerated. And I understand I want y'all to understand that there are places out there that celebrate us."

In this episode of Coach Rodo’s Winning Regardless podcast, Rodo opens up about a completely different topic—global travel, international culture, and the eye-opening realities of racism abroad. Triggered by conversations surrounding the World Cup and international soccer dynamics, Rodo shares his personal, unfiltered experiences visiting places like Argentina, Brazil, Europe, Japan, and the Caribbean.

From being treated differently in Buenos Aires and experiencing cold service, to finding unexpected, pure joy and love from children in Japan and Bali, Rodo delivers a powerful message to travelers everywhere. He breaks down why you shouldn't just book a vacation based on what you see on TV or what works for others, but rather choose destinations where you are genuinely welcomed and celebrated.

#CoachRodo #WinningRegardless #TravelAbroad #CelebratedNotTolerated #BlackTravelers #GlobalTravel #CulturalExperience #TravelRealities #VacationWisdom #WorldTravelers #exploretheworld 

(00:00) - The Global Stage: Reacting to international sports, fan reactions, and cultural dynamics.
(02:30) - The Argentina Experience: Unfiltered truths about visiting Buenos Aires and facing subtle racism.
(05:15) - Lessons from a Wise Friend: Remembering Roosevelt Clark and the power of controlling how you treat people.
(08:00) - Celebrated vs. Tolerated: Why choosing the right vacation destination matters for Black travelers.
(10:30) - Finding Joy in Japan & Bali: How pure-hearted local children and deep community warmth created unforgettable memories.
(15:00) - The Caribbean Connection: Why spots like Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic feel like home.
(18:30) - Vacation Research: Look beyond the commercialized media and go where you are genuinely welcomed.
(21:00) - Final Thoughts: Enjoy your travels, save your money, and always go where you are celebrated, not just tolerated.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Black people wearing messy jerseys and this, that, and the third, and it cracks me up. Because they haven't had a black person on their team since I guess it was 1952. They basically cheated. They caught an offside that wasn't. And people are saying it's because the other team was black and Argentina's not. We went to Buenos Aires. We were there for three days, and I only seen two other black people. And they definitely treated me different. I want my people to be celebrated and not tolerated. And I underst I want y'all to understand that there are places out there that celebrate us. You know, with the um FIFA going on right now and being big and all of that stuff, and you know, people chiming in on things that happen in there. Um, it's it's reminding me of some things as I'm watching and then I'm hearing, and you know, I don't even watch soccer, don't even care about it. But, you know, this time of the year everyone else does. So, you know, you get to see a lot of um what people think and you know, a lot of happenings and people's opinion. Like today I was in the gym, and there's a guy, I think he's from South Africa, or he might even be Egyptian. Um, you know, they just lost to Argentina, and you know, he was very, very ecstatic about, you know, the referees cheating for them, and you know, how, you know, um basically the same thing that I've been hearing a lot of people say, and then it just made me think like to uh hearing all of these countries and then, you know, starting to see a lot of black players out there, even though they're not American black players, you know, they're black players and CNN, but then looking at all of the reactions and all of the hatred and the noise dispute towards these soccer players, like these black soccer players, like people are saying that the call at the end of the game against Argentina that went against Egypt. Is that who it was that they beat and scored three three three uh goals in a row on um was um cheat. They basically cheated. They caught an offside that wasn't, and I don't know nothing about soccer. I don't know what the rules are or any of that stuff, but it was a it was an uproar. And people are saying it's because the other team was black and Argentina's not. And the thing about Argentina that people don't understand that I find out myself, um, they haven't had a black player on their soccer team. And people, black people wearing messy jerseys and this, that, and the third, and it cracks me up because they haven't had a black person on their team since I guess it was 1952. I mean, that's a long time to not have a black person on your soccer team. And, you know, you you see them in the stands when they react to the teams that have black players. And I mean, I saw one video where a brother was just just, I mean, he's not an American brother, but he's a brother again, looking at them and they're pointing at their shirt, calling him whatever they call us in their native language and things of that sort. And it got me to thinking, like, I love the vacation. And, you know, seeing all of these countries play against each other. And me and my wife, we go a lot of places. And I always tell her there are places that I will not go simply because I know they're racist. Well, I happened to one time go to damn Argentina. We went on a trip. We had Brazil, Argentina, and Chile in it. And believe me, I don't care who gets on here, you can say whatever the hell you want to say. We went to Buenos Aires. We were there for three days, and I only seen two other black people. And they definitely treated me different. And you can do, I don't care who gets on here and say whatever. Whenever we went into a restaurant, you better believe I didn't get served. And my wife, who was very fluid in Spanish, had to go up and tell them, I didn't come serve us. You better believe the people treated me, you know, basically like, yeah, we don't like you and you don't need to be here. And I totally felt it. And it was funny because I started acting a certain way towards them people. And, you know, knowing what they are, I'm like, well, fuck it, then they don't like me. I don't like them either. And then I had to go back and I had to think about one of my friends, his name is Roosevelt Clark. He passed away a few years ago. Um, really, really good guy. Um, used to be an executive at this, at the pharmaceutical country company, um, Upjohn, before it became Pfizer. Um, played college football here at Western and basketball. Very, very smart man. And one of the most profound things he ever told me of years and years and years ago, is he was like, Rodney, you can't help. You can't help how people treat you, but you can help how you treat people. And I had to, I had to think about that because, you know, being there for three or four days, there was this guy and his wife, but they had like six kids. But the thing about it was their kids spoke to me every day, not asking me for anything, even though they were sleeping right there on the street. It's that just hola, hola, every day I come out. Como sta? Hola, como sta? You know, every day smiled at me. And I thought about that. So of course, you know, I go in, take the father and the Burger King, and I'm buying them, I'm about to spend a bunch, what I thought would be a whole bunch of money in there on meals for him and his family. And I couldn't believe how the Burger King people was treating me in there, and I'm trying to help their own people. And again, and and and and I knew that it was a little racist because one of my friends who worked Army Intelligence had told me that. And he was like, bro, you you ain't gonna experience nothing like that outside until you get there. And my wife's good friend is from um Argentina, and I love her to death. Eliana is a great person, but apparently there's a um region of Argentina where there are darker Argentinians who like, who like black people, and that's where she's from in that part of Argentina. Um but back to this part, uh they were treating me different because they didn't believe that I was gonna buy this guy's family, or they didn't believe that I had the money because I'm black to buy this man's family fool. And I'm like, I don't even speak your language, and I'm an American. And usually when we go out the country in the Caribbean and they know I'm not from America, they treat me with open arms to make sure they they get my money. Them people in Argentina didn't give a damn. That's how they did not even want to touch my money or my credit card. That's how bad it is. So again, as I'm watching the, and and as I'm watching FIFA and I'm hearing this, it makes me think of us as a people, like us as black people who um who don't like to travel or who do like to travel. The thing that I like to do is I tell my wife all the time, man, I don't want to go where I'm tolerated. I want to go where I'm celebrated. Honey, why do you always like to go to the Caribbean? Because in the Caribbean, man, they they they they treat me like I need to be there. They treat me like I need to live there. Let's go to Europe. No, I don't want to go to no fucking Europe. They don't like me in Europe. I I even had, I actually thought about going to Pears until, again, I started, you know, listening to cats who have been, you know, and telling me how they treat you like the same way like in Argentina. You have to go get somebody to come and help you because they don't want to fuck with you because you're black, you know, and it's it's funny because I have all of these, you know, I have all of these places that I want to go, but now I don't want to, especially, and then watching this World Cup and watching how they treat um, okay, just say foreign black people, you know, and then not even see their teammates stick up for them. It makes it even more, you know, like in your face. Like you do not need to be there because you will not be welcome there. Now that's not to say like in every Latin country or every Caribbean country we're um accepted because in some of them we we definitely aren't. But for the most part, man, I would I will go to any Caribbean, man, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Dominican, uh, Turks and Caicos, Virgin Islands. We've been to all of them, and I'll go back to all of them many times. I'll go back to Thailand. Because over there in Thailand, man, it was the people are freaking great. I'll go back to Japan. I'll go back to Bali. Bali and Japan were two places that I went to that I absolutely adored and loved because every if you messed up, people were apologizing. Those places, those places, those two places taught me that even over there, racism is taught because um in Japan, me and the wife, we went to a uh a temple. We we went to a whole bunch of temples while we were in Japan, because temples are a big thing. And the thing about Japan is in their temples, they have their students, their students come in there all in uniform, but it's like thousands and thousands of kids. Well, I'm at this one temple, and you know, I got tired of walking up and down the stairs because we have been to so many. So I'm sitting down chilling. I decide to get ready to go walk out in the front. All of a sudden, I walk by a school of kids, and it was probably 40 or 50 kids in this one class. One of the kids stepped out of line, came up to high-five me, give me a hug, and puts me in line with him and walks with his arm around my waist and makes sure that I put my arm around him, tells his teacher, because they're learning English, tells his teacher, friend, this little kid is probably nine, eight, nine years old. Called me his friend. And if you know anything about me, the best way, the best way to get to me is a nice kid. Because again, man, children are the most innocent thing on this earth. And it was crazy because it made me understand like I'm watching their TV. There's no black people on their TV. There's no white people on their TV. It's Japanese people. They're sumo wrestling, Japanese sumo wrestlers. There's no American sumo wrestlers on their TV. So it's, it took me back to they are everything about being uh seeing us as bad people and this, that, and a third, is taught. Because we weren't seen as bad people on their TVs, because they don't show us on their TV. So this kid saw me as his friend because I was probably the only, the first black person that he saw, but not only saw, but touched. Because you should have seen the chain reaction. All of a sudden, 10 kids come up to me, want to shake my hand, want to hug me, get circle around me, you know, smiling and just, you know, high-fiving me, not taking pictures because I'm not a spectacle to them. I'm something that they've never seen with their own eyes, or let alone be able to touch. And it felt so good because these kids were so innocent and they were so great, to the point where other kids who may have been shy in other uniforms, which meant they went to another school, saw this. And as I walked by their school, the older kids would step out of line, high-five me, shake my hand, give me a hug. And, you know, the teachers would, I mean, and the teachers were ecstatic that I would give this time to their kids. And it was incredible. I was celebrated and I felt good. I wasn't tolerated. I was celebrated. I'd go back to Japan anytime. Same thing with Bali. We went to Bali. The kids are freaking magnificent there. Every time I passed the kid, he spoke to me, smiled to me, gave me a hug, you know. And it was crazy because one time we were driving up to our Airbnb and there were three, three Bali uh belay, I don't know how you say they're, you know, but they're kids from Bali just sitting there on their phone, just looking and our car ride by and they yell and say, hey, hey, to me. I stopped the car, give them some money, one of them, give one of them money. And then you should see, oh my God. And it wasn't even like it was a bunch. It's probably like three bucks. Man, you should have seen the way that these kids reacted. They got up and ran over to the crowd where their parents were just all it was just total jubilation. And of course, and I understood, but I, you know, at first it was shocking to where you feel like you didn't understand, but then you understood. But I even understood more once the taxi driver says to me, This is what you guys don't understand. That you don't have to worry about that one guy not sharing with his other two. If you would have given him a nowin later, now y'all know what a nowin later is. If you would have given him one now and later, the three of them would take turns sucking on that now and later. They would count seconds apiece, sucking on that now and later, passing it back and forth. That's the giving spirit of Bali. And these children were so, I mean, they were everywhere we went in Bali, when a kid saw me, he ran up to speak to me. You know, it was, I mean, it was it was a great place. And again, like when I messed up or something in one of their restaurants, it was it was funny because they would, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, what are you sorry for? I'm the one that did it. And again, I mean, and I'm walking, they're setting up their karaoke machine. They call me in to help them set up their karaoke machine, just do some music. You you do some, and I'm not a great singer at all, but you know, I did some little Tupac or whatever. And and just to help them set up their uh uh system, and people are recording it and looking at it, and and and and I got people in the restaurant doing it. People stop walking by, see me doing karaoke, just me and the wife is in there. They stop and they come in, and they think it was because I was doing karaoke that they can. No, they stopped because they had great food there and they had karaoke, not because of me, but that's how they make you feel over there. They were celebrating me. You know, in the Caribbean, when we go places, we like me and my Marine Corps buddies, we go to we go to the Dominican, man. When we go to spots, man, they they clear out the spots for us, you know. But we we like we're not those type of people. We like, nah, we want to chill and kick it with the with the locals, you know. And and so whenever we do come back and see him, they they KLOK, that means what's up, my friend? You know, everywhere we go because they know us, they celebrate us. You know, I don't want to go to no God. I don't want to go to France. They don't like me there. Why do I want to go there? I don't I am telling you, if you feel like me, when you go on vacations or you're thinking about a vacation, pay attention to those countries that you're thinking about going. You know, don't be oblivious to how they really feel about you. You know what I mean? Just pay attention. Yeah, you might get some good service when you go over there, but you might not have paid attention to what went on. You might not have paid attention to 10 people came in right after you when they got here. Now I'm gonna come and help you. I mean, I've had that happen many a times when we was in Buenos Aires. I hated it. I hated it. I loved Chile. Definitely love Brazil. Brazil was freaking great. $3 pipe at Anyas, walking down the beach. Are you kidding me all day, every day? You know? And so I'm saying all of this and understanding that these are my opinions, and my opinions only, and my experiences, and my experiences only. You might not have these same things, but the for my people who are kind of like me, I want y'all to hear it from me. Man, make sure you go somewhere where you celebrate it, because it is not a fun vacation. You done wasted your money if you go. I felt like I wasted my fucking money in Argentina because the way I was treated. Hell, we went to Africa. You know what? I felt great in Cape Town. When did I feel shitty? When we went outside of Cape Town to African places. You know, they was treat they would they was treating me like I thought I was better than them when I did I'm trying to, you know, and they not even talking to me. But they going to talk to, you know, the the the other people. It was like I was invisible. But you know, that's how it goes in other countries. So again, you know, I I I tell y'all, if you want to enjoy a vacation, man, go where you celebrate it. Don't go where you tolerate it. You know, I mean, shoot, Panama was freaking awesome. But a lot of expats go there, but still, which is, you know, people from the United States, they moved there, but still it was great. Panama was awesome. I mean, shoot, you were Turks and Caicos was awesome. Virgin Islands was awesome. Uh shoot, um, anywhere in the Caribbean, Belize was awesome. It's, you know, um Dominican, of course, is freaking great. Colombia was Colombia was great, you know, a lot of history, a lot of things that you can see there is great. Um, Costa Rica off the hook. I mean, you know, um, again, Brazil off the hook. I mean, I've been a I love Caribbean, as you can tell, because I'm celebrated there. I like to snorkel. Those are all great snorkeling places. I love Mexico, you know. I mean, it you there's certain parts of Mexico you don't go to, but shit, there's certain parts of the United States I don't go to too. So, you know, where I go to in Mexico, I absolutely love, you know, but I hear the stories, I'm not over there. So I don't worry about it. The person I go to, I love, you know, I love Toto Santos. You know what I mean? Shoot, I I love uh Cabo, you know. So again, I um to my people, you know, this this this or or or any one period, you know, not even my people. It's more of a um, you know, if you like the travel thing, you know, white people, you can pretty much go anywhere and be celebrated, but we can't. And I don't want us to be mistaken and think that we can and think that we're gonna have the fun that we're gonna have in certain places because we not. So again, do your research and pay attention to what's said. Listen to other people's experience. Don't don't just read it. You know what I'm saying? Find out what other people's experiences in these places were. Because again, if you ask me my my experience in Argentina, I have no problem telling you, fuck Argentina. Sorry about my language and a soccer team and all of them. I feel that way as much as we contribute. So again, um, this was a little different, a little deeper, but I want my people to be celebrated and not tolerated. And I understand I want y'all to understand that there are places out there that celebrate us. There are places that you can go and you will have a blast. There are places where the people that live there will make sure you have a ball and they will do everything that they can to make sure that you do. The world for us is not as dangerous as you think it is if we go to the places that want us there. Just remember that. When you're doing your vacation, don't do it just because you see the shit on TV. I want to go here. Yeah, you saw a white person say that. No. Go to the places where you see we talk about. See what the people in your age demographic that look like you go to and see what their responses are in these places. Don't go someplace because it looks good and it looks like it might cost a lot of money because I ain't about all of that. You can go to places in the Caribbean and have a blast and also save a whole lot of money. And the thing about it is you're not partying with no locals and shit like that in Europe and in uh other other, you know, and in other places and all of that. But I tell your ass what? You go to the Caribbean every day is a party. Every night somebody out party. And you walk by, guess what they're doing? Come down here and have a seat. Tell me that shit don't sound like it's fun. Tell me that don't look like you're gonna have a good time on your vacation. And tell me that don't look like you're gonna meet some new people like you wanna do, and have some fun with these people, and they're gonna remember you, and you're gonna want to come back again, again, and again. So again, thank you for tuning in to Coach Roddow's Podcast Winning Regardless. And enjoy your vacation and go somewhere where you are celebrated, not tolerated.

unknown 22:42

Peace.