African immigrant asks strangers to translate racist comments directed at him

As part of a Lithuanian 'social experiment' video, an African immigrant asks locals to translate racist Facebook comments directed at him.

As part of a social experiment, an African immigrant asks Lithuanians to translate racist Facebook comments directed at him. (YouTube)

As part of a social experiment, an African immigrant asks Lithuanians to translate racist Facebook comments directed at him. (YouTube)

As part of a Lithuanian 'social experiment' video, an African immigrant asks locals to translate racist Facebook comments directed at him.  

The video shows a man of African descent sitting on a couch with his iPad. One by one, Lithuanians are escorted into the room, thinking they are there for a casting.

While the pair wait, the man pretends he has recently moved to the country and asks each participant if he or she could translate some Facebook comments into English. As they silently read the comments on his iPad, the participants are visibly upset and conflicted about what they're seeing. 

"I will not translate it to you. It's very humilating," one woman said.

Another man outright refuses saying, "No. I mean, there's no useful information for you."

Others, at the man's insistence, proceed to paraphrase the racist Facebook comments, apologising as they go along. The Facebook comments refer to the man as a "monkey" and a "slave", and tell him to "go back to Africa".

The 'social experiment' video was produced by the Lithuanian Centre for Human Rights to combat racism, and pointed viewers to a website that could help reduce discrimination. 

Watch the video in full

Share
2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: SBS

Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world