A friend of mine has become scared of one of his neighbor. My friend is Latino. His neighbor is white and often makes comments about the Latinos not helping the USA society to become a safe and productive country. The discourse coming from the White House is spreading or giving free reign to those who once were not as vocal to be so as they are now.
I was stopped three times a few years ago by a new neighbor, a strongly built middle age white woman who seems to keep unusual working hours and loves to dress up in black leather clothes, and asked directly and sternly like a police person would do, if I live here. The first time I thought she wanted to get to know the neighbors and I smiled and told her how many years I had been residing in the building. She gave me no answer and I realized that she was interrogating me as if I was a suspect, a criminal. The second time, I answered her with a nasty “yes I do” and kept walking towards my apartment, and when I turned around, she was standing by her door, watching me, waiting for me to get into my apartment. The third time I did not answer and gave her an angry look. I never asked her as to why she was questioning me. Since she has become very friendly with other neighbors, who know who I am and was at CCNY, it seems that she found out that I am not an old Puerto Rican criminal; and now, whenever she encounters me, says hello with a high pitch voice. Not until she apologizes, will I answer her. I ignore her completely. For some people, on the receiving end of the experience, racism or stereotyping is not a joke and those who feel they have the right to police the others, because color of skin or ethnicity, should not be treated as if they are above judgement simply because they believe to be so. Recently, while waiting for the elevator, another neighbor came over and said hello, then the interrogator came over also, but this time, she did not salute me and stood right in between me and the other neighbor, and started to talk to her. After we got off, she left the building and my neighbor and I went to pick the mail and I -perhaps, I should have not- told her the anecdote about being interrogated by the other neighbor. She was very supportive and placed the situation in the context of the political climate in the country nowadays, but I got the impression that she was being polite, not wanting to know that there were Trumpian minds in the building or just treated the experience as neighborly gossip. It was not. It is pure and unpasteurized racism like the one the President and his surrounding fascists are pushing around, encouraging.
I was stopped three times a few years ago by a new neighbor, a strongly built middle age white woman who seems to keep unusual working hours and loves to dress up in black leather clothes, and asked directly and sternly like a police person would do, if I live here. The first time I thought she wanted to get to know the neighbors and I smiled and told her how many years I had been residing in the building. She gave me no answer and I realized that she was interrogating me as if I was a suspect, a criminal. The second time, I answered her with a nasty “yes I do” and kept walking towards my apartment, and when I turned around, she was standing by her door, watching me, waiting for me to get into my apartment. The third time I did not answer and gave her an angry look. I never asked her as to why she was questioning me. Since she has become very friendly with other neighbors, who know who I am and was at CCNY, it seems that she found out that I am not an old Puerto Rican criminal; and now, whenever she encounters me, says hello with a high pitch voice. Not until she apologizes, will I answer her. I ignore her completely. For some people, on the receiving end of the experience, racism or stereotyping is not a joke and those who feel they have the right to police the others, because color of skin or ethnicity, should not be treated as if they are above judgement simply because they believe to be so. Recently, while waiting for the elevator, another neighbor came over and said hello, then the interrogator came over also, but this time, she did not salute me and stood right in between me and the other neighbor, and started to talk to her. After we got off, she left the building and my neighbor and I went to pick the mail and I -perhaps, I should have not- told her the anecdote about being interrogated by the other neighbor. She was very supportive and placed the situation in the context of the political climate in the country nowadays, but I got the impression that she was being polite, not wanting to know that there were Trumpian minds in the building or just treated the experience as neighborly gossip. It was not. It is pure and unpasteurized racism like the one the President and his surrounding fascists are pushing around, encouraging.
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