An American woman traveling in New Zealand with her family said she was shocked to hear someone use the derogatory n-word in the country.
Michigan travel content creator Tatyana Welch, 31, said she was in Rotorua waiting in line with her husband and two young children on the iconic Skyline Luge when the incident happened.
“This kid – I want to say he was in his late teens … old enough to know better and do better – when he was sitting with a couple of girls and one of the girls he was with, her hands started turning black from holding the handlebars to go down the rudder,” Welch explained in a follow-up TikTok video was uploaded on Thursday.
@little.welch.travelers Jeez… you really can’t escape it apparently. I had such high hopes that this travel experience would show me that not everywhere is “like America”… well, apparently I was wrong. #familytrips #travel with children #travel the world ♬ original sound – little.welch.travelers
“He laughed and said, ‘Oh, you’re turning into a —’ insert pejorative here.”
Welch, who embarked on a yearlong trip around the world with her family in September to “show our kids that life is more than our little corner of America,” said the person who made the racial slur didn’t notice she was standing next to her. to him.
Even though the other girls — who had noticed Welch’s presence — told him to stop talking, “he kept repeating it,” Welch said.
Finally they made eye contact. “He was really ashamed… He clearly knew he was wrong to say that,” she claimed in the TikTok video.
Shortly after while on the sled, Welch filmed her reaction to the moment, which she first uploaded to TikTok on Wednesday.
“Watch me distance myself as a trauma response after hearing someone say the ‘n’ word in New Zealand right in front of my face,” reads the superimposed text on the video, which has now amassed more than 222,000 views.
A dejected Welch said in the video clip that she had hoped on her travels that they would see a “change in the way people act”.
“I just didn’t expect to hear anyone use that term here,” she added.
@little.welch.travelers I hope this can be a productive conversation but it’s TikTok so my hopes are low #familytrips #travel with children #travel the world ♬ original sound – little.welch.travelers
The video attracted many comments from Kiwis. Some were sympathetic to Welch’s experience. “Arohamai sorry it happened to you Aotearoa is not necessary that way,” read one comment.
Many others tried to justify the incident. “It’s not used to offend in NZ we throw it around like ‘bro’,” one commenter claimed.
“Unfortunately NZ is heavily influenced by America so unfortunately that word is very common in this country,” wrote another.
Another person wrote: “The comments from NZ are not”.
To talk to HeraldWelch said she was “absolutely shocked” when she heard the word. “I understand that in America they use the slang version of that word in their music videos and lyrics, but nobody in America is running around using the derogatory term for it. (Using) the hard ‘r,’” she said.
Welch, who is a person of color, explained in a video that she has experienced her “fair share” of racism.
“It’s very triggering for me to hear someone say that right in front of my face in a country that’s supposed to be accepting of all races,” she said.
When Herald asked her about her general experience as a person of color in New Zealand, she said: “Our experience here in New Zealand has been nothing short of amazing.
“People have been incredibly welcoming and friendly everywhere we’ve been and that perception hasn’t changed just because of that little incident with the ignorant kid.
“It was an isolated incident and I don’t want to take one situation and make it country-wide. Nowhere is perfect and I guess it was ignorant of me to think New Zealand would be perfect.”
