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RainDance: I moved from rural Tennessee, where while I was growing up there was one black person in the county (population ~20,000, she was a doctor working off a residency in an 'impoverished area' and moved about three months after someone placed a 3 foot tall burning cross in her yard), to Norfolk, Virginia, which I would say is ethnically mixed though not integrated. I consider myself a tolerant individual but, whether because of my own character fault or my background, I cannot say I 'see no color'. I do unconsciously stereotype (and perhaps, with this post, consciously), as I see a lot of differences between the way a white girl in Lynnhaven acts and a black girl in Larrymore Lawns... Guys and girls, people carry themselves differently, speak differently, react and interact differently. The lines are probably more based on economic class than race, but sadly the race lines and poverty lines still fall in much the same places.
That being said, I will begin to stereotype... I've worn my grey sweats (in which I REALLY show) to a nice mall in a white neighborhood, and I DO get glances and raised eyebrows, but that's about it... I've worn the same outfit to Wal-Mart late at night where I was one of only 3 white people in a store full of 30, and had people comment out loud and then follow me to the grocery store next door. About two weekends ago I went to the mall in sweats, and some guy nudged his girlfriend as I walked by on the way out (passing them the second time) and heard her say very loudly "Damn, I missed it".
To be honest, I enjoy the honesty and the obviousness of their reactions... On Halloween, I was out in a kilt, ended up dancing with a group of three black girls; the obvious questions concerning the kilt arose, and one was so brazen as to lift my kilt, just a little... When I passed her and her friends in the parking garage afterwards, they were very vocal and very insistant on seeing everything...
The French (in Paris, anyway) are also very OBVIOUS crotch watchers (unfortunately, I don't speak French...)
My question, I suppose, if whether others have noticed a sharp difference in reactions between black and white, in other countries, between east and west coast, north and south, et cetera...
That being said, I will begin to stereotype... I've worn my grey sweats (in which I REALLY show) to a nice mall in a white neighborhood, and I DO get glances and raised eyebrows, but that's about it... I've worn the same outfit to Wal-Mart late at night where I was one of only 3 white people in a store full of 30, and had people comment out loud and then follow me to the grocery store next door. About two weekends ago I went to the mall in sweats, and some guy nudged his girlfriend as I walked by on the way out (passing them the second time) and heard her say very loudly "Damn, I missed it".
To be honest, I enjoy the honesty and the obviousness of their reactions... On Halloween, I was out in a kilt, ended up dancing with a group of three black girls; the obvious questions concerning the kilt arose, and one was so brazen as to lift my kilt, just a little... When I passed her and her friends in the parking garage afterwards, they were very vocal and very insistant on seeing everything...
The French (in Paris, anyway) are also very OBVIOUS crotch watchers (unfortunately, I don't speak French...)
My question, I suppose, if whether others have noticed a sharp difference in reactions between black and white, in other countries, between east and west coast, north and south, et cetera...