dragontooth73
Moderator
I just love Chicago ... take this statement with about 3 pounds of salt ... I am trying to look for a place to live since my roomie is neurotic and just incapable of rational discussion.
So I went to the west side of Chicago, in response to an ad for rooms to rent. It was night, since I got off at work around 5pm, and being winter it was dark by then. I got in the train. After a while, I was the only Asian in the entire train. When I got off at my stop I noticed that everybody was, without exception, black. I'm not being disparaging. It was obviously a community where the population was mostly black. No problem.
I'm walking several blocks down and I notice that there are slangers on every kerb. Cars parked, pounding loud gangsta rap. Not as many as would be there otherwise (it's winter after all) but still enough of a presence.
And here I am, just walking down the street, when a group of five notices me crossing the kerb and starts to block me. I move from the pavement onto the grass. I hear something mumbled like:
"Damn chink, f@#ken walkin on the grass scared or sumthin"
plus a few other choice epithets, I'm sure. I already know there are five. I'm dressed in all black (a habit acquired from my days as a runaway) and I know it's hard to really see me in the dim moonlight. Hardly any streetlights, by the way.
I'm not carrying anything except a keyring. My ex fiancee in LA has my entire concealed weapon/knife collection. I put a loose grip around the keys in my pocket. I know how I'd use them. There's no fear, just an awareness as they start to stand up and move in a loose formation to block me.
And all of a sudden, they cease to challenge me and I walk on without breaking stride. They let me by without another word.
I find the place and it's deserted. I walk back to the nearest train station. I stay near deserted streets, checking parked cars. I smell marijuana in a parking lot I pass through (no mistake, trust me) and happen through a few more encounters. I eventually get home.
Honestly, I felt much more comfortable dealing with five thugs on the kerb than with one racist employee at work. When I know that I don't have limitations on me, it's very much clear presence of mind that gets me through. I'm sure that more than a few of the lovely residents of the slum I passed through were wondering what a Chink was doing straying from Chinese areas and wouldn't have minded capping me in the least.
Well, now I'm home. I'm still looking for a place to live. But I feel much calmer today than I did a couple of days ago. How strange.
So I went to the west side of Chicago, in response to an ad for rooms to rent. It was night, since I got off at work around 5pm, and being winter it was dark by then. I got in the train. After a while, I was the only Asian in the entire train. When I got off at my stop I noticed that everybody was, without exception, black. I'm not being disparaging. It was obviously a community where the population was mostly black. No problem.
I'm walking several blocks down and I notice that there are slangers on every kerb. Cars parked, pounding loud gangsta rap. Not as many as would be there otherwise (it's winter after all) but still enough of a presence.
And here I am, just walking down the street, when a group of five notices me crossing the kerb and starts to block me. I move from the pavement onto the grass. I hear something mumbled like:
"Damn chink, f@#ken walkin on the grass scared or sumthin"
plus a few other choice epithets, I'm sure. I already know there are five. I'm dressed in all black (a habit acquired from my days as a runaway) and I know it's hard to really see me in the dim moonlight. Hardly any streetlights, by the way.
I'm not carrying anything except a keyring. My ex fiancee in LA has my entire concealed weapon/knife collection. I put a loose grip around the keys in my pocket. I know how I'd use them. There's no fear, just an awareness as they start to stand up and move in a loose formation to block me.
And all of a sudden, they cease to challenge me and I walk on without breaking stride. They let me by without another word.
I find the place and it's deserted. I walk back to the nearest train station. I stay near deserted streets, checking parked cars. I smell marijuana in a parking lot I pass through (no mistake, trust me) and happen through a few more encounters. I eventually get home.
Honestly, I felt much more comfortable dealing with five thugs on the kerb than with one racist employee at work. When I know that I don't have limitations on me, it's very much clear presence of mind that gets me through. I'm sure that more than a few of the lovely residents of the slum I passed through were wondering what a Chink was doing straying from Chinese areas and wouldn't have minded capping me in the least.
Well, now I'm home. I'm still looking for a place to live. But I feel much calmer today than I did a couple of days ago. How strange.