Racism in BA, am I alone?

[mhenna11]

I am a tan gringa from NY, I look Indian, Ecuadorian/ Italian, like everyone from the States, we are mixed. I have been experiencing a lot of racism. Today was the worst and the most frightening of my experience so far. I was doing my daily jog and I was crossing the railroad tracks. I don't dress nice when I run, I should tell you, because as a woman, I don' t want to attract attention to myself, men are very forward here. As I was crossing the railroad tracks this women in front of me, starts running, too, but she is crying. And I look around, to see why. She looks back at me and grabs her bag tight and runs, crying. I felt bad, maybe I should take my hat off, so she can see I am a female. I did, and she ran to another woman, the woman is now pointing at me crying. I am walking slowly looking at this commotion this woman is creating. And I asked," Todo esta bien? " And they get on their cell phones. I shrugg my shoulders and left. I continued my jog. Suddenly there is a neighborhood cop car following me. This cop car followed me the whole way to the park! It was a long run, and I was watching, as he turned, made a left, came back around, and came down another block, and continued following me. I didn't do anything. I just kept jogging. After I reached the park, the cop car went another way. As anyone experienced this before? What happened to me today, what was wrong with this woman? How can she call the cops on me based on my appearance?

 

[angelskywalker]

Nope, sadly you're not alone. That was quite extreme though...

Try to go to jewelry shops like TODO MODA or CLANDESTINE or so or just any shop and you'll notice how guards stare at you, shop assistants come to you and say TE PUEDO AYUDAR? .... don't get that wrong, they're not being nice, just keeping an eye on you.

I thought I was paranoid, but after having this experience whenever I go shopping or simply browsing, I noticed that it happens to me but not everybody..... u get my drift?? Clothes and shoes are the exception, bcs they really need to come to you and say TE PUEDO AYUDAR? right?

Plus, and this was really upsetting.... when cycling in Palermo I was on the cycle path but people were jogging on it, so I kept telling them they were on MY side of the path.... and a woman shouted at me saying GO BACK TO YOUR F*** COUNTRY!

Nice isn't it?

 

[Bajo_cero2]

I feel so bad about what happend to you. There is a lot of women with issues regarding paranoia because there is a huge abuse of drugs like Alplax, ribotril, etc, etc wich side efects are precisly paranoia. However, the police behaved properly because they just double check you behaviour instead of your look and they didn't disturb you.
When I was a teen I had long hair and this kind of things happend to me often.
Regards

 

[prabhu.mohanraaj]

thinking you are a North American, probably you should be white nor Black, But I have a typical Indian Skin complex, Everyday I find people starring or may be sometimes they also try to go away from me ... I have experience this for almost 6 Months, Now the only solution i have is take my Ipod and Few English Books in hand and prove them that I am civilized ! Crazy Argentine ...

 

[cafeconleche]

There is a lot of staring, though maybe it's more out of curiosity than racism. It's especially irritating how so many people give me the full once-over stare.

 

[Ashley]

That is really awful but I think the paranoia is typical here. I live in a building with two other PH apartments and my neighbour is terrified of getting robbed.
The other day when it was raining, my husband had his hood up, went to go into the building a couple of seconds after her and she almost had a coronary. When he apologised for scaring her, she said that it was because he looked like the (dark-featured, hooded sweatshirt wearing) kids that sit in the front of the gym a couple of doors down (smoking and laughing with each other, but not hurting anyone, I hasten to add)!

 

[jazrgz]

I am a tan gringa from NY, I look Indian, Ecuadorian/ Italian, like everyone from the States, we are mixed. I have been experiencing a lot of racism. Today was the worst and the most frightening of my experience so far. I was doing my daily jog and I was crossing the railroad tracks. I don't dress nice when I run, I should tell you, because as a woman, I don' t want to attract attention to myself, men are very forward here. As I was crossing the railroad tracks this women in front of me, starts running, too, but she is crying. And I look around, to see why. She looks back at me and grabs her bag tight and runs, crying. I felt bad, maybe I should take my hat off, so she can see I am a female. I did, and she ran to another woman, the woman is now pointing at me crying. I am walking slowly looking at this commotion this woman is creating. And I asked," Todo esta bien? " And they get on their cell phones. I shrugg my shoulders and left. I continued my jog. Suddenly there is a neighborhood cop car following me. This cop car followed me the whole way to the park! It was a long run, and I was watching, as he turned, made a left, came back around, and came down another block, and continued following me. I didn't do anything. I just kept jogging. After I reached the park, the cop car went another way. As anyone experienced this before? What happened to me today, what was wrong with this woman? How can she call the cops on me based on my appearance?

Im sorry you had to go through this experience ! I dont think this incident was about racism though (of course, i wasnt there, so i dont know). These days ppl are very paranoid because of insecurity, specially ppl that has been assaulted before. We are always on alert when on the street and im guessing this lady saw someone running towards her and freaked out. (i myself when im walking on the street and i hear someone running i get in double alert). Im not saying this woman acted ok, but only that maybe she got freaked out to see someone running near her in the railroad tracks (im guessing she didnt focus on whether you were a girl or a guy or tan or white, just focused on the situation and reacted instantly) and that would explain why after you showed her you were just a person jogging she remain crying and scared (meaning, she was in shock, blind to who you were or what you were really doing).... Again, this is just a guestimation clearly and would not have made it any less traumitc of experience to you.
About the police. if he was warned of a possible thief, he had to check you out (also an awfull experience to you).
Prabhu, in your case, what happens is similar to what black ppl experience here...we are just not used to see black or Indian ppl, so it´s likely to be stared at :S . I lived in a small town in Iowa for a year where absolutaly everyone was white (irish or german) so i would get stared at a lot ! not a nice experience but with time i realized that they stared at me only because i was not someone they would normally see (at least in most cases).
Angel..in your case i think it´s not a matter of race, it´s just that these kinds of business distrusts absolutaly everyone, unless you are regular, they would assume you may mean bad (I hate this attitude, it really pisses me off, but i dont believe it´s racism). The episode riding a bike...you just encountered an asshole (plenty of those around these parts hehehe)
Having said this, i do believe there´s lots of racism here, though not towards Indians, Blacks or foreigners in general but yes towards, immigrants from bordering countries.

-Juan

 

[nikad]

In all honesty I don´think pèople here are any more racist than in the US. The difference is that here they are open about it and in the US they hide what is not politically correct. I think the OP ran into a real nutjob to be honest. And yes, there is a lot of staring but not with a racist feeling, more out of curiosity.

 

[CarverFan]

I have encountered racism, someone made fun of the fact that my child has playdates with the daughter of the Chinese couple who run the mini-mart next door. There were some nasty comments, even though the little girl is Argentinian by birth.

 

[mhenna11]

Thanks everyone. This is very helpful. And I do feel better about what happened. I understand now. It's a mix of everything, me running, railroad tracks, when I look back, of course she must of been scared, she must of had a bad experience before. Yes, people are more open about being racist here, they don't care about being politically correct. I think they are not use to different people. What is going on with the use of drugs that make them paranoid, why are they are taking it in the first place? I don't understand, sounds really sad. We make jokes about my experiences here with my husband friends, they know how docile I am, we even once got an entire elevator to ourselves because a tenant had chosen the stairs instead of sharing an elevator with me. Anyway, thank you. I will try to be more understanding.