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So I was just racially abused in the West End of Halifax. Video below. 1)
I was having a mid-morning coffee with @jn_arsenault, chatting about research and PhD life outside of the Local Jo Cafe. This man appeared around the corner of Edinburgh Street and said “a white girl like you shouldn’t be dating Negroes” 2)
I asked him to repeat himself, and he said “there are plenty of brown women in the world to date - go find one of them.” 3)
How this man presumed that we were dating is beyond me. Both @jn_arsenault are happily married (not to each other, obviously!) and there was no fathomable way this man could jump to that conclusion apart from his sick internal world. 4)
The rest of the incident is captured on the video. This is the psychic tax that Black folks live with. Not only the hateful invective, but the paralysis of what to do. “Do I hit him? Do I follow him? Do I get this on video? What if he calls the cops? I don’t want to die.” 5)
Addendum: The folks in the coffee shop couldn’t hear until it was too late. Another kind person approached asking if they could support - it wasn’t necessary. Nothing they could have done.
I’m exhausted. I’m also unsurprised. In some ways, I’m happy I got it on video, and I’m happy I had a good friend like @jn_arsenault to stand with me and witness it too. 6)
But that’s it - that’s a Tuesday morning. That’s every day for many. That’s the city, the province, and the country we live in. 7)
My recourse is to write this, not for retribution, but for clarity. Because documenting it seems like the only thing I can do. Because this town is not and has never been safe for Black folks, and the cops certainly won’t help. 8)
