Because I have eyes and can see what women do in the places I have been. I have also traveled with women. I have also been to places that, even as a man, I can tell women would be unsafe.

Finally, why be a dick when I’m obviously just trying to help? How is shutting the fuck up not the better option?

I’m a male, but I spent 6 weeks just in Tirana and it was probably one of the safest places I’ve visited. Communities in Albania are not very big. Everyone knows everyone. If you have a good hostel owner they should be able to help you.

If you are open to other possibilities: Cancun/Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

I went to the Yucatan after getting dumped myself. I literally couldn’t keep women off of me. It wasn’t like every woman was falling all over me, but the ones that wanted me simply would not take no for an answer.

After two weeks I was fixed right up 🤣

Fortunately, I had been exposed to progressive ideas for a long enough time to see that I was unintentionally adhering to racist ideas.

If you asked me in my day to day life I would have said that of course I accept everyone. I wasn’t even aware that I had learned these attitudes about people.

I can only guess that it was something taught to me at an age that was before I knew that those ideas were wrong.

It was not a pleasant experience.

I was already a Bernie supporter so obviously sooooo progressive! /S

It took years of priming me to be able to see it in myself. I had read the Autobiography of Malcolm X years before this happened and it almost seemed as if I reached enlightenment because I was forced to read one banned book one time. /S

It is difficult to explain supremacy culture and engrained racism when even the song that is played by the ice cream man is about committing hate crimes against blacks.

It can feel like every part of your culture is under attack. And it might be. But like, come on man, we should at least be willing to try to do better.

As a white American I used to do this too!

I had an experience one time in the military that helped me to learn. Thankfully it was pretty painless.

There was an Asian service member who was helping me do something administrative for some kind of training school.

I asked them “Hey Lee, where are you from?” Without skipping a beat or looking up, Lee: Georgia

Why did I expect him to say Guangzhou, China? Because I had a, previously unknown to me, bias against Asian Americans that they weren’t “really” American.

In my conscious mind I never felt that way. But there are times where this does happen. Sadly because of supremacy culture POC not only have to be patient but incredibly intelligent to convince people not only that it is real but that they might be contributing to it.

I’m sorry that you had this experience. But please continue to share. It is because I heard stories like yours over and over before I was able to self-correct.