The first time I went to the Maryland
eastern shore I was prevented from using
the bathroom in the local department store
(a Sears or Ward's in Crisfield) because it
was supposed to be for whites only. It is not
that long ago where racialism was the rule of
the day here in lots of places in the US.

It is said that I broke the color bar in my
high school ... but it isn't true; there had
been a part-Asian student who graduated a
couple years before I arrived there.

Currently? Austria is the worst. Great Britain
a close second: my friend D. and I took
her (half-white) daughter to lunch at the sitdown
restaurant at the National Gallery in London,
where the waitress told me that she didn't
want to serve us, and we should go back where
we came from. Then, when the bill came, she
added an arbitrary tip, which I asked to have
taken off, owing to her attitude; she refused
- I asked for the manager, and she said he
was out. So I said, okay, we'll sit until he
arrives, which he did half an hour later.

He offered to give us the meal free. I said,
no, all I want is an apology from the
waitress. She was summoned. I recounted the
entire meal in detail, expecting her to say,
that's not true at all. Instead, she went on
another tirade about how coloreds shouldn't
be allowed in the country (we're both quite
Far Eastern in appearance) and refused to
apologize. He offered to sack her on the
spot! To which I said, at this point, just
take the service off the bill and we'll be
on our way. Never been there to eat again!