Hated for being Serbian, even though I’m not Serbian.

Tonight, while working my second gig driving for Lyft I picked up a man and his family, he was visibly drunk and had an Albanian name (I later learned) but said he was Italian. We were bullshitting and things seemed cool, he asked if I had been to Europe, I said to the Basque Country once when I was little (Family’s Basque and Mexican) and I am planning a trip to Serbia. When he asked why, I said I was Serbian Orthodox. From there his demeanor changed. He said “I hate Serbs, they’re always causing problems in Europe”. He asked why I was orthodox and I explained that it was the first church that welcomed me with open arms without me being the ethnicity it was set up for and that my neighbors growing up were Serbian and didn’t care that “Mexicans” moved in to the neighborhood. Towards the end of the ride, he threatened my life, reported me to Lyft for “being drunk” and said I should go back to where I’m from. Thankfully Lyft reached out and asked for my side of the story. Never in a million years did I think I would ever experience hatred for being something I wasn’t .I want to end on a high note and say that I love the Serbian people and my Orthodox faith. via /r/serbia https://ift.tt/T42MEw9