I can’t believe I forgot to mention this !

[Tomcal]

On my last weekend in Porto Alegre on Friday I followed my usual routine and went to Meezziniu around 5:00 and then at 10:00 headed over to Bar Mixx.  For those that don’t know it is one of the last old fashioned hustler bars left in the world! I love it! But this Friday night it got busy around 10:30 and I went to one of their back rooms with 2 guys. I left about 11:45 and they have a bouncer that is outside while you wait for uber or taxi. There were 5 guys about 10’ from me talking and another guy that was standing about 3’ from me. All of the sudden out of nowhere 6 cops with assault rifles appear out of nowhere and are shouting to put your hands up and face the wall! I was on the phone and was just staring in amazement! The guy standing next to me and put his hands up and looked at me while 5 of the cops pushed the guys up against the wall the 6th cop looked at me and yelled something and the guy standing next to me yelled to him “Americano”! The cop then turns away and this guy i dont know shoves me back in the bar! I walked out 2 minutes later and everyone was gone back to usual calm!  I am assuming they were looking for drugs! The whole thing happened in less then 30 seconds from the time they appeared to the time I walked back in the bar!

[Latbear4blk]

53 minutes ago, Tomcal said:

On my last weekend in Porto Alegre on Friday I followed my usual routine and went to Meezziniu around 5:00 and then at 10:00 headed over to Bar Mixx.  For those that don’t know it is one of the last old fashioned hustler bars left in the world! I love it! But this Friday night it got busy around 10:30 and I went to one of their back rooms with 2 guys. I left about 11:45 and they have a bouncer that is outside while you wait for uber or taxi. There were 5 guys about 10’ from me talking and another guy that was standing about 3’ from me. All of the sudden out of nowhere 6 cops with assault rifles appear out of nowhere and are shouting to put your hands up and face the wall! I was on the phone and was just staring in amazement! The guy standing next to me and put his hands up and looked at me while 5 of the cops pushed the guys up against the wall the 6th cop looked at me and yelled something and the guy standing next to me yelled to him “Americano”! The cop then turns away and this guy i dont know shoves me back in the bar! I walked out 2 minutes later and everyone was gone back to usual calm!  I am assuming they were looking for drugs! The whole thing happened in less then 30 seconds from the time they appeared to the time I walked back in the bar!

Very South American. It could happen in Rio, in Buenos Aires, In Bogota, anywhere. You are actually lucky if this is the first time you witness this kind of scene.

 

[Tomcal]

Yes it was my first experience with police and assault rifles!

[Guest KevinC]

If the police are serious about fighting drugs, there won't be enough police to do the job....This is South America....LOL.

[AdamSmith]

9 hours ago, Tomcal said:

On my last weekend in Porto Alegre on Friday I followed my usual routine and went to Meezziniu around 5:00 and then at 10:00 headed over to Bar Mixx.  For those that don’t know it is one of the last old fashioned hustler bars left in the world! I love it! But this Friday night it got busy around 10:30 and I went to one of their back rooms with 2 guys. I left about 11:45 and they have a bouncer that is outside while you wait for uber or taxi. There were 5 guys about 10’ from me talking and another guy that was standing about 3’ from me. All of the sudden out of nowhere 6 cops with assault rifles appear out of nowhere and are shouting to put your hands up and face the wall! I was on the phone and was just staring in amazement! The guy standing next to me and put his hands up and looked at me while 5 of the cops pushed the guys up against the wall the 6th cop looked at me and yelled something and the guy standing next to me yelled to him “Americano”! The cop then turns away and this guy i dont know shoves me back in the bar! I walked out 2 minutes later and everyone was gone back to usual calm!  I am assuming they were looking for drugs! The whole thing happened in less then 30 seconds from the time they appeared to the time I walked back in the bar!w

One's own little pink white ass has been in this scene several times above 125th St in Manahatto. As a Credible Witness. One reason, among many, why one's darker friends kept one round.

[SolaceSoul]

12 hours ago, Tomcal said:

On my last weekend in Porto Alegre on Friday I followed my usual routine and went to Meezziniu around 5:00 and then at 10:00 headed over to Bar Mixx.  For those that don’t know it is one of the last old fashioned hustler bars left in the world! I love it! But this Friday night it got busy around 10:30 and I went to one of their back rooms with 2 guys. I left about 11:45 and they have a bouncer that is outside while you wait for uber or taxi. There were 5 guys about 10’ from me talking and another guy that was standing about 3’ from me. All of the sudden out of nowhere 6 cops with assault rifles appear out of nowhere and are shouting to put your hands up and face the wall! I was on the phone and was just staring in amazement! The guy standing next to me and put his hands up and looked at me while 5 of the cops pushed the guys up against the wall the 6th cop looked at me and yelled something and the guy standing next to me yelled to him “Americano”! The cop then turns away and this guy i dont know shoves me back in the bar! I walked out 2 minutes later and everyone was gone back to usual calm!  I am assuming they were looking for drugs! The whole thing happened in less then 30 seconds from the time they appeared to the time I walked back in the bar!

Unfortunately, this is a normal scene for men of color in South America AND in America proper. It’s not something that white guys by themselves would normally experience or witness, so it may be hard for them to believe it happens so regularly.

The “Americano” thing usually works well. In Santo Domingo, an American friend and I (we were both men of color and can be easily mistaken for locals until we open our gringo mouths) were in a car with 4 Dominican men on our way to the big Western Union superstore when three armed cops did a stop and frisk and demanded to look through the entire vehicle. My first instinct was to start talking as gringo-ey as possible, not speaking any Spanish and prominently using words like “American” and “United States”. The cops never laid a hand on either my friend or me, and never searched us. 

Our Dominican companions said that those kinds of searches are common, and happen almost daily when local young men are in a group.

It’s one of the few times I was able to pull out that sort of privilege, since something like this wouldn’t really occur to men of color in the USA — no matter what they sounded like or how they dressed.

 

[Tomcal]

Except this was in Porto Alegre and everyone involved was as white as Minnesota! But I do believe it was “economic” discrimination since this is in a not so great part of the city and the guys that hang there are from the poor neighborhoods! Kinda like the Irish in Boston or NYC a 125 years ago!

it happened so fast and I was too dumb to realize what was going on that I didn’t comply when he was yelling hands up! But being I am 6’5” he probably didn’t need to be told I was a gringo, and that’s why I wasn’t shot for not complying! :-)

[floridarob]

Two things..... how did you forget to tell this story???

 

And the mistake I see here, is your friends said "Americano"..... if they used the National term for Very Important Whore   "TOM", the police would've bowed down to you.

 

[floridarob]

And since your memory is getting bad lately..... I'm willing to bet that you probably had sex with one of the police either sometime before this encounter or shortly after 

[SolaceSoul]

1 hour ago, Tomcal said:

Except this was in Porto Alegre and everyone involved was as white as Minnesota! But I do believe it was “economic” discrimination since this is in a not so great part of the city and the guys that hang there are from the poor neighborhoods! Kinda like the Irish in Boston or NYC a 125 years ago!

it happened so fast and I was too dumb to realize what was going on that I didn’t comply when he was yelling hands up! But being I am 6’5” he probably didn’t need to be told I was a gringo, and that’s why I wasn’t shot for not complying! :-)

I agree. The police were probably targeting young men in poorer neighborhoods.

i also wouldn’t overlook the possibility that it was an attempted shakedown for some money. That happens often, it’s happening much more in Santo Domingo these days — especially if they suspect they are getting gringo dollars.

[Guest KevinC]

Foreigners are usually immune from drug raid.   I had many experience at gay clubs in Thailand where police came to the establishment, music stop, lights all up, entrance/exit closed.  Everyone is handed a plastic cup for his urine test on the spot except foreigners (you need a copy of your passport to get in the clubs amyway). 

It is well know that police department in Thailand use drug raids as a way to ask for "tea money" from the establishments.

[Latbear4blk]

Don't forget that many South American countries have been governed by military dictatorships until not so far ago. To speak of what I know best, in Argentina liberal democracy actually started in 1983. Police abuse is widespread against the poor and the minorities.The situation varies significantly not only from one country to other, but even inside a country, from one city to other. In Buenos Aires the standard is similar to a big American city like NYC or DC, you just substitute the Blacks by the poor. But if you move inside the country, the abuse against gays is rampant. This is even when the federal legislation is even more progressive than American laws in recognizing equal rights to LGBTQ.

[RA1]

Strange things can and do happen around the world.  I remember being shocked my first trip to Goose Bay, Canada seeing the hotel clerk kicking a native on the floor and escorting him out the door.  Apparently drinking was only allowed for natives one day a week and I happened to show up that day;

I was also interested and not in a good way to see military personnel at Heathrow armed with automatic weapons walking around in the terminal.  Courtesy of a recent episode of the "troubles".

Best regards,

RA1

[Tomcal]

I grew up spending summers in Canada at my familys fishing resort and the closet town was about15 mikes away. The Canadian government would fly the Indiginous Natives from their isolated camps to the city for the summer since they couldn’t trap them and they  would sit outside the state run liquor stores and ask if we would buy them liquor! since they were not allowed to buy liquor in the 50s and 60’s .  It was against federal law to sell them liquor!

[RA1]

I believe it is a widely circulated idea that native Americans have a gene that makes them susceptible to alcohol.  Of course they say much the same thing about women but that might be somewhat supported by weight differences.  

Yes this was the early 70's.

Best regards,

RA1

[floridarob]

5 hours ago, KevinC said:

Foreigners are usually immune from drug raid.   I had many experience at gay clubs in Thailand where police came to the establishment, music stop, lights all up, entrance/exit closed.  Everyone is handed a plastic cup for his urine test on the spot except foreigners (you need a copy of your passport to get in the clubs amyway). 

 

Foreigners (westerners) need a copy of passport to get in....??

[Guest KevinC]

55 minutes ago, floridarob said:

Foreigners (westerners) need a copy of passport to get in....??

Everybody needs to show their ID before getting in the clubs.  In foreigners case, their valid ID is passport (copy).  BTW, in Thailand,  foreigners are not always Westerners, they may be Westerners or people from other Asian countries (Japan, China, Korea, Singapore...etc),  or from other parts of world.

[Badboy81]

On 10/6/2017 at 2:35 PM, KevinC said:

Foreigners are usually immune from drug raid.   I had many experience at gay clubs in Thailand where police came to the establishment, music stop, lights all up, entrance/exit closed.  Everyone is handed a plastic cup for his urine test on the spot except foreigners (you need a copy of your passport to get in the clubs amyway). 

It is well know that police department in Thailand use drug raids as a way to ask for "tea money" from the establishments.

What establishments did this happen in so I can make sure I avoid them....things are so easy and laid back in BKK its hard to believe that that happens...

Thanks for the feedback on where I need to avoid

 

[floridarob]

On 10/6/2017 at 7:57 PM, KevinC said:

Everybody needs to show their ID before getting in the clubs.  In foreigners case, their valid ID is passport (copy).  BTW, in Thailand,  foreigners are not always Westerners, they may be Westerners or people from other Asian countries (Japan, China, Korea, Singapore...etc),  or from other parts of world.

I understand that foreigners come from other parts, That's why I specified westerners. Asians from other countries are asked for their passports at some places (DJ for example), but in my MANY yrs coming here, I've never been asked to show any ID....and I've been to sleazy bars., in between places and  roof bars. Bank studio comes to mind , they had frequent raids many yrs ago, And even though foreigners were detained...I never had to show anything to get in. 

[Guest KevinC]

Ok.  There must be a reason nobody bothers to check your ID....LOL. 

[Lucky]

In 14 trips to Thailand, I also have never had to show ID to get into a place.

[floridarob]

15 hours ago, KevinC said:

Ok.  There must be a reason nobody bothers to check your ID....LOL. 

Because I actually am here and come here, so I know what I'm talking about?

I'll bet I'm younger than you are thinking and I've been coming here 18 yrs...

There are quite a few people on this board that have met me, so my comments here are credible.....can we say the same about you, just curious..... 

[Guest KevinC]

I guess I am special in the eyes of Thai people when I enter DJ....LOL.