Apropriate Treatment?
DeeRock
1,836 Posts
I wasn't even gonna say anything here because I'm still bent about this but I tried to go to Vancouver, Canada yesterday. I left the crib at 8:00 am and drove up after running a few errends. I got to the border at 11:30 and sat in line for 30 minutes. I get up to the window and of course I was pulled over for inspection (as I am every time!). They ended up keeping me in united states customs until fucking 12:00AM Midinight!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 12 hours I was there getting harrassed. Then they denied me entry stating I appear to be an immigrant without a visa. I wasn't aware immigrints were given passports? They asked for all kinds of ridiculous things like phone bills, check stubs, etc. Everything they asked for I produced too! I just got on the cell and had it faxed over. The thing that I thought was unappropriate was the smart ass remarks the agents were using like "you sure have nice rims" blah, blah, blah "How did you afford them?". Is that really relevant to letting me accross? I think they were just plain haters. I have been there at least 100 times and yes, I always get stopped but always get through. I don't think I will be going back there. All I wanted to do was drop chips on records too. They really had uncalled for bad attitudes. I was cool as ice until the 11th hour. Then out of no where (she must have just started her shift) they assign this bomb ass light skinned shorty to handle me. She was mad cool and apologized for everyone else there etc, etc. but then gave me my papers stating I'm not allowed in the country. The thing about is there is no one to complain to and nothing you can do about it. The bottom line is no one cares but me. I can see why ill shit goes down though. I had some real ill thoughts going through my head yesterday while I was sitting there getting treated like complete crap.
Comments
That's straight up BS. At the very least you should make a formal complaint. Seriously, that blows!!!!!!!!!
I haven't had a problem getting through in Montreal but I'm definitely gonna be cautious whenever I hit VC again.
DR - sorry to hear this - it was U.S.[/b] Customs though? I thought goin' across the border meant that you'd be inspected by the Canadian side and only the U.S. on the way back?
It totally sucks, but that's totally the way works over there. They rarely stop people randomly.
I just try to remember the karma when I'm in some situation like that.... the way they're playing the system, it wont be long until the system plays them. They wanted it all to kick off, but you weren't having none of it. Good going on the playing it cool man.
K.
Sounds like a power trip - it can't be that exciting to work that sorta job - but that's NO excuse for the treatment you received DR - I guess once someone gets a badge or 2 on their uniform, it all goes to his/her head; power corrupts absolutely...
D,
With all due respect, you KNEW this was going to happen. It sucks and I'm not saying it was fair that you had to endure that bullshit, but that's the game. You roll up to Canadian immigration/customs in a black Denali truck w/ Gucci interior sittin' on chrome 24"s. You're all tatted up with your nickname tattooed
on your neck and were probably rocking all kinds of diamonds and an ill watch. You look like a mean dude to people that do not know you. To them you look like a drug dealin' thug. Damn right they are going to pull you over and fuck with you all day! It's their country and they can deny access to ANYONE they feel like stopping. If you would have rolled up there in a low key car wearing a nice conservative long sleeve shirt covering up all the tats with some schoolboy glasses and said "How are you doing today?" in a dorky voice, FAR LESS chance that they are gonna sweat you. Every time wifey and I roll up to Canada, NO PROBLEMS! Volvo sedan, non-threatening looking white guy, nice looking Japanese woman, both dressed nice, polite to the immigration officials = blaze right through. It's fucked up, but it is what it is.
If they play Pulp Fiction one more time on Encore I'm going to have a heroin sniffin induced OD
Plus their just hating! They don't like the way you look so they hassle you cuz their country is white as fuck and they like that way I guess. Hell I've had old lady's clutch their purse just cuz I had long hair and biker boots on.
My boss got into it with them about the magazines searches and now his permanantly banned from Canada. So you did the right thing staying cool, cuz you may get a gig up there one day and you don't want to be on an entire countries permanant shit list. Even though you didn't do anything wrong, of course.
It's another reason "the man" sucks. I understand what Big Chan is saying and I've done the undercover thing to so I don't get hassled, but really things shouldn't be that way.
Side note: a black girl once told me she never had any problems cuz there's no black people in Canada. So Canada let her in cuz they want American tourists and USA let her back cuz they knew she had to be American. Still boarderline prejudice, but it actually worked in her favor!!!!!
Say hommie, you might want to get your facts straight before you make these kinds of statements. Toronto, Ontario is the MOST racially diverse and multi-cultural city in the world and there are LOTS of black people. The largest population of Jamaicans anywhere in the world outside of Jamaica? Toronto. People in Vancouver and Toronto are a LOT less racist and a lot more accepting of other races and cultures than any major city in the U.S. Have you ever spent time in Toronto? They have a week long Caribbean festival that is OFF THE HOOK! There are also HUGE Chinese and East Indian populations in Toronto, Vancouver and other major cities in Canada. Canada's immigration policies are also much more liberal and welcoming than the policies of the United States. Canada also takes much better care of its people with social services and medical care. Do your homework before you start hating Canada!
P.S. Old ladies will clutch on their purse in every country in the world if they see a guy with long hair and biker boots.
Stay wrapped in Volvos ALL DAY young Mark! Volvo fo life!
FANY
all that
yah Canada is radd except for this nonsense Deerock is bringing to our attention
good people and good times on the whole
how can I hate on the people who gave us TV Carnage?
saying
College roadtrip, me and two friends who used to go by the nicknames of Pornstar (crazy napoleon complex little Indian AA dude) and Mad Cow (crazy too much acid long hair gigantic beard and whatnot) drove up to Vancover and back to Santa Barbara in 3 days. We had about a half ounce of groucho on us. While drving up through Oregon, Mad Cow (sans shoes) was driving my crazy beat up old civic, Im in the back puffing on a pipe at 8 in the morning. We had been driving all night. Whoop whoop, we blast the AC, open all the windows and I shove the weed into the sleeping bag. They pull us over, it turns out Mad Cow had been going 75 in a 35 zone for about five minutes so there was two cars by the time they pulled us over. They make us all get out, they search the car, find nothing, write us a ticket, we are on our way.
On the way back into the states, again Mad Cow is driving (sans shoes). I had cleverly shoved groucho into the sleeping bag. We're at the border, and it turns out Mad Cow has lost his lisence. The guy belives him but looks in the car and its nasty. (Before the trip Pornstar had taken us to Costco to stock up on food cause he had his mom's account. But all he would let us buy was pinto beans and canned corn. So there was all these cans of empty pinto beans laying around.) Anyway, MC kind of freaks and lets his foot of the breaks and sort of half drives off. The guy gets heated, and tells us to get out. They bring the car over into that hangar and search it for an hour and a half while we wait inside. Miraculously, they find nothing and we are on our way.
When we moved back up to canada from indiana we got stopped at the border for at leat 3 or four hours but it was to be expected as we had an entire uhaul full of our shit...
but every other person in the waiting area was a black person. some truely sad shit right there... i mean black dude after black dude bein brought in... grilled, spit back out.
but then again we also almost didnt make it accross the bridge from detroit... we got stopped ON the bridge.. i hadda get out in the pouring rain and open up the back so the US guys could search inside. Two black cops... they were assholes too... one of them even called me a Wigger fer fucks sack.
all cops suck.
I don't think I really went out on a limb. Like D said his record is clean so they obviously just didn't like the way he looked. That's messed up. Plus, the cities your listing are on the other side of Canada. I realize Vancouver is diverse, but there is a difference between the diversity of a city and what the boarder guards are doing. Just like with the old lady thing people are judgeing soley on appearance. It's 2005..... tats, weird hair, biker clothers, hip hop clothes, flashy cars it's really shouldn't be a big deal it's everywhere. I just think a lot of people still have a 1950's homogonized mentality.
what? no more milestones?
sorry to hear that. i wouldn't write off a whole country because of one redneck crossing guard. as shitty as canadian customs probably seem, i can almost guarantee you that us immigration is waaaaaay more fucked up. i don't want to get into it but right now i'm basically trapped in the states even though i'm a canadian citizen who's allowed to be in america. can't even visit my family or friends.
It???s a crapshoot depending on the border cop???s mood and power-trip level. I???ve been turned away at Detroit for not having rent receipts and pay-cheque stubs to prove I live in Canada and I???m not going to try to stay States and then again, I???ve gotten into the States at the Rainbow Bridge with nothing but a photocopied certificate saying congratulations on becoming a citizen of Canada.
You know how it us with heavily tattooed folks like ourselves (never met you, but assuming from reading the posts). Whenever I travel I make sure my shit is covered up, and I end at my elbows!
When I went to Japan, one of the guys with me got his whole luggage tossed through and he was the only one who had his ink showing.
When I flew to vancouver last year, one of the girls on the trip, who has full sleeves on both arms, got detained for maybe an hour with them accusing her of transporting crystal meth. They said something picked up a scent on her, which I can assure you was bullshit. Girl is schoolteacher and smokes some weeds, but thats it. They grilled her hard and finally let her go.
What makes me laugh is that for the 12 hours that they wasted on you, 6 clean cut looking people rolled through customs muling something. Everyone knows that real smugglers don't use tattooed folks. Not only that, but what is the point of carrying to vancouver? Everything is there already.
Only times I've ever gotten searched was when i travelled in shorts and my left leg sleeve was showing. If you're showing something on your neck, just accept the searches homie. But 12 hours, that's fucking ridiculous and it makes me sad that you had to deal with that. At least they didn't cut up your car!
For real. They can completely take apart your car if they want to, and then leave it in a heap for you to deal with.
There are very few rules they have to follow.
I actually met a guy who worked as a US customs official on the border in WA. He told me that they were informally trained to stop people based on appearance, race or whatever stereotypes they felt appropriate.
Stop drinking the Kool-Ade man. Walk up in Parliament and tell me if you see all those people there (sans Adrienne Clarkson). Racism in Canada is a lot more covert.
Racial barriers keep minorities from high-paying secure jobs[/b]
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