Have you ever stumbled into the wrong neighbourhood?

Wheelie King

Wondered into a bank once and it was full of shady looking gangsters

watna

ArtyM wrote: »

Thats a good point.
I mentioned it myself in my op and actually had to think about whether I should or not. However, for me it was something that made me really stand out and made me more conscipious than I otherwise would have been and when you are in a scary/intimidating situation that is the very last thing that you want.
From my recollection of the posts that mentioned it, most described their reasons for feeling they were in the wrong place i.e. junkies, run-down neighbourhoods, gangs, shouting, fires, etc before adding the skin colour reference.
I would like to think that any Black/Asian/etc people living in Ireland would have no reason to be constantly bricking it, but I think that if they were to find themselves alone in the wrong place at the wrong time it would be something that they would be overly aware of - because it would make them stand out, and draws unwanted attention.

Agreed - I mentioned it because in Johannesburg apartheid is still going strong and there are some areas you don't go to if you are a certain colour etc.

Also, it is pretty disconcerting to stand out that much, especially if it's an area you believe to be dodgy. Nobody wants to be different and draw attention to themselves in that situation. I'm sure it was the same for people who aren't white in Ireland back in the day - that they felt like they stood out.

ArtyM

I was just browsing through the different sections of Boards.ie as AH is pretty quiet today.
I stumbled into a forum called The Thunderdome.
Now that is a wrong f***ing neighbourhood.
Wrong wrong wrong

PARKHEAD67

Brownsville, Brooklyn NY. Once not twice:D. Stood out for my whiteness:).Tyson was from there.

jahalpin

I've been to LA once, it was a very scary experience

We were on the subway and we got off at the wrong stop. It turns out that we got off at McArthur Park and we decided to walk back to the hotel. We were the only white people in the area and there was a police car following us

I'd never go back to LA after my experience there. I've been to San Francisco several times and have never had a bad experience there

RussellTuring

Mike 1972 wrote: »

WTF with the "OMG I was the only white person in the area" stuff ?

By that logic Black/Asian/etc people living in Ireland (until fairly recently at any rate) must have been constantly bricking it FFS

I was going to say the same thing myself until I realised that being the only person of your colour in a certain area is just another thing that can make you stand out, and since most of these stories are about people being in places they don't know, often where crime is rampant and whose inhabitants might not all speak the same language as the visitor, yes it can be quite scary. Don't just assume that people are being racist; it's natural to feel nervous when you stand out so much and whereas race my not be an issue for you, me or other people, that doesn't mean that it isn't an issue for anyone. Also, don't think that it was only like this in Ireland in the past. Ireland may have progressed a lot in the past couple of decades but it's not as if racism has just disappeared.