Today I spent a productive morning down at the homeless centre in Nottingham. At 12:30pm I usually saunter up to the Music Exchange project and do a bit of time there. On the route I tend to stop off at Waterstones or browse the shops of the Hockley area, time permitting.
Strolling along I heard young voices behind me, one standing out above the giggling others. His comments squarely aimed at me and my stature, they weren't nice but I've heard them all before truth be known, so I smiled and kept walking thinking they were just the usual baseball capped/hoody type of youth scoring cheap laughs in front of friends.
As I was overtaken, I saw they numbered three, one afro-caribbean guy doing the fun making, an indian guy and an oriental girl. I have to confess this shocked me a little. The name calling isn't an issue at all, I've heard them all before and as my close friends will vouch I definately have a devilish sense of humour. I guess it was the fact that people of different diversities and cultures are generally more respectful when it comes to 'difference' or perhaps evidently not!?
The reason I often praise Nottingham is because of how diverse yet tolerant everyone is, I often joke you could walk through the city naked and painted blue and nobody would bat an eye.
I remarked quite sardonically 'what an idiot' to which the afro-caribbean guy asked 'what did you say?' I'd no wish to continue the game so smiled and walked on, the fact being it is a no win situation really for obvious reasons I don't need to explain. Usually I wouldn't have said anything but I did feel a genuine pang of disappointment in the guys actions and he was being an idiot especially when some people would have perhaps highlighed his skin colour thus fanning the flames for confrontation and doing nothing for racial harmony.
There's no real moral to this blog, I just feel vexed that people of different ethnic origins would verbally attack someone in a way that they obviously wouldn't like to be attacked themselves. I know people are people regardless of ethnic background but I can't deny today left me feeling a bit sad really, not for myself but for the protagonists.
Strolling along I heard young voices behind me, one standing out above the giggling others. His comments squarely aimed at me and my stature, they weren't nice but I've heard them all before truth be known, so I smiled and kept walking thinking they were just the usual baseball capped/hoody type of youth scoring cheap laughs in front of friends.
As I was overtaken, I saw they numbered three, one afro-caribbean guy doing the fun making, an indian guy and an oriental girl. I have to confess this shocked me a little. The name calling isn't an issue at all, I've heard them all before and as my close friends will vouch I definately have a devilish sense of humour. I guess it was the fact that people of different diversities and cultures are generally more respectful when it comes to 'difference' or perhaps evidently not!?
The reason I often praise Nottingham is because of how diverse yet tolerant everyone is, I often joke you could walk through the city naked and painted blue and nobody would bat an eye.
I remarked quite sardonically 'what an idiot' to which the afro-caribbean guy asked 'what did you say?' I'd no wish to continue the game so smiled and walked on, the fact being it is a no win situation really for obvious reasons I don't need to explain. Usually I wouldn't have said anything but I did feel a genuine pang of disappointment in the guys actions and he was being an idiot especially when some people would have perhaps highlighed his skin colour thus fanning the flames for confrontation and doing nothing for racial harmony.
There's no real moral to this blog, I just feel vexed that people of different ethnic origins would verbally attack someone in a way that they obviously wouldn't like to be attacked themselves. I know people are people regardless of ethnic background but I can't deny today left me feeling a bit sad really, not for myself but for the protagonists.
