New York Times posted:

Power Play

By Greg Howard

In New York, so much of my life consists of walking in and through crowds. I am, I think, a good walker. I don’t dawdle, and even when walking at high speeds, I’m courteous — always willing to sway to one side, change speed in traffic or even take wide berths around large, lost, child-toting or otherwise compromised gaggles of pedestrians.

There are many times in a day when a person is walking toward me and in my path. In these situations, we both generally make minor adjustments upon our approach. Sometimes, and especially with pedestrians who are black, as I am, there’s eye contact or even a nod. Almost always, we shift our bodyweight or otherwise detour to make the pass easier for the other. Walking courteously doesn’t take much, just soupçons of spatial awareness, foresight and empathy. In seven years of living and walking here, I’ve found that most people walk courteously — but that white women, at least when I’m in their path, do not.

Sometimes they’re buried in their phones. Other times, they’re in pairs and groups, and in conversation. But often, they’re looking ahead, through me, if not quite at me. When white women are in my path, they almost always continue straight, forcing me to one side without changing their course. This happens several times a day; and a couple of times a week, white women force me off the sidewalk completely. In these instances, when I’m standing in the street or in the dirt as a white woman strides past, broad-shouldered and blissful, I turn furious.

I turn furious because in these instances I feel small. I always get out of the way, because I was taught at a young age not to bodycheck random people. But I also get out of the way because, as a black man, I’ve learned that bodychecking, bumping or even rubbing against a random white woman can be personally hazardous. So I acknowledge other pedestrians, and reroute. White men and all people of color do the same to me. They offer some form of acknowledgment that we are in each other’s path, that I am there at all.

After these encounters, I’m always left with questions. Why only and specifically white women? Do they refuse to acknowledge me because they’ve been taught that they should fear black men, and that any acknowledgment of black men can invite danger? Do they refuse to acknowledge me because to alter their route would be to show their fear? Do they not see me? Can they not see me?

I wonder, too, why I always get out of the way. Why haven’t I ever just walked headlong into a rude white woman? What lessons tug at me, force me off the sidewalk, tell me that my personal space is not necessarily mine? Because explicit in every white woman’s decision not to get out of my way is the expectation that I’ll get out of theirs.

There have always been white women in my life, and I’ve counted them as friends and sisters, mothers and lovers. Whenever I ask white women I know why they don’t reroute for black men, they invariably express ignorance. Whenever that happens, another question always arises: Wait, am I crazy? But then I ask black men. Invariably, they know what I’m talking about.

A couple of weeks ago, I asked an Asian friend if he had the same experience of white women not getting out of his way. He said no. For whatever reason, white women see him just fine. The people who don’t, he said, are white men.

BluesShaman posted:

I used to respect the NYT until I realized they're the FOX news of the left.

Jeffrey Dahmer posted:

Maybe that are just bitches.

BluesShaman posted:

My next door neighbor was the manager of the times printing plant. He brought his son and me to pick up his paycheck one time roughly 20 years ago. It was one of the formative memories of my youth.

We had to put in earplugs. It was like a Wednesday, but they were printing the Sunday edition [it's massive..or it WAS]. Now the Times is going out of business.

You could pull a copy off the line, and you were supposed to pull a copy off frequently to check that the print lined up properly and poo poo.

And there were multiple stations where you could "STOP THE PRESSES!" with a red stop button.

So I got to STOP THE PRESSES at the New York Times! True Story.

Cnut the Great posted:

This checks out. Remember when Hillary refused to get out of the way for Barack?

Maya Fey posted:

white women constantly bump into me and shove me out of the way because they're scared of me, and not because im the kind of huge dweeb who'd go crying about it to the new york times

Cnut the Great posted:

This checks out. Remember when Hillary refused to get out of the way for Barack?

Cnut the Great posted:

This checks out. Remember when Hillary refused to get out of the way for Barack?

SickZip posted:

let's all become racists. it seems like it would be less soul-crushingly tedious then whatever we are now.

OXBALLS DOT COM posted:

Racists in denial?

PostNouveau posted:

https://twitter.com/Russian_Starr/status/888519318455164929

SickZip posted:

That woman is a hero. gently caress ice cream trucks

The Dennis System posted:

I always get out of the way of all women. "Shoulder checking" a woman would be unthinkable.

XMNN posted:

BluesShaman posted:

I was taking the subway once... and the doors open, and this old lady says, "car's full." A quick look tells me this is not the case, so I cross check her into the boards and take up a spot in the middle of the subway car.

Literally 30 human persons could stand in the middle of this subway car. But this oval office wanted her personal space so bad. Was like Forrest Gump "Can't sit here."

Bitch should try riding the Tokyo subway at rush hour.

Cnut the Great posted:

This checks out. Remember when Hillary refused to get out of the way for Barack?

Cnut the Great posted:

This checks out. Remember when Hillary refused to get out of the way for Barack?

Mega64 posted:

Oh poo poo, am I supposed to be racist or sexist in this thread?

Maya Fey posted:

Ugh i hate it when women bump into me, disrespect me, or shove me to the ground and step on me with their high heels, or god forbid, stomp on my dick and balls... The mere thought of it makes me sick. Well thats my column for the week