Went to a Polish Neighborhood- Are Polish Racist? (Chicago, Pulaski: neighborhoods, gated)

[joseanto071]

I'm not from Chicago or anywhere near there. I was just there visiting a freind from there for a couple days. We are both Mexican. We went at a Neighborhood where lots of people are Polish and most of the signs and restaurantes and stores are in Polish.

However, I felt like the people there weren't very friendly in the stores. As soon as I entered the store the atmosphere felt kinda hostile in fact, and well I ignored it. Then, I was walking around the store looking what was there, while he was waiting in line ordering some cheese. In there, I dunno why but the lady (owner or manager) was following me. I tried to loose here but I dunno she followed me like as if I was going to steal something.

My friend told me that this happens often with the people who don't look Polish or white. I'm the typical mestizo Mexican both in phenotype and genotype, and well they don't have good relations with Mexicans or the Black African American community much less.

I just wonder why though and if this is true and normal. I'm from a small city called Idaho Falls, I think it's less diverse, less liberal, also it's in one of the most conservative red republican states in the nation and yet I've never felt discrimination like in Chicago. In fact people here are usually nice to me if I am nice to them, never really felt discriminated here so much....I thought Chicago being the 3rd largest city, liberal/progressive, and one of the most diverse cities in the world, this would not happen but I'm wrong.

[probablyimnotsure]

Do you wear baggy pants without a belt and have tattoos on your face and neck?

If you present yourself in a respectable way then there shouldn't be a problem.

[jonnynonos]

Originally Posted by joseanto071

I'm not from Chicago or anywhere near there. I was just there visiting a freind from there for a couple days. We are both Mexican. We went at a Neighborhood where lots of people are Polish and most of the signs and restaurantes and stores are in Polish.

However, I felt like the people there weren't very friendly in the stores. As soon as I entered the store the atmosphere felt kinda hostile in fact, and well I ignored it. Then, I was walking around the store looking what was there, while he was waiting in line ordering some cheese. In there, I dunno why but the lady (owner or manager) was following me. I tried to loose here but I dunno she followed me like as if I was going to steal something.

My friend told me that this happens often with the people who don't look Polish or white. I'm the typical mestizo Mexican both in phenotype and genotype, and well they don't have good relations with Mexicans or the Black African American community much less.

I just wonder why though and if this is true and normal. I'm from a small city called Idaho Falls, I think it's less diverse, less liberal, also it's in one of the most conservative red republican states in the nation and yet I've never felt discrimination like in Chicago. In fact people here are usually nice to me if I am nice to them, never really felt discriminated here so much....I thought Chicago being the 3rd largest city, liberal/progressive, and one of the most diverse cities in the world, this would not happen but I'm wrong.

Unlikely. Depending on what neighborhood you were in, a lot of them have gone from like 80-90 percent Polish to 80-90 percent Hispanic in a matter of 20 years. Except for Portage Park, Dunning and Jefferson Park, the Poles left in Cragin and Hermosa and other neighborhoods around there are basically relatively small minorities in Mexican American neighborhoods now.

But the Polish ethnic shops do tend to be frequented by, well, Poles. I hate to say it but if a shop owner was profiling you, it could be based on past experience. Most shop owners don't willingly intimidate potential customers away.

But, on average, Poles tend to be very stoic, reserved people, to the point where they can seem unfriendly. But it's just the culture.

[NealIRC]

This happened to me too by a Mexican store manager at the Staples on 47th and Pulaski before it closed. Of course, he probably thought I was a gang banger. But before that he approached me asked if I needed anything, said no, then he kept following me a distance.

But what do I care. It might have been cold weather so I was wearing gray sweaters with the hoodie off.

[eating while walking]

I am not White and I have experienced a little bit of the same thing when I first started shopping at Polish delis. My read on it is that it's less about racism and more about suspicion of outsiders. I used to get unfriendly looks until the store owners started recognizing me, then I got treated the same as everyone else. Polish people are also less superficially friendly than the typical Anglo/German midwesterner. I find it refreshing actually, they don't go around with a big fake smile on their faces all the time.

[Irishtom29]

I know several South Side Mexican-Polish marriages (and quite a few Mexican-Irish ones too). It's my experience that most working class Euro ethnics in Chicago admire the Mexican work ethic, accept Mexicans as equals and get along with them on easy and familiar terms.

[Nodpete]

I would say they (Polish) are more "Clanish" than racist. As are a lot of ethnic groups.

[NealIRC]

Originally Posted by Irishtom29

I know several South Side Mexican-Polish marriages (and quite a few Mexican-Irish ones too). It's my experience that most working class Euro ethnics in Chicago admire the Mexican work ethic, accept Mexicans as equals and get along with them on easy and familiar terms.

Well there's 2 types of Mexicans, aren't there? There's the type that no habla inglish, wears a sombrero and plays cumbia, then there's the bi-lingual gang-banger type.

Edit: compare this to say, Chinese who don't speak English and Chinese that are bi-lingual, they're essentially the same.

[marothisu]

So let me get this straight - because you had a few interactions with a few Polish people, you now believe Polish people are racist? Talk about stereotyping.. There are many European cultures are pretty reserved to the point of coming off cold. I've been followed before in Indian markets even with an Indian friend - guess I didn't really give a ****. I said something to the guy and he seemed embarrassed that I caught him.

[mjtinmemphis]

Originally Posted by joseanto071

I'm not from Chicago or anywhere near there. I was just there visiting a freind from there for a couple days. We are both Mexican. We went at a Neighborhood where lots of people are Polish and most of the signs and restaurantes and stores are in Polish.

However, I felt like the people there weren't very friendly in the stores. As soon as I entered the store the atmosphere felt kinda hostile in fact, and well I ignored it. Then, I was walking around the store looking what was there, while he was waiting in line ordering some cheese. In there, I dunno why but the lady (owner or manager) was following me. I tried to loose here but I dunno she followed me like as if I was going to steal something.

My friend told me that this happens often with the people who don't look Polish or white. I'm the typical mestizo Mexican both in phenotype and genotype, and well they don't have good relations with Mexicans or the Black African American community much less.

I just wonder why though and if this is true and normal. I'm from a small city called Idaho Falls, I think it's less diverse, less liberal, also it's in one of the most conservative red republican states in the nation and yet I've never felt discrimination like in Chicago. In fact people here are usually nice to me if I am nice to them, never really felt discriminated here so much....I thought Chicago being the 3rd largest city, liberal/progressive, and one of the most diverse cities in the world, this would not happen but I'm wrong.

I had the same types of interaction with different groups in Chicago.

As a Black man who would often visit restaurant and bars on the northside of Chicago I would run into the same treatment. Sometimes it even would be classified as hostile.

One thing for sure Chicago is one of the most unapologetic racially polarized cities in the country. People tend to live in their own world (neighborhood) and that's OK in their minds.

Just because someone is politically liberal doesn't leave them free from racial or ethnic prejudice. Our nation's most racially segregated cities are the most liberal. I know of people in conservative rural Tennessee who have more interracial interaction than the average Chicagoan.