Meg Lake retweetledi
Within the past two weeks, on a visit to the city of my birth, London, I have committed:
1) The crime of being Black while studying the interior of a church (I did church architecture as part of pre 6th form O Level art &, though an atheist from the age of six, retain an interest in the buildings). The only other civilian in the church, a worshiper, had clearly felt threatened and had called the Priest who enquired as to why I was in the building.
2) The crime of being Black while hailing a taxi for hire (taxi sign on) in broad daylight.
The first driver saw me well enough to deliver a comedic wave before driving on; the second merely looked me in the eyes, dismissed me and drove on.
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3) The crime of not being what I apparently, in this instance, had a duty to be:
After dinner in my hotel, I've just been racially profiled by another guest (vanilla) who assumed I was a member of staff as we all waited for the lift/elevator on our way to our rooms.
The last of these instances made me laugh. The first two were annoying. As I told a young, white and helpful policeman many years ago, "You get used to it".
He replied, "You shouldn't have to!".
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