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flowerock
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I'd say economic status/class is more common here. Maybe I think so because I'm white, but am also likely viewed as lower class or even homeless by most who are just looking in from the outside.
They don't know what we went through when we tried to move into a house, they don't know that the police couldn't help us and that it was dangerous, that we've been robbed, jumped, had our vehicle wrongfully towed, been injured, and more, none of it. They don't know that we both work full time, sometimes more than one job and while we don't necessarily pay rent, we are still paying, and paying and paying... we pay taxes, car insurance, debt, tickets, bills, home maintainance, licenses be able to sell what we make with our own hands.
Yet we get dirty looks and the police called to come bother us, wasting their time and everyone's tax dollars for no good reason. I was stopped for a bag check twice last week at the grocery store, not sure why, but it felt like they thought I was stealing, obviously, they found some toilette paper, a couple dollars and coins, a scarf... all mine, none of it even new enough to be freshly stolen.
I was having a conversation with a guy at the dog park one night and we were getting along just fine until we talked about where we both lived, I joked that some people were scared of people who live like we do, he stopped talking and said he was scared by walking away.
I shower, I wear clean clothes, I pluck my eyebrows and trim my nails and smile. I'm fairly small, I don't feel intimidating or upsetting.
Discrimination is about more than appearances, whether the appearance is optional or not.
So here I sit eating lentils and Salad with my dog, not wanting to go outside because a cop car has been parked there, cop in and out, for over an hour and I just don't want to deal with them. Every sounds and movement of a passing car makes me tense and worry that I'm being towed or vandalized or robbed.
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151111
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