I was waiting for a bus in a fairly affluent, mostly white suburb. There was a black woman waiting with me. We noticed the same car driving around the block, over and over, the (older, white) guy looking at us. Or I thought it was us, at first. Then I noticed that he was staring at the black woman. I was very afraid for her–I figured that if she was getting a different bus from me, I’d catch it with her just so she wouldn’t be alone for that creep to harass. I asked her, and she said she was getting the same one I was planning on getting. It really hit home to me how much *more* vulnerable women of color are.

Another incident that made national news in flint–a group of kids had jumped the train outside of flint and wound up in flint–and a group of men started following them, stalking them–and eventually, the kids were cornered and attacked horribly–the boys were killed and the one girl in the group was raped, then shot in the head. there is no street harassment, because everybody is trained not to go outside. men too.

but then in my new city–i was sitting in a car once, and a girl (who looked like she was a woman of color), was walking up the street–right next to a library. one of the better streets in the neighborhood. and a black guy stops on his bike right in front of my car…and the woman–I could tell *immediatly* she knew danger was in front of her. the man started singing at her, I couldn’t hear the words, just the tune–and she crossed the street. He started to get loud then, and she had that posture–that one where you can tell she was going into a fight. I stuck my head out of the car so that both of them knew that they were not alone–and the guy stopped singing, then eventually rode away on his bike…but it makes me think–the difference between all these cities. one city is so unsafe and violent that even men don’t go outside…the other one is relatively privileged whose most reported crime is burglary–and it’s women who aren’t safe.

and that doesn’t even speak to the safty/lack of saftey citizenship brings people–my city is not targeted so harshly by ICE-but nobody ever sees any mexicans. we all know they are here, because taquerias and mexican grocery stores are popping up everywhere–but the mexicans stay to themselves and rarely integrate into larger community.-Detroit, on the other hand, IS targeted very heavily by ICE–. but you go through mexican town, and you see TONS of people on the streets comparably–other parts of detroit where there would presumably be more privilege–and it’s isolated and scary because nobody is there. people have learned to stay inside, like they have in flint.

…just so much brought up by this post–thank you so much for posting it.

But I take your point about the many different ethnicities etc. I don’t know…it must just vary.

Also are you the Maia who is going to Gaza and needs support from WOC orgs but weren’t getting it? If so, I would like to give some support, not in the immediate future though cuz I’m crazy busy – but if you want it, please email me and I’ll try.

One thing though: Is it possible that the street boys can still tell you are American or at least a relatively well off ‘foreigner’ regardless of your skin colour?

I ask because I’m black too and when I go overseas to where I was born – a country of majority people of colour – the locals can always tell I’m from a Western country because of how I dress etc.