I made the thrilling trip down the Broad river in a kayak. The trip consisted of nine people in our group. In this town all my friends are white and we all carry the same values as adults and the same maturity level about race, color, sex, etc. As we pulled up I noticed that not only am I the only person thats not white, but many of these people working the river ‘looked’ ignorant and dressed in clothing that had burn holes and tears in random spots. I felt people staring down my neck and watching my every move. One middle-aged worker asked me if I could swim and suggested that I be wary of the rocks in the river so not to damage the kayak. When the man walked away, my friends asked me why I thought the man warned me and not the others. The attention was on me, and it was negative. He did not even raise his voice so that others in my group could here what he was saying. Moments later an elderly man that worked at the premises addressed me. He had been smoking his pipe and watching me interact with the white women in my group. He came to me and said, “You know you cannot take glass bottles on the river.†I replied of course I would not want to jeopardize anyone’s adventure by letting someone get cut on broken glass. He looked me dead in the eyes and said, “You know it could be your foot that gets cut and then who do you think gets sued?†Needless to say, I felt infuriated. As if I had committed a crime that no one else could possibly do. I looked around at my friends and they were all drinking beer out of bottles, mind you. He did not say a word to them. He continued to say, “Most people know about this, but I figured you didn’t.†I recognize that I am Indian and in a sense different, but equal. Situations like this get my nerves up. I felt hot and started to sweat. Like an outcast to the group, I quit talking until we hit the water. I wanted to scream out at these people that seemed less fortunate in the education department. But the only result would be that they people would think even less of me. I had to find a way to alter the way these people think. Break this ignorance and stereotype enough that they would go home and discuss what happened with their families and community. I figured something out and felt like a better alternative. As we put the boats into the water, I was the only one that tipped the man for helping us drop the boats in the water. Instantly the man looked up at me. I firmly looked back into his eyes. He did not have a word for me. The perspective of the man was that I was cheap and stupid. He never thought that the only person that would tip him out of the entire group would be me, the brown guy. Four miles down a river will easy all the tension in the world. Taking in the beauty of your surroundings in with deep breaths and catching a buzz off a six pack at the same time. If you haven’t tried it, I recommend you get a group together always after a good rain. When we arrived at the final destination, the attitudes were much different. As I reached the unloading zone, the same guy I tipped came into the water to help me out the kayak. The boat I used had a leak in it. As if originally they all knew I had a damaged boat, but quickly realized I was the only one that tipped them. The elderly man apologized to me and offered me a free trip conditionally that I bring some extra business with myself. On the drive back to town I thought to myself, “I either paid my way out of that one, or maybe I really got through to those country folks.†I hope it is the latter. ** Post got a little long..sorry about that. feels good to let even more people here the story.
I'm a white male, the only group that can be (and is) constantly discriminated against. Welcome to the party!
I think If you read this far you might as well know...I should have made the title of the thread. **Tells about an "Out of Comfort" experience.
I think your wording got a little screwed up here. Any group can be discriminated against. As a White male myself (do secret handshake now), I honestly don't ever feel discriminated against. That's because I think of discrimination being systematic and economic in its impact.
This should be more clear: "I'm a white male, the only group that can be (and is) legally discriminated against." Did you go to college? Were you turned down by a better school because the quota said that minority students with lesser qualifications had to be accepted ahead of you? Do you pay taxes? Do you know that you receive fewer benefits from those taxes, just because you are not a minority and not a female? Are you in business? Do you know that female and minority owned businesses are given contracts even when more qualified and less expensive options are available? That's the law. Have you ever tried to get a job? Do you realize that you may have been turned down for a job -- not because of your qualifications -- but because a less qualified applicant was hired to meet a race or sex quota. Groups are made of people, people like you and me.
I went to college and graduated. (I paid 100% of the tuition costs myself). I have owned my business since 1991 and when I needed money I got it from the SBA. Of course I pay taxes (as the employer/employee I pay both ends). That said, the original question was "did I ever feel discriminated against"? And the answer is "NO" because I try to look on the bright side of things
I am a white guy living in mexico and they have a term around here called "gabacho" which translates into spit haha... One time at a bar every table got free popcorn but mine - I WANT MY POPCORN DAMMIT!
Happens all over the world mate unfortunately. I can't be arsed writing a long story on it as I am too busy at the moment but I used to live and work in Holland for three years, this is not a dig against the Dutch because in all honesty the majority of them are lovely people. I was living in a tower block with some Irish co-workers in a town called Leiden and there were many many Turks and Moroccans living in these blocks, the Turks and Moroccans were hard workers and very dedicated (a lot more dedicated than us Brits and Irish ) but were definitely looked down on by the Dutch in the neighbourhood where we lived, still they should be grateful because many of the Dutch wouldn't do the kind of menial jobs that we did over there. Shit boring work, but well paid with loads of OverTime. Anyway to cut a long story short they never really gave us any grief but we could sense that they were deffo looking down on us. Still, we didn't give a f*ck because we were earning good money over there working in the Bollenstreek (Bulb Industry) and we partied hard in Amsterdam most weekends, spent 13 weeks working and had enough money to go off travelling for a few months to places like South Africa, Thailand and Australia. I even managed to claim Dutch Unemployment benefit whilst out of the country too to help me along my way, but that's another story entirely!
I visited India with a group of friends that were also Indian. As we traveled throughout the country we felt more American than ever before. We had been labeled as foreigners in our homeland (the motherland for all of us in the group). I thought that people would be excited to talk to us and find out more about the place we came from. The idea that we had come halfway across the world to learn more about our heritage and them felt like enough that they too would be interested in what we had to say. Yet, The contrary was true. While there were some educated folk that choose to view us equals, most the people we encountered did not care for our company. But to get from city to city you had to travel and stay in rural areas along the way. Here people would stare at us as if we were not welcome. A few times I saw a thin, non-muscular Indian man bucking at us. It was slightly intimidating because we did not understand why. This area of a less developed country (LDC) was not modernized. People were not always welcomed and often hassled. I thought back to the situation at home. Indian people I knew would bend over backwards to help me. I would drive two hours just to help someone that was part of my community. Here they treated me like a different specie. People would just walk in front me in line as if I did not exist. When we wanted a ride, they would double the rates because of the way we dressed validated that we were tourist. Businesses had special prices for locals and for those that know a local. To add onto the discomfort, I kept my hair rather lengthy at the time. The cultural there is stricter on hair lengths. Those that noticed my male features assumed that I was homosexual, and those that merely glanced at me thought I was an ugly woman. When we went into a certain shop where we intended on buying souvenirs, I had to use the bathroom. The retailer, a male, escorted me to the women’s restroom, by accident. I looked at the sign and tried to explain to this man that I needed to go in the men’s room. His dialect was different then the one I understood and he was very stubborn. I could not believe this guy would not let me go to the men’s restroom. The rest of the trip my guard was up. I refused to let anyone tell me what I could do. I got really aggressive when I dealt with people in public. I began to assume that people were constantly judging me. I felt like I represented the entire Indian community in America. People watched my group and me as if we were so different then them. Groups of people would point and stare at us like we were lesser men. By the end of the trip I could not wait to get back home. As soon as we got back I kissed the ground. I learned a lot on the trip, but most importantly I learned about the way ignorance and jealousy can go hand to hand. These people were making themselves feel better about their situation by ridiculing people that were not in their own comfort zone… ...at least the Bhang was good