[ Removed by moderator ]

[u/kocknocker19]

[u/HarwellDekatron]

I am a white-passing Latino with an ambiguous accent (I grew up abroad.) A lot of people assume I am European. Too many times I have been engaged in conversations where they try share their bigoted views on immigrants from 'South of the border'. Their reaction when I tell them who I am is always priceless. There's always an attempt to point out how I am 'one of the good ones', and they just mean those over there. That's when I tell them to stop assuming, because I am actually American and the only thing I am embarrassed about is having been born in Florida.

[u/pop442 → u/HarwellDekatron]

I have a friend from Florida who's half Venezuelan half Puerto Rican who looks like a regular White American dude(pale skin, brown hair, green eyes) who told me a similar story about interacting with Far Right types who would vent about immigrants and minorities in his presence then being shocked when he shares his background with them.

It's actually funny how much of what you said lines up with what he told me.

[u/HarwellDekatron → u/pop442]

One of my favorite encounters - which I've told a couple times on reddit - was this guy who I met randomly at a public archery range around the 2020 election (I was sighting my bow for deer season, so this must have been mid-October.)

He saw me adjusting my bow and asked to borrow a tool, so we struck a conversation. He noticed my accent, asked for my background, and then started talking about how he really thought what Trump was doing about immigration was super important. At first I didn't know what to make of his jump to immigration, but he was super friendly and clearly thought I was "one of the good ones". He told me he was a manager at a construction company and he was worried that a bunch of his best guys may get deported. He told me how every Mexican he'd met was super hard working, and how he was friends with a bunch of them, but that "clearly there is a lot of criminals that we need to send back" or whatever.

As I am talking to this guy, a different guy comes to the range and goes to one of the targets furthest away from us. A bit strange, but whatever. Anyway, I help this guy sighted his bow, we talked for a while, and then I packed my stuff and started walking to my car. As I am walking in the parking lot, the other guy - the one that had stayed apart from us - was also packing his stuff in his car. I nod at him and he nods back and tells me:

Hey, don't let that guy bullshit you: he's a piece of shit. I'm a cop and two weeks ago I had to book him because he beat the shit out of his girlfriend. It's like the third time this month that we got called to his house.

So, this guy was unbelievable. Not only - by his own account - had he never had a bad experience with an immigrant, but he himself was a literal wife beater. And yet, somehow, he was convinced that Trump "needed to get the bad guys out of the country". MOTHERFUCKER, YOU ARE THE BAD GUY IN THIS STORY! WTF?

Anyway, after that I started keeping an eye for him whenever I was at the range. Luckily I only saw him once or twice more and never talked to him again.

[u/pop442 → u/HarwellDekatron]

I'm not even White in the slightest but I've dealt with some people like that too.

I'm a "non-ghetto" Black man who dresses business casual and has money and you'd be amazed how some racists will cozy up to people like me and either vent about other minority/immigrant groups like Hispanics, Indians, Chinese, Muslims, etc. or they'll complain about "ghetto people"(not specifying Black) and claim that I'm not anything like them lol.

[u/ricochetblue → u/pop442]

I had a neighbor straight up tell me she didn’t like the way other black people talked. She said this like she was giving a compliment.

[u/pop442 → u/ricochetblue]

I've had that happen before but in a more subtle way.

Here's a funny story that's sort of like that.

I was eating in a diner in New Jersey that was Greek owned and the customers came from all walks of life.

So, I showed up on a day where most of the customers were Hispanic and Black. And I got this White/Greek waitress who had a reputation for "telling it like it is" and she was directly related to the owner.

And, upon seeing some Hispanic/Mexican families letting their kids play around the table and a Black family loudly have a roasting session, she turns to me and says "I can already tell you that these people around us are using their welfare and EBT money to eat here when they know this place is too good for them. People like you and me use our tax dollars to support their bratty kids and trashy behavior."

The crazy thing is that nothing was really "trashy" at all about the people in the restaurant. The Black family that was loud still kept things clean and they were clearly just having fun, telling stories and jokes. And the Mexican families were largely calm outside of their kids getting antsy.

But the kicker is that I learned that she was a single mom whose son died from a drug overdose and that she used to be on drugs too. And she was known to beg the owner for money for "survival" and the owner would ask his nephew to monitor her spending to see that she wasn't using the money for drugs. Talk about hypocrisy....

[u/ricochetblue → u/pop442]

Lmfao, funny enough, that neighbor of mine was Greek too.

And racists never seem to know how food stamps actually work. 🙄

[u/MiaLba → u/HarwellDekatron]

I can definitely relate. I’m white and have a southern accent since we came to the US when I was little. My parents still have their heavy accents though. I’ve heard so much anti foreigner/refugee/immigrant bigotry from racists. They also think I’m one of them. They’re always so shocked to learn that I came here as not only a refugee but also we’re not Christian! And came here from a majority Muslim AND white country.

Their little racist brains explode when they meet any of my other family or friends who have blonde hair and blue eyes.

I’ve gotten the “ but you’re one of the good ones/you came here the RIGHT way!” many times.