Attached is a picture of the bus stop across the street from my apartment during the 5pm commute home. Hard to see, but not a single person waiting for the bus is white. Some blacks/coloreds [for American readers, remember that these are standard terms here] have cars, but you see many more taking mass transit.Also, only some of them are waiting for a proper bus. Most are waiting on a kombi. Hand signs match commuter and kombi – pointing down means you are going somewhere close, etc.
I live about a 10 min walk from my office, so I walk when possible. I get a lot of strange looks both from whites watching me from their cars and from blacks that I pass on the sidewalk who are probably wondering what a white guy in biz cas is doing walking around.
1 comment:
I think we in the US forget that counter-signaling - ie, not having a cell phone, dressing down when wealthy, etc - is not the norm in countries that don't have enough or have large inequalities of resources. Even just non-signaling - you are walking for the exercise and experience rather than a display of wealth/power - is probably unusual there. Would be interested in hearing of other examples from your life there.
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