I spent my vacation traveling in a country I love.
I decided, on one of these days, to go shopping on foot, I went first to the grocery store and then to the supermarket.
At the supermarket I put the bags in the cart and went shopping.
Arriving at the cashier I put the products that were in the cart on top of the conveyor belt and the attendant asked me to open the bag and put the other products as well.
I said that those products had been purchased in another establishment and she in a tone of astonishment said to me:
"Why didn't you leave your bag in storage while you shopped?"
"Didn't anyone stop you at the door and ask you to leave your bag with us?"
"Didn't the security guards see it?"
"Where did you come in?"
Resolved the misunderstanding, I want to clarify that I was very well treated by the employees of the supermarket and perhaps I was "wrong" in not storing my purchases, because the high crime reinforces the precaution of the supermarket.
I remembered that in Brazil, when I went shopping with my grandmother (≈ 30 years ago), she would go through the grocery store, the butcher shop and then go to the supermarket, where I would leave my belongings in a locker guarded by employees.
And so I did as an adult afterwards.
I've lived in the United States for years – a country where image and personal credibility are worth a lot – and you don't have to keep what belongs to me before trying to acquire something.
The 12-year hiatus, between the normal and customary reality of the past, of "handing over and guarding" my belongings before entering a commercial establishment and the current moment, caused me a bad feeling of being a "potential suspect".
The honest who pay for their food and often help many hungry people economically and intellectually, often forget to protest for what is perhaps the greatest of all the discriminations we go through.
The veiled or explicit prejudice, something cultural, against Latinos, blacks, LGBTQ+ members, women, in short, something that everyone somehow still goes through.
You have to fight for something more:
Transforming the culture in any country where people are seen as larapia, cheats and outcasts – for their characteristics and choices – and this type of situation should make us use our social media to change the course of this theme that unites us.
Skin color, place of origin, religion, and sexual orientation are often evident and no one should change how happy and proud people feel for who they are.
Before you share, react, or even write a post, think:
- Am I really addressing the real priorities?
- Am I fighting someone's opinion or using my "voice" to change what really matters?
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