If you experienced being mistreated and suspect it might have had to do with you being a foreigner, explain what happened.

I think it's more a race/religion thing than a foreign thing, at least in our experience.

Can you describe a situation or incident where it occurred?

She's not here yet so I don't know what she'll experience on the topic. If we think somebody is making a big issue of it, one of us will explain she's a foreigner by birth but she's no illegal immigrant.

Foreigners who don't speak English well get treated worse than those who do, IMHO.

no. but my life is pretty much military base, i do everything here, i work here, go to the gym, buy food, gasoline, everything, and half the peeps in here are foreigner so i'm just one of them.

I agree


My husband has never mentioned that he feels he is treated differently because he's a foreigner - maybe that is because there are so many in this area - I don't know.
He works with Pakistanis and Americans at work so he's not the only non-USC.

Yes, several times that I learned how to ignore them.

The first time I was untreated fairly was in a local library. I told my husband that we return the books we borrowed separately and there was a line. We waited our turn and when it was my turn, the librarian looked at me (actually stared from head to foot) and turned to my husband who was behind me and asked him to hand his books. The lady thought my husband and I weren't together. She then told me to use the computer and made a remark "you know how to use a computer right?". I smiled and just finished my business independently. She did not send anybody else from the long line to the computer desk. My husband and I have the same number of books. Fast forward to now, the lady librarian is cordial to me now and gives me compliments every time I drop by.

Another was when I was out in the morning for a jog, a guy in a flashy red sports car slowed down and seemed to follow me. It happened a few days after I got here. The guy scared the #### out of me. The guy smiled at me and said "hello, how are you? would you like a ride? i haven't seen you before.... I'm Mike. ". I did not smile or say anything, instead I called my husband (thank God I have my cellphone with me that time) and walked fast toward a fire station. The guy then left.

And at work.....

On the road......

There will always be jerks and rude people. I just have to protect myself and my interests, not just for me but for my husband's sake as well. I don't want him to get worried for me. He has enough worries at work.

But on the bright side, my encounters with nice people far outnumber the bad ones. I learned how to weed out the bad experiences from the good and try so hard not to let these things affect me.



ETA: I can't generalize that these people are being discriminatory. I think most of them are horny fucktards!

Sorry, I got carried away. And thanks for letting me vent.

krakatoa - vent any time!

Well, I HOPE the librarian wasn't but the others, maybe so. I'm the USC and I couldn't be any more anglo-looking if I tried, and I get some of that stuff too

I think that it's true that those who speak English well probably have less trouble. Although once an accent is detected people do get curious, I've noticed.

This is the main reason we are moving to a part of Florida where there are two big bases...my hubby worries about my son "sticking out like a sore thumb" so sending him to a school in a community where many military people have foreign spouses seemed like the way to go.

not often, but if they do are discriminatory, they get a can of whoopedro.. mainly is the 'i wanna speak with someone who speaks english' kind of comment, which I don't take offense, I rather laugh at.. damn ignorant rednecks who can't understand proper english..

but as a foreigner i've noticed this.. people will mess with you if you can't defend yourself... people mess with illegals because they don't speak english and they know they won't call their manager or the cops or whatever.. but if they see you can raise hell, like moi, they'll leave you alone

I don't think it was too much about him being foreign, rather the wrong religion. I think a lot of people are more confused about him on that topic than anything else.

A lot of people have mistaken Jinky for being hispanic - even other Filipinos. So far, just two major incidences:

One involving her going to a check cashing place and having her foreign currency check confiscated from her because the guy thought she was trying to pass a fraudulent check. Being 7 months pregnant at the time and with a 6 year old in tow probably triggered off in this guy's head that she's poor and desperate.

The other time - a guy sitting in his parked van and talking on his cell phone, leaned on his horn for a couple of seconds while shouting at her and our baby to shut up. She was placing the baby in a cart and trying to console him while he cried.

In both incidences, I wasn't there and I wonder if the outcome or the person's actions would have been different had I been there with her.

the librarian must be bi... I should have known!

True.

whew, thanks! Feels good to let it out my chest.

good poll steven
and when is jinky ever gonna show back up again on vj?

Someone has to take care of the kid while daddy is taking care of all those people who are wrong on the internet.

Not like I ever fall into that trap...

oh snap!

...I think I just cracked a rib. You ungrateful ingrates.

If anything - it's probably religion. It's not prejudice - just tactless response & some smart-### comment about our religion.

Does it matter? No.

Not 'mistreated' but 'treated differently'.

I was in a restaurant and noticed that the service given to us was slower and not quite as polite as to the surrounding tables. Then, when I paid the bill and left a decent tip, the waiter looked genuinely shocked. I am sure that, having heard my accent, he'd assumed I wouldn't know how to tip and had therefore not paid as much attention to my table.

Now, mistreatment in other countries? Certainly.

the other day hubby and I were at Superior in the check out line.. and I see the cashier looking at me and then she asks, "Do you live in the area?" and I am like yes and then she asks, "Do you shop here often?" and I am like yes... she wasn't being mean or anything just curiuos and I wasn't offened or anything..

because you see mostly Mexicans shop at that store at least in that area.. I must have looked out of place

in some parts seeing a white person is like spotting elvis.

I used to feel uncomfortable being basically the only white person whenever I go to stores etc.. but I don't anymore...

The first time to have an Obgyn appointment... the nurse said " Do you speak english???' Which made me laugh with my husband. Then when the Dr. talked to me .. she said " oh... where did you learn your english??" .. well I said we use english in our school and I was teacher there as well.."

Less so than in Canada, but I have experienced mistreatment/discrimination in the US.

Yeah, being a minority is easy to get used to as long as people treat you right.

yeah people don't treat me bad or anything.. they just might look at me a little longer

That's what my husband says when we go to Asian market. He does not care because he knows we will be having some good food afterwads

"I see white people"

It's not mistreatment, but having an accent and having the same questions asked to you over and over is tiresome.

Or maybe they just want any excuse to talk to me because I'm devilishly handsome.

I've actually seen the claim about "much anti-immigrant sentiment" (specifically, in Atlanta area) on the Grasmick Forum from a white Pigtowner. I replied "I didn't particularly notice the 'high degree' you claim--though undoubtedly it exists; and I--a desi--would notice it a lot more quickly than you, who can easily pass as American; so I'm assuming it's because of your own temperament" (basically meaning that the Pigtowner is a chopf#ck--which he proved by a much angrier riposte).

HAHA I have had similar exchanges with goras from other gora countries about 'racism' in America... like they really have a clue.

Ha ha - brilliant

probably, heard you were Bi...

One of my favourite memories of shopping in Alabama was a cashier asking me to say her name in my language I thought that was too cute.


it was Steve????!!!!

I thought it was but I was wrong. Sorry if I inadvertently started a rumor!

Javi's had plenty of prejudice towards him. I chalk it up to the fact that we live in Podunk, USA and just try to ignore it. He's been ignored in gas stations, flipped the bird at several places, and just generally treated like a dumb@ss at other places. Most people assume he doesn't speak or understand english. There was on incident when we were coming out of Lowe's Home Improvement when this guy just started yelling at him and trying to start a fight. Well, I might be small but you don't start with me or anyone I care about. It didn't take me long to let that guy know right where he stood. Of course, this was as I was physically pushing Javi into the car so he wouldn't give the guy a beat down. You know, immigration wouldn't have looked to lightly on him beating the crap outta some guy in a parking lot.

You go, girl.

I am the USC and my fiance hasn't come here yet.But having grown up in a culturally diverse neighborhood(Armenian,Cambodian,Laotian,Italian,Portuguese,Cape Verdian,etc.),I noticed over the years that people in this country have always been prejudiced against foreigners.This was going on way before illegal immigration was a big problem.I remember all the American people complaining about how a certain group was "taking over" so they all moved out of the neighborhood.

This happened to me a lot when I was in Brazil. I'm tall, very pale, and blonde....so I stuck out like a sore thumb in the north of Brazil. People would stare at me, especially when I was with my dark skinned man. I got used to it...
When I spoke English in public (with a friend) people would REALLY look, but often smile.
Some people don't mistreat you, they are just curious so they treat you differently.

Quite a few people tell me I don't look latinamerican and expect me to be flattered.

I lived (and will shortly live again) in a small, rural, one horse town in Southern Illinois, where you're considered an outsider if you're from another town, let alone another country. Suffice to say I've had to put up with a fair amount of crap. I get called a "faggit" a lot by some of the local good 'ol boys, but I put this down to the fact that their wives/girlfriends are very taken with my accent, and aren't shy in telling me so.

Bootylicious also makes a good point re having to behave yourself in the capacity of a proposed new immigrant. Stuff you'd not usually put up with you have to try and ignore in that situation. As long as it's not taken too far (i.e. someone physically assualts you) then I can't say I'm too bothered by it.

yea.. it has happened to me... Oh really?? you don't look Mexican!!! you look 'spanish' (whatever that means, I certainly don't look very Iberian or Andalusian)

That's OK, I'm whiter than white and speak spanish fluently with a Puerto Rican accent because I lived there with family so everytime that happens people want to know where I am from, and I say NY (I am all mixed up on both sides of my family, so it's just easier to say NY). They say NOOO, where are your parents from, and I say "New YORK" and they say, no.... what nationality are you?

Like it's not enough that I'm a bilingual New Yorker, I have to explain to them my whole family history.

Sometimes I get the people saying mean things about latinos (thinking all are illegal immigrants) in front of me thinking that I think like them or that I have no hispanic heritage and I get very offended because:
#1 I have family in Puerto Rico, and little do the ignorant people know, Puerto Rico is a part of the US and they can come and go as they please!!! #2 my fiancee is going to be an "immigrant" pretty soon and #3 all Americans are "immigrants" in some way shape or form, except for the native americans and #4 it's just plain mean!!!

I have two kids from a previous relationship, their father just happens to be Puerto Rican and my kids look more like him than me, LOL. Someone made a comment about my sons because I had a picture of them hanging up on the wall at work and they said "who's kids are these? they look mexican, we dont have any mexicans working here" I was right there and said, "they're mine" Ignorant lady.

Sometimes even I get the opposite, here's a scenario:

I used to work in Home Depot at customer service. A man and his wife that spoke spanish came to try to return something (a flood pump) and they told me in english that it was broken and then told each other in spanish different things like "we dont need it anymore" and "tell her it doesnt work so we can get the money back" etc. I didn't say anything I just returned the pump, but when the man was finished signing the receipt he asked "esto es mio? "this is mine?" and I said "no, esta es mi copia, aqui esta la tuya, que ud tenga un buen dia" and he turned bright red and left the store.

so maybe he learned to never judge a book by its cover or underestimate people's abilities.