August 8, 2018

Another bias I feel as though we experienced a couple time was age bias. My friends and I were all different ages. The legal drinking age in Canada is 19. Khadijah was 19, Brit was 20, And Kym and I were both 22. The first liquor store we went into checked our I.Ds very carefully and made sure to note that she was checking because it was unusual that we were friends even though we were all different ages. I disagree, because we are all college students and we are not that far apart in age. I feel as though we experienced an age bias again crossing the Canadian Border to get back home. On the way in we were never searched, but on the way out we were searched, and were told that we were being searched for alcohol. I feel as though this was because the legal drinking age in Canada is 19 years old so the officer searching us suspected that because we were young the 19 year olds in the car might have purchased alcohol to bring back to the states where they can no longer purchase. I understand why she searched us because it is her job, but I also feel as though she exhibited some bias based on our ages.

August 7, 2018

Many of the clubs were a culture shock for me. I’ve never really been into the whole club scene and my friends often told me that I needed to loosen up. I really didn’t like it when random men came up and tried dancing on me, and it made me feel kind of uncomfortable. I would have much rather went for dinner and drinks, or smoked blunts by the pool or explored the city. Although I did enjoy the music and the liveliness of it all. I really like rap music, it’s a lot of fun, especially when you’re having a couple drinks. A lot of the music in the clubs had the “N” word in it which I wasn’t allowed to say because it’s microaggressive and my friends would get mad at me. I noticed that the culture that Caribana brought to the clubs was a bit different too. It was a lot louder, and had a lot more energy. The people were more close, and had no issues with being in close proximity with eachother. Overall, it was a fun experience. The only thing I didn’t like, was men trying to dance on me. My friends tried to explain that it didn’t mean anything sexual and that it was just dancing, however, it didn’t feel that way to me so it made me feel uncomfortable.

August 8, 2018

Another bias that I experienced that personally affected me was gender bias. I can’t even begin to tell you how frequently my friends and I were cat called on the street at night during the week of Caribana or how many strangers asked for my number, and it made me feel really uncomfortable. My friends told me that I needed to loosen up and have some fun, and make some friends because partying was part of the festival but I just didn’t feel comfortable giving strange men my phone number. It happened so frequently, that I rudely stopped responding to people on the street when they tried to talk to me mostly out of anxiety. At one point, a man asked if he could talk to me and I said “No, no, no, no, NO!” in frustration and my friends looked at me like I was crazy. I’m not really into the clubs to begin with, and I certainly wasn’t into the cat calling and talking to strangers on the street.

Caribana Toronto Parade

August 7, 2018

I’ve never understood what it was like to be the minority. My black friends have told me that I couldn’t use the “N” word in songs because I’ve never been oppressed. Although that may be true, I never understood because I have never personally oppressed everybody and I have always accepted everybody regardless of their skin color. While I was at the Caribbean festival, I experienced what it felt like to be the minority. Nobody treated me badly per say, however, I still felt like sort of an outcast. I was one of the only white people that I saw during the entire trip. I felt slightly picked on being the only white person because I didn’t quite fit in with some of the traditions and I wasn’t familiar with the food, or even some of the music. I felt like the cultural outcast. I still had fun regardless, but at times I felt a bit uncomfortable and it made it easier to understand where others who have been in my shoes were coming from. In the video below you can see, there are little to no Caucasian people at this event.

August 6, 2018

Clubs aren’t really my thing, and we had a lot of them booked. So I was excited when I found out that Canada had recreational dispensaries because I thoroughly enjoy smoking some ganja once in a while and walking into a dispensary is something that I’ve never personally been able to experience living in the United States. We went in the dispensary, and it was a lot of fun. The workers were bumping their music, and having rap battles. They were happy, helpful, and knowledgeable about their job. Outside the dispensary I overheard some people talking about how backwoods are for black people. I have heard this so many times in my life, and I strongly disagree with this stereotype because I’m white and I use backwoods to roll my blunts and I know a plethora of white people that use backwoods to roll blunts but that is besides the fact. The color of your skin does not have any influence on what you use to roll your weed, period! So just a common stereotype I hear absolutely everywhere.

August 5, 2018

During our trip we arranged to go to a bunch of events, mostly clubs. My friends and I got all dressed up to go out. Our first night out, we were waiting in line and right off the bat, I immediately noticed a gender bias at the first club we went to. While we were waiting in line, a male approached us and told us that ladies could cut the line. The line was pretty long too. This was basically because the club wanted to get more females than males, but ultimately it wasn’t fair.

August 4, 2018

When we were in Canada we ate out a lot. My friends being African-American were much more open to trying different foods than I was. The first place that we ate at was Nandos, a South African based food joint. The chicken was actually pretty good. We were there for a Caribbean festival, so rightfully so my friends wanted to eat Caribbean food. I was really afraid to try new things, and I was unfamiliar with a lot of the food and I’m not a huge meat eater so I didn’t really know what to eat so I didn’t eat a whole bunch. I didn’t really order much because I was afraid. They knew exactly what to get and it actually looked pretty good after the fact and I wished that I didn’t pass it up because it was different. I definitely passed some judgements because there was a lot of meat, and because it was so unfamiliar but in the long run I think I was missing out. Towards the end of my trip I was really hangry and went to some burger place and ordered sweet potato fries and a bunch of other fried stuff that I was familiar with.

August 3, 2018

When we arrived to our building the first thing we noticed was that it was predominantly Asian. We were like why is everyone in this building Asian?!?! And we immediately made the assumption that the man who falsely advertised our Airbnb, Dennis, was Asian as well. This was the building we stayed in.

August 3, 2018

During our ten hour drive to Canada, the four of us took turns driving. My friend Kym was driving and had a bit of a lead foot and wound up pulled over. Being black with the whole black lives matter movement going on, she made the comment that the cops probably already had her picture. My friends expressed concern that she was going to be ticketed because of her skin color as this has been an ongoing problem nationwide.

August 3, 2018

We hit the road for Canada around 6am. During our travels we played a lot of music, a lot of which was rap music. If you listen to modern rap music, you will know that the “n” word is used more often than not. I made the mistake of using the “N” word while jamming to some of my favorite song lyrics and was chastised by my friends, even though they use the word themselves quite frequently. I didn’t understand why it was an issue as it was a song lyric and it made me feel like a bit of an outcast being the only white person in the vehicle. One of the rappers that we hear a lot, 6ix9ine, isn’t black and he uses the word a million times. My friend said “Isn’t he Mexican, weren’t they oppressed to or something?”. Anyhow, the logic didn’t make any sense to me but I respectfully stopped using the word in songs.

August 2, 2018

August 2, 2018: Prior to our trip to Canada, we found out last minute that our Airbnb was falsely advertised. Despite renting out an entire apartment, we were going to have a roommate because the apartment we rented was double booked. Although we were frustrated by this, it was so last minute that we didn’t want to take any chances finding last minute accommodations for our trip that we had planned for months. We immediately pondered what our roommate was going to be like, or if he was going to be weird. We immediately felt uncomfortable by the fact that he was male and we are all younger females. We felt that because he was male, we would be less safe. By doing so, right off the bat we were passing judgements based on the gender of the man who would be staying with us. Of course, our gender stereotypes were false, as it turned out our roommate was very gentle, polite, and very down to earth. He has no creepy intentions, and was on a business trip. Additionally, we found out that his name was Ramone, and my friends began guessing his race based off of his name. One of my friends judged his name and prophesied that he would be black, because Ramone sounded like a “black people” name. Turned out Ramone wasn’t black, and he had middle eastern background.

August 1, 2018:

The night before we left for Canada, my friends met up late after work at my house to spend the night so that we could leave early in the morning. All three of my friends that I travelled with were African-American, two of which were actually born in Africa. My mother was amused that I was going to a Caribbean festival with my African-American friends, and she told me that I probably wouldn’t fit it in, and that I would stick out like a sore thumb, which could be considered a racial bias. I myself was slightly nervous that I wouldn’t fit in as the only white person whose completely unfamiliar with Caribbean culture. Furthermore, my family is from a small town, predominantly occupied by white people. The night before we left for our trip, one of my friends stayed up all night braiding extensions into her hair, rather than sleeping. In the middle of the night, my dad woke up and accidentally walked in on my friend in the bathroom doing her hair. There was black hair all over my bathroom at 4am. Braiding hair, and extensions are a normal part of my friend’s routine because she has African hair, and it is very thick and curly. My Dad was very surprised in the middle of the night to see my bathroom covered in hair, and felt uncomfortable for invading the bathroom while my friend was trying to do her hair. Overall, my parents aren’t the most culturally aware.