Chloë Joan López
chlo'jo'lo'
It's never what you think

In Germany, at the Haus am Checkpoint Charlie, the guy working the coatcheck (ha ha, the Coatcheck am Checkpoint Charlie) was Black. If you are an American, you may think it is uncouth to note this. But if you are an American, you might also find it comfortingly familiar after seeing German coatchecks staffed by little old German ladies. Or in the case of the Jewish museum, college kids from Long Island. That's what it means to be from America.

But being from America also means that you're polite enough not to note such things. British people apparently have no such qualms. A cluster of British high school students stood whispering to each other each time the coatcheck guy disappeared into the rows of coatracks. Do you think he's American? says one, I think he must be from Africa says another. Do they not have Black people in Britain? The idea that he might just be a Black German seemed not to occur to them.

And you know, since this is Checkpoint Charlie, it is quite possible that someone who works there, who sees tourists day in and day out, just might speak English. This did not occur to the British people either. But the guy handed the Brits their coats and smiled at them, and then spoke to the two Japanese girls in French as he brought them theirs. I didn't catch what he said; I was too busy being appalled by the Britons. Something about being tired. "What did he say?" one asked the other in Japanese. "He asked us if we're sleepy," says the other. I guess they were talking about traveling all the way from Japan. He then tried his hand at saying "thank you" in Japanese.

"Ching chang chong," he said after they left.