San Franciscan moves to Dubrovnik, is unpleasantly surprised | Hacker News Reader

San Franciscan moves to Dubrovnik, is unpleasantly surprised

businessinsider.com

4 pointsxianshou4 comments

> It's a small place, so after the first few weeks, people started to recognize me. I found this creepy.

You don't look like the locals who have lived there forever and know each other. Oh, and in an area with a long history of being invaded. Yeah, they are going to notice and pay attention to people who don't look like them. The author even says they weren't mean about it. What a pampered princess: just be a good neighbor, learn how to interact with other local human beings, and live your amazing life in an even more amazing location.

People dont realize how much ‘casual racism’(i.e. without anger or violence) there is outside of the West. I grew up looking/seen as ‘foreign’ in my home country. I was never allowed to forget it, whereas when spending a year n the US I felt more accepted than ever before.

Is it "casual racism" to notice that someone looks different and to be curious about it? The author says there was nothing negative about it and the people are friendly. She also complains that "they recognize me here" as opposed to her preferred "being invisible" in San Francisco. Uhm... what did you expect?

> I'm new, but I'm also Asian. I've experienced what I call "unintended racism." I don't think it's done with ill intent, but I have gotten comments and gestures.

> People will ask me: "Where are you from?" After responding, "I'm born and raised in California," the most common response is, "Oh, you don't look American." Then they'll mimic my stereotypically Asian eye shape. I'll have to explain that my parents are Chinese.

> I'm not offended, but I took for granted always feeling accepted in San Francisco because it's such a multicultural city, while Dubrovnik is not.

On the face of this description, there is nothing demeaning or unaccepting about these interactions. It's as if simply noticing race and commenting on differences is interpreted as racism. If that benign behavior is racism, we need another word for the malignant kind.

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