Racist? Just a Cover Up of Who You Really Are

Whenever I go to the farmers market here in Belize, I avoid going to stalls served by ‘African/Black Belizeans’. When I do they serve me assuming I’m a Belizean based on my looks. But as soon as they realize I don’t understand creole, I immediately become their subject of mockery. They talk about you when you are just standing there waiting to be served and try to exploit you anyway they can.

One time I was at the market the vendor tried to give me less change because they know how confusing currencies are when you are in a foreign country, only to pretend to be embarrassed when I told him I’m still waiting for my full change. This happens several times.

You will think that because these people are so wrapped up in their strong African/black history, they will welcome you with open arms and embrace you once they realize
you are coming from the roots they proclaim to be proud of. But that is so wrong. Once they realise you are not a Belizean then they make sure you know that you are not one of them. I also believe that they do discriminate among themselves too, as long as people are individuals and different, they will always be something to discriminate against whether you are in the same race or not.

Unlike the Latinos/Hispanic, they respect you and seem not to care whether you are a belizean or not, I guess it would be a different case if I looked like them. There are racist Hispanics too mainly the light skinned ones. They believe there are better than others because of their fairer skin colour and always try to fit themselves in the Caucasian communities. They are doing exactly what was/is done to them by the white racists. We also have these people in Kenya.

These incidents remind me of previous incidents in Kenya that happen to foreigners all the time and Caucasians are the worst victims. One time I was in an Indian shop and decided to help a Caucasian lady with the price discounts, the owner of the shop asked me why I cared so much about the discount when the Caucasians have a lot of money and can afford any price they are told.

It is clear people who are racists also have so many other bad qualities and use the racism to hide who they really are as humans and try to make it okay for themselves to do injustice to others.