I do not feel the effects of racism that often. Sure, I may be upon questionable ethnicity upon first glance, but I rarely associate with people that care about that sort of thing. This makes me even more taken aback when it does happen.
That being said, I had a bad experience today while Antiquing in Cole Camp, MO. This town is extremely small, known exclusively for its german population. People from the nearby town of Sedalia (where I'm from) would warn that Cole Camp is a bit extreme. I came here pretty excited upon the midst of a snowstorm. I just came back from some amazing antique stores in Lincoln with some great depression glass finds. I was hoping that lady luck would strike twice. My mom, dad, and I stroll into Big Brown Dog Antiques and the clerk greets us. We look at some of the jewlery first, and I reach over and pick up a pair of earrings until I notice that they are $26 dollars. I set them down then look to find the clerk to ask if the price was right. She was already staring right at me. That made me feel wierd, but I figured it was one of those moments where you just awkwardly make eye contact with a stranger. I forget my question, and I walk around the store. I find a stack of used cross stitching magazines. I think I spent 15 minutes rooting through those magazines. Every once in a while I would look up to make sure my parents haven't left the store, but I would make eye contact with the clerk who was circling awkwardly close and monitoring my actions. It made me feel extremely uncomfortable. I felt like I was doing something wrong. I terminated my antiquing in this store early, deciding to get out of the scrutiny of this sales clerk. My parents find me and I can tell that they had the same sentiment. I put my $1 worth of magazines on the table and she rudely asks me if I am going to pay for them. I thought "why in the world wouldn't I pay for them", but I ended up meekly saying, "yes". I handed her a dollar and a dime and left the store.
Come to find out, the lady might have just been checking me out, but she was harassing my parents. She was closely following them the whole time. At one point, she accused my father of theft. Now this bewildered me. Why would she accuse a grown man of theft when his teenage daughter is rifling around the same store? After this accusation, he wordlessly walked away from her to find me and leave. If I knew this happened, I would have stuck up for us. Just because we are hispanic doesn't mean we steal. My dad fought for 20 years in the military for this country, and my uncle built the church in this town 10 years ago. We have deep roots here, and she is going to treat us like we are a bunch of criminals.
Was it racism? Yes. There were many other people in that store, and we were the only ones being harassed.
When I think of this I get so mad that I want to go back and slap that lady. She works in a crummy store in the middle of nowhere and she thinks she is better than us.
People have warned us about Cole Camp. I have heard anecdotes about the racism that is prevalent there, but this is the first time that I experienced it first hand. I wish I could make an example out of this, but I can't. This, to you at least, is just one more anecdote.
I am doing what I can to sooth my pride. I wrote a flaming yelp review here.
That being said, I had a bad experience today while Antiquing in Cole Camp, MO. This town is extremely small, known exclusively for its german population. People from the nearby town of Sedalia (where I'm from) would warn that Cole Camp is a bit extreme. I came here pretty excited upon the midst of a snowstorm. I just came back from some amazing antique stores in Lincoln with some great depression glass finds. I was hoping that lady luck would strike twice. My mom, dad, and I stroll into Big Brown Dog Antiques and the clerk greets us. We look at some of the jewlery first, and I reach over and pick up a pair of earrings until I notice that they are $26 dollars. I set them down then look to find the clerk to ask if the price was right. She was already staring right at me. That made me feel wierd, but I figured it was one of those moments where you just awkwardly make eye contact with a stranger. I forget my question, and I walk around the store. I find a stack of used cross stitching magazines. I think I spent 15 minutes rooting through those magazines. Every once in a while I would look up to make sure my parents haven't left the store, but I would make eye contact with the clerk who was circling awkwardly close and monitoring my actions. It made me feel extremely uncomfortable. I felt like I was doing something wrong. I terminated my antiquing in this store early, deciding to get out of the scrutiny of this sales clerk. My parents find me and I can tell that they had the same sentiment. I put my $1 worth of magazines on the table and she rudely asks me if I am going to pay for them. I thought "why in the world wouldn't I pay for them", but I ended up meekly saying, "yes". I handed her a dollar and a dime and left the store.
Come to find out, the lady might have just been checking me out, but she was harassing my parents. She was closely following them the whole time. At one point, she accused my father of theft. Now this bewildered me. Why would she accuse a grown man of theft when his teenage daughter is rifling around the same store? After this accusation, he wordlessly walked away from her to find me and leave. If I knew this happened, I would have stuck up for us. Just because we are hispanic doesn't mean we steal. My dad fought for 20 years in the military for this country, and my uncle built the church in this town 10 years ago. We have deep roots here, and she is going to treat us like we are a bunch of criminals.
Was it racism? Yes. There were many other people in that store, and we were the only ones being harassed.
When I think of this I get so mad that I want to go back and slap that lady. She works in a crummy store in the middle of nowhere and she thinks she is better than us.
People have warned us about Cole Camp. I have heard anecdotes about the racism that is prevalent there, but this is the first time that I experienced it first hand. I wish I could make an example out of this, but I can't. This, to you at least, is just one more anecdote.
I am doing what I can to sooth my pride. I wrote a flaming yelp review here.