Spitting in Montreal - Racist Aggression or Something Else?
So this has been bothering me for a while now; I moved to Montreal downtown about a year ago and notice it constantly downtown. I‘m a Puerto Rican male and moved from the US, Philly to be precise. I never noticed this there but in Montreal I get looks and then people spit as if out of disgust. Am I reading too much into this? Or is this a common racist reaction? I was told that I could easily be mistaken for a North African since there aren’t many Puerto Ricans in this city and I feel that could be it . There’s just a lot of spitting on the streets from my perspective and sometimes they even look at me first. Another thing I noticed is the STM, Montreal natives specifically white French avoid me like the plague and one particularly hurtful incident was when I sat opposite a guy and he just stood up and stood until he got to his stop. Man I really like the aesthetics of the city but have never dealt with this level of microaggressions before and a work colleague said it’s because the French aren’t fond of North Africans and I could easily be mistaken for one? Idk it’s really getting to me especially the spitting so if someone can enlighten me: am I reading too much into it and is spitting normal in Montreal or do these Frenchies really hate the sight of me? Also got a really dirty look from this one lady when I first arrived but didn’t let it bother me so but the spitting man don’t know how to deal with that.