OC = racist?

[AudioGuy]

I feel ridiculous for even posting this, but I'd like to hear some other opinions since I'm having trouble rationalizing this on my own. I live in a reasonably quiet apartment complex in SW Philly. As far as I know, the crime rate is pretty low here. I've never seen anybody get arrested in this neighborhood, haven't heard of any crimes, and in general have never felt unsafe. Granted, I've felt a lot safer in every other place I've ever lived (this is Philly after all), but as far as Philly goes, I feel pretty safe by comparison in this area. That being said, I've been open carrying every time I go out since I started carrying a few weeks ago (one time I concealed under a suit coat at a restaurant just to avoid the possibility of being asked to leave).

Anyway, there are a lot of common area yards around the different buildings here, and a family across the way has been out all day having a BBQ with what I assume are friends and family, including children. Earlier today, the lady and I went out to pick up some drinks for tonight. I was open carrying on my way out to the car, passing near the gathering, and there seemed to be no issue that I noticed, nor when returning from the trip. However, this evening when I went to take out the trash, it seemed a bit different.

Now like I said, I feel reasonably safe here, but you never know, especially at night. Also, the dumpsters are around the side of the building, inside of an open-faced enclosure and there is no lighting over there. I once nearly clocked a guy in the side of the head when I came around the corner and swung the bag up from my side. He was digging through the dumpster (God knows why) and I didn't see him until I was about 6 inches away from hitting him with my trash. This encounter alone is enough for me to always wonder if some vagrant is going to be lurking in the dumpster shelter waiting to mug somebody taking out their trash.

At any rate, the same BBQ is still going on at night now, without the children and seemingly a few more adults. When I stepped outside, there was a great deal of talking and conversation. I noticed that once I was seen walking in that direction, the group became noticeably quieter. I walked by, went around the corner, and threw out my trash. On my way back, they were still fairly quiet, talking low. But then, after passing by, I hear someone say "He don't like to see black people congregate." At this point I'm thinking to myself, "oh great, now the neighbors are going to have some kind of issue with me for no sound reason."

Obviously I'm white, and obviously there aren't very many white people where I live. I have no problem with this, but this isn't the first time I've noticed that there are some black people around the city who have obviously negative feelings against white people as a whole (I even had a black neighbor of mine tell me this). I just hate the thought that people might think or imply that I am racist. I've had plenty of friends who weren't white, I've had plenty of people hang out at my place who weren't white. I am the furthest thing from being racist or even stereotyping people. But, this statement really seemed to imply that I am somehow afraid of black people and thus carry a gun to protect myself from them. Absurdity.

I own a gun because I have a right to. I open carry because I have the right to, I have a LTCF, and it is much easier and more comfortable than concealing it. I'm a skinny guy and I like to dress the part, i.e. slim fitting polo shirts or button-ups, and slim fitting jeans (NOT skinny jeans), khakis, slacks, or shorts. And now that the weather is going to be nice for the next 5 months or so, I find it even less likely that I will be concealing any time soon, unless the situation really calls for it.

So to clarify, I feel like I am being faced with an issue that I could have never even thought of. Does openly carrying a firearm in the city of Philadelphia as a white man make me look racist? Has anyone else been faced with this kind of issue? What are other people's thoughts on this? In no way do I want to make myself seem like a racist and draw negative attention to myself, but I damn sure don't feel that I should have to forfeit any of my rights because of what other people might think. Maybe I'm making more of this than is warranted, but given the way the media loves to stir people into a frenzy of racial tension, I'm simply concerned that I may need to do some further reflection and investigation into this. Sorry for such a long post, but any thoughtful insights from an outside perspective would certainly be appreciated.

[ungawa]

Does openly carrying a firearm in the city of Philadelphia as a white man make me look racist? Has anyone else been faced with this kind of issue?

You uppitty white people should know your place.

[AudioGuy]

You uppitty white people should know your place.

I'm sorry, but I'm not sure what you mean by this. If it's sarcasm, I didn't get it. I'm just asking an honest question here.

[ungawa]

If I just ran into a group of obviously racist people that hated me where I lived, and tried to intimidate me, I would be pretty concerned for my safety. My only concerns about my behavior would be how I could get myself out of this environment and how I plan to defend myself against a large number of adversaries in the interim.

You seem more concerned with whether or not you offended these scumbags by minding your own business.

Groups of racist scumbags are never to be taken lightly.

[mpan72]

They may think you are a cop. Where in SW Philly do you live. You can pm me if you want to answer that question.

I was on my porch a few weeks ago cleaning a revolver I may be selling and there were many neighbors out enjoying the weather. A few houses down there were some black teens on a neighbors porch, one said "dam he be just cleaning his gun like it don't matter if I did that I would be locked up in a minute." The owner told him to "shut the fuck up and don't start no shit with my neighbors." The kid mumbled something about white guys and their guns.

Just kinda funny that guns brought race into play in both cases.

[internet troll]

I feel ridiculous for even posting this, but I'd like to hear some other opinions since I'm having trouble rationalizing this on my own. I live in a reasonably quiet apartment complex in SW Philly. As far as I know, the crime rate is pretty low here. I've never seen anybody get arrested in this neighborhood, haven't heard of any crimes, and in general have never felt unsafe. Granted, I've felt a lot safer in every other place I've ever lived (this is Philly after all), but as far as Philly goes, I feel pretty safe by comparison in this area. That being said, I've been open carrying every time I go out since I started carrying a few weeks ago (one time I concealed under a suit coat at a restaurant just to avoid the possibility of being asked to leave).

Anyway, there are a lot of common area yards around the different buildings here, and a family across the way has been out all day having a BBQ with what I assume are friends and family, including children. Earlier today, the lady and I went out to pick up some drinks for tonight. I was open carrying on my way out to the car, passing near the gathering, and there seemed to be no issue that I noticed, nor when returning from the trip. However, this evening when I went to take out the trash, it seemed a bit different.

Now like I said, I feel reasonably safe here, but you never know, especially at night. Also, the dumpsters are around the side of the building, inside of an open-faced enclosure and there is no lighting over there. I once nearly clocked a guy in the side of the head when I came around the corner and swung the bag up from my side. He was digging through the dumpster (God knows why) and I didn't see him until I was about 6 inches away from hitting him with my trash. This encounter alone is enough for me to always wonder if some vagrant is going to be lurking in the dumpster shelter waiting to mug somebody taking out their trash.

At any rate, the same BBQ is still going on at night now, without the children and seemingly a few more adults. When I stepped outside, there was a great deal of talking and conversation. I noticed that once I was seen walking in that direction, the group became noticeably quieter. I walked by, went around the corner, and threw out my trash. On my way back, they were still fairly quiet, talking low. But then, after passing by, I hear someone say "He don't like to see black people congregate." At this point I'm thinking to myself, "oh great, now the neighbors are going to have some kind of issue with me for no sound reason."

Obviously I'm white, and obviously there aren't very many white people where I live. I have no problem with this, but this isn't the first time I've noticed that there are some black people around the city who have obviously negative feelings against white people as a whole (I even had a black neighbor of mine tell me this). I just hate the thought that people might think or imply that I am racist. I've had plenty of friends who weren't white, I've had plenty of people hang out at my place who weren't white. I am the furthest thing from being racist or even stereotyping people. But, this statement really seemed to imply that I am somehow afraid of black people and thus carry a gun to protect myself from them. Absurdity.

I own a gun because I have a right to. I open carry because I have the right to, I have a LTCF, and it is much easier and more comfortable than concealing it. I'm a skinny guy and I like to dress the part, i.e. slim fitting polo shirts or button-ups, and slim fitting jeans (NOT skinny jeans), khakis, slacks, or shorts. And now that the weather is going to be nice for the next 5 months or so, I find it even less likely that I will be concealing any time soon, unless the situation really calls for it.

So to clarify, I feel like I am being faced with an issue that I could have never even thought of. Does openly carrying a firearm in the city of Philadelphia as a white man make me look racist? Has anyone else been faced with this kind of issue? What are other people's thoughts on this? In no way do I want to make myself seem like a racist and draw negative attention to myself, but I damn sure don't feel that I should have to forfeit any of my rights because of what other people might think. Maybe I'm making more of this than is warranted, but given the way the media loves to stir people into a frenzy of racial tension, I'm simply concerned that I may need to do some further reflection and investigation into this. Sorry for such a long post, but any thoughtful insights from an outside perspective would certainly be appreciated.

In all honesty I think you are worrying to much about it. No, open carry does not make you racist. I think you are getting into a case where you are psyching your self out. You carry to protect yourself from anyone who wants to do you harm, skin color does not matter. As long as you are not doing harm to others, do not worry about what others might think of you.

[AudioGuy]

In all honesty I think you are worrying to much about it. No, open carry does not make you racist. I think you are getting into a case where you are psyching your self out. You carry to protect yourself from anyone who wants to do you harm, skin color does not matter. As long as you are not doing harm to others, do not worry about what others might think of you.

Yes, you are exactly right. I obviously know I'm not racist, but what I was getting at was could my actions/appearance really lead people who don't know me and just see me in passing think that I carry for the wrong reasons? I guess it never occurred to me. And yes, I do tend to over analyze things quite frequently, but that's just how my mind works, and probably ties to the fact that I was an avionics technician while in the Air Force.

But yes, I ignored the comment and continued to back to my apartment. I am not looking to ruin anyone's BBQ by interjecting myself into some sort of discussion or confrontation.

[chrmm22sr]

Just like there is white people who are predjudice and racist towards all black people there are black people who are racist against all whites it had nothing to do with you wearing a gun

[mpan72]

Yes, you are exactly right. I obviously know I'm not racist, but what I was getting at was could my actions/appearance really lead people who don't know me and just see me in passing think that I carry for the wrong reasons? I guess it never occurred to me. And yes, I do tend to over analyze things quite frequently, but that's just how my mind works, and probably ties to the fact that I was an avionics technician while in the Air Force.

But yes, I ignored the comment and continued to back to my apartment. I am not looking to ruin anyone's BBQ by interjecting myself into some sort of discussion or confrontation.

I am gonna be blunt. You did nothing wrong. You would not have interjected yourself into anything if they confronted you. You may need to stiffen yourself a little if you will be staying in Philly.

[Totez]

I think it's fairly plain to see that you aren't racist because of carrying your gun, nor does anyone have the right or reason to assume this. Your neighbors are racist against white people and likely think that because you have a gun and are white you will shoot them or want to shoot them or some such nonsense because they are racist against white people.

Racism is a six lane highway.