Racism in Rome

I feel proud every time someone thinks I'm Japanese. Even if that someone is racist. I've had a few racist moments in Rome. Was walking to the Hostel one night with Kim and Will when a group of guys started saying "Konichiwa! Konichiwa!" Will tried being friendly towards them by saying "Yo, Konichiwa!" back but they just made rude noises and walked away. Not far away was Graffiti on the wall that said, "Aliens go home!" And then there was this other time I walked into a shop to get some lunch and the man behind the counter started laughing and calling me "Jackie Chan! Bruce Lee!" while his colleague who was serving me put on a very sour face. The most 'kick' story is still the one on the bus where this group of Russian guys said I should be a monkey in a zoo and started going "Woot! Woot!"

It's not limited to Italy alone. In a bus in Barcelona, Spain, some dude was talking to his friend on his mobile about wanting to kill Arabs. One of the lady passengers looked at him in shock. He probably thought she was Arabic, and started kicking her, all the while talking to his friend about killing Arabs. This was caught on security camera in the bus, and it also showed that none of the surrounding passengers helped the poor lady. Nobody cared.

So much negativity in the world. Somehow I am comforted by this song I used to sing in Sunday school, "Black and yellow red and white, they are precious in His sight..."

Indeed we are so precious...