My Name is Not “Sweetie”!

This is what happens street harassment becomes racism and victim shaming in one…

I was street harassed today in Portland, Oregon. I was just minding my own business just waiting for the bus at College Square in Gresham. The bus was a few blocks away and I hear, “Hey sweetie! Hey sweetie! Hey sweetie!” after a few moments, I turned around and told the African-American male in the red car who was cat calling me that my name was not “sweetie”.

Instead of stopping after I told him to just leave me alone, he decided to call me a fat white trash whore because I refused to talk to him. He started pulling his ID out and kept kept calling me a white trash whore and bragged about working at OHSU. He proceeded to call me ignorant, uneducated, as I kept telling him to stop bothering me and that he was wrong in calling me ‘sweetie’. I was not his wife or his girlfriend and he had no right, to calling me a term of endearment that ONLY my husband should be allowed to call me.

He became abusive all because I refused to acknowledge his presence and called him out. He kept saying “My president is black! My president is black you racist white trash whore! You should be sucking my dick!”

Where does he get off saying that? He doesn’t know me and my husband is Latino. Maybe he thought I was a racist all because all I wanted to do was to get from point A to point B and I just wanted to be left alone.

The bus arrived a few moments later, and he pulled out of the parking lot flipping me off, I told the driver the situation and cops were called especially when I told them it looked he was going to pull a weapon out on me when he pulled out his OHSU ID. An older woman on the bus started complaining about being held up and started victim blaming me, and asking why I was not smart enough to go into a store. I’ve done that before and had the harasser follow me. The bus was the safest option for me, but yet I kept being insulted by this ignorant older woman all because I made her late.

The older woman called me a ‘stupid white bitch’ until the police officer arrived. One thing I learned today, even if the guy was white and still did the same thing, it still would not have been okay. If I were an African-American woman and the same exact thing still happened, and I still stood up for myself, I would still be called racial slurs. Why? Because no matter what color my skin is, it would still not be okay to call me “sweetie” when you are not my husband. And this type of behavior from ANY man, no matter what his race, or background is NOT okay!

– DW

Location: Portland, Oregon