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Our fair city
Nov. 19th, 2018 01:39 pmIt's nice to think this part of the country, this part of the world, is not full of bigots. We have this comforting belief that the bigots are elsewhere; some place they have Waffle Houses. This comforting belief is wrong. It's just that the bigots don't put out lawn signs. They mostly just quietly vote for people like Scott Lively. Or they say "I'm not racist but..." in what seems like a polite tone of voice.
Sometimes there are things like this:
I was coming home from Redbird's house, around 10pm last Saturday. Walking down the hill to Porter Square isn't usually a big deal, but there was a power failure that knocked out all the streetlights and house lights for most of the way. I had a migraine when I got to the bus stop, so I stayed outside the little glass shelter. It looked like one of the people inside was drunk, talking loudly on his phone and gesturing wildly. Only he wasn't talking on the phone. He was yelling at passers-by. After a while, he came around the edge of the shelter and said to me, "You and me, we're the best. We're white. Gotta get rid of all them [bad word]."
I did not do anything useful. I might have cringed away from him. He said something along the lines of "Gotta get those people out of here. It's for your own good." Ick. Layers of ick all the way down.
I managed to say, "Sir, you are wrong. I hope you learn better." With as much dignity as I could manage (though it probably wasn't much), I swept past him into the bus shelter, and turned my back on him. Not surprisingly, he did not immediately change his ways. He went on howling racist insults at people across the street.* I kept facing away from him for more than ten minutes, trying to make small talk with one of the other people waiting for the bus. Every 2 minutes or so, I'd turn around and say "Please stop screaming." To no effect.
He was drunk, and alcohol lowers inhibitions. Lots of drunks say things they shouldn't, but most drunks don't do THAT. I think it's noteworthy that he stopped yelling when the bus turned up and the driver opened the door. I got on the bus, and he did not. As we drove away, I saw him resume gesturing. He was sober enough to behave himself when an authority figure was in earshot. Even such a vague authority figure as a bus driver.
And then there's what happened yesterday at BU, with the Nazis. (See previous post.) Neither incident was at all violent. Neither was even really aimed at me. And it's not like I had previously thought this was safe space. Not really. It's just...it feels less safe now. I don't like it.
Sometimes there are things like this:
I was coming home from Redbird's house, around 10pm last Saturday. Walking down the hill to Porter Square isn't usually a big deal, but there was a power failure that knocked out all the streetlights and house lights for most of the way. I had a migraine when I got to the bus stop, so I stayed outside the little glass shelter. It looked like one of the people inside was drunk, talking loudly on his phone and gesturing wildly. Only he wasn't talking on the phone. He was yelling at passers-by. After a while, he came around the edge of the shelter and said to me, "You and me, we're the best. We're white. Gotta get rid of all them [bad word]."
I did not do anything useful. I might have cringed away from him. He said something along the lines of "Gotta get those people out of here. It's for your own good." Ick. Layers of ick all the way down.
I managed to say, "Sir, you are wrong. I hope you learn better." With as much dignity as I could manage (though it probably wasn't much), I swept past him into the bus shelter, and turned my back on him. Not surprisingly, he did not immediately change his ways. He went on howling racist insults at people across the street.* I kept facing away from him for more than ten minutes, trying to make small talk with one of the other people waiting for the bus. Every 2 minutes or so, I'd turn around and say "Please stop screaming." To no effect.
He was drunk, and alcohol lowers inhibitions. Lots of drunks say things they shouldn't, but most drunks don't do THAT. I think it's noteworthy that he stopped yelling when the bus turned up and the driver opened the door. I got on the bus, and he did not. As we drove away, I saw him resume gesturing. He was sober enough to behave himself when an authority figure was in earshot. Even such a vague authority figure as a bus driver.
And then there's what happened yesterday at BU, with the Nazis. (See previous post.) Neither incident was at all violent. Neither was even really aimed at me. And it's not like I had previously thought this was safe space. Not really. It's just...it feels less safe now. I don't like it.
