Cultures may vary vastly around the world or even inside a small continent like Europe. When you are in your native region you know how to deal with all situations. It is never the same, it changes even inside the same country or state. When you are not in your region you have to keep in mind that it is potentially dangerous, and what you consider safe in your homeland may not be somewhere else. If the guy was killed merely based on racism, no kind of agency will tell you it is dangerous for a black person to simply walk in the streets. Even locals won't say that 'cause most people in the word are reasonable and can't or don't want to see the reality. Also even if you fit the culture you will always be seen as a second class individual simply because you are a foreigner. Lots of people are killed based on racism anywhere in the world from the Americas to Africa, Europe, East and Far East.
If you are not familiar with a region my advice is to be humble and ridiculously polite. If you are already in trouble the more you talk the worse things get.
If you are not familiar with a region my advice is to be humble and ridiculously polite. If you are already in trouble the more you talk the worse things get.