"[Story] Has anyone else been accused of 'Acting Suspiciously' while playing PoGo?"

#PokemonGO: Edit: a few people seem to think this was intended as a sympathy post, when I instead wanted it to be more of an encouragement post. Not just for me but also for anyone else struggling with similar issues due to something as simple as a game on their phone. Feel free to read on and comment honestly below. Both positive and negative comments are welcomed and will help further shape my view of people in general, for the better or worse.So for a little bit of context, I'm a 25 year old, 6 foot 2 inch tall black male, and I've just moved in a slightly well off section of town, after having previously lived in a less afluent area.This section of town is quite blessed with numerous pokestops, which is awesome for stocking up on balls to fill up my bag. There is a nice 5-6 minute walk around a couple of blocks which has 11 stops, and a couple of days ago I chose to do a few loops of said block as I'll be heading back to see my parents this weekend and their area is severely lacking in Pokestops.This one day, while on the 3rd loop of the 11 stop block, an older gentleman, who must have seen me walking around the area repeatedly comes up to me while I'm catching the 1000th Pidgey of the day and asks why I keep walking around the area. I tried to explain to him it was just that I was playing a game, showing him my phone as proof, and that this area is a hotspot but he didn't seem to take heed. Instead he proceeded to accuse me of plotting terrorism, scoping the area out for attacks, and other criminal acts. Some of the derogatory language he used towards people of my skin colour isn't worth writing here, and I'll just put it down to him living in an area which hasn't exposed him to many people of my skin colour and some of the language may have been more socially acceptable earlier on in his lifetime.I know my actions may have seemed suspicious to someone of the older generation who doesn't understand it's just for a game, even after I tried explaining it to him. I just wish he wasn't as negative/borderline racist in his approach.I always make every effort to look the least imposing I can. I'm a full time Graphic Designer, I dress smartly (mostly Topman clothes), graduated uni, I've grown out of the 'hoodie' phase I used to be in, and I consider myself to be a fairly standard citizen. Unfortunately, I know that some people have negative misconceptions about me before they even get to know me, solely based on my stature and colour of my skin, no matter how much effort I put into making them not feel that way. I even consciously make an effort to smile at older folk when walking past them.I'm just curious if anyone else has had issues similar to this. I bear no malice to anyone I've talked about, for all I know they could have a genuine reason to feel uncomfortable around me or people who look like me. If anyone has any words of advice in tacking this form of confrontation in the future I'll be forever grateful. I'd hate the reason I quit playing to be because of this sort of issue.Thanks.Token Black Guy :( via /r/pokemongo http://ift.tt/2gOjMyS