Mike McNamara
Chicago, IL
Especially in the non-winter months because he gets so dark.
Growing up in Tucson, he was sometimes mistaken for Mexican, which makes sense when you look at him from afar.
But only recently has he felt uncomfortable going home to visit his family based on that same mistake that people have made. He wonders if he is being treated differently because things have changed, he’s become more paranoid, or just recognizes something now he didn’t notice that’s always been there and he only recognizes it because he’s been away.
Whatever the reason, he doesn’t feel the same way about his hometown because of the constantly xenophobic (at best) political climate.
In the grand scheme of still existing racism, potentially-white-guy-mistaken-racism is more ‘ha ha’ than ‘serious problem’ but mentioning it to his slightly-racist-but-not-at-all-dark-skinned relatives has maybe made them think.
And last time he went home he didn’t go anywhere with ID.
