Racism

My ISTORIA Story

Children are not born racist. We teach racism to our children. They do not see differences. They play and socialize. I was raised in Knoxville, TN and picked up on some racism growing up. I had a neighbor who called me a 'Greece ball,' or 'grease ball,' not sure which. My family did speak Greek and we were the only ones in the neighborhood from another country. When I was in high school, I took a day off that was approved by the school to dance in Greek Fest. I also would tell kids that my Easter was different from theirs.

When they would ask me questions, I would explain my family is Orthodox. The response was always, 'is that Christian?' This baffled me, as I had never been to another church other than my own. Most everyone else who was a Christian attended either Baptist or Methodist churches. This has changed decades later, as people hear about the Greek Orthodox Church, smiling saying, 'do you know this family or that family?' Their eyes glisten as they talk about Greek Fest, baklava, and the movie, 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding.'

At a summer job, there were Vietnamese customers and the assistant manager, who happened to be the manager's son, stated to me directly, 'those damn foreigners.' I was 17 years old and I calmly responded, 'my parents are from another country.' His mouth dropped open, his face turned red, and he profusely apologized. I took it in stride. Didn't he think my family may be immigrants simply because of my name? I clearly have an American accent due to my upbringing. My parents however, did not. They spoke and continued to speak with deep 'foreign' accents all of their lives. I recently met a professional who helps people get rid of their accents. My thoughts and feelings around her profession were mixed when I met her, however I didn't share this with her.

In 2016, I went on a trip to an Orthodox convent in Russia. After our church group returned to the US, I continued traveling with a friend to St. Petersburg. We bought tickets to a local ballet in Moscow when we returned before our flight. The ballet is amazing in Russia, and it is much cheaper to see a local production rather than the ones marketed to tourists. We saved hundreds of dollars. As we sat on the balcony speaking English, two teenagers sitting next to us speaking Russian said, 'foreigners.' I smiled thinking to myself, we are all foreigners in another country. It was cute.

I was in Milan, Italy in 2010 and had travelled there while visiting Cyprus for several months. Due to my stay abroad, my mannerisms were affected and my American accent began to wane. I understand from my travels that the world does not like American politics and this comes out towards American tourists. Americans are often seen as entitled, impatient, and arrogant; and we are in many ways. We expect excellent customer service, to be right and catered to. The rest of the world doesn't necessarily work the way America does.

I found myself lost on the way to Leonardo da Vinci's museum with The Last Supper. There was an American couple in front of me and they were rescheduled to return later that day. I spoke softly in English and was given immediate access. The Americans had gone on their way and had expressed gratitude for the reissued tickets. Little did they know they had been treated differently for their nationality. Little did the Italians know that I was also an American that day.