# A helpful black man & a paranoid white woman... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 5, 2001, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-helpful-black-man-a-paranoid-white-woman/67637 "2001-06-05T05:37:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SoMoMom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@SoMoMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoMoMom)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-helpful-black-man-a-paranoid-white-woman/67637/21 "2001-06-06T22:38:41Z")
We were driving through the Plaza in Kansas City. It’s a weird area to drive in, lots of pedestrians crossing the street where ever they feel like it and other distractions. My husband accidentally, sort of cut this car off. Then not 30 seconds later there’s a car next to us honking and honking. I wouldn’t look. I just knew it was the guy that he had cut off and he was pointing a gun at my head. Finally, I look and it’s my nephews. I almost died laughing. ---
**Author:** ![Carina42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Carina42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carina42)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2001, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-helpful-black-man-a-paranoid-white-woman/67637/22 "2001-06-06T23:44:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Derleth \* > \*\*I would advise any woman I know to do the same thing, **Carina42**. It is not a nice world we live in, and certain situations force you to assume the worst. That is one of them. I find your analysis of what ‘should’ happen to the woman dangerously naive and I hope you never have to find that out the hard way. \*\* Weeell…dangerously naive I am absolutely not. I’m probably more street wise than many here. I’d agree if it was dark, deserted, or whatever. But this was 9:30 am, on a bright sunny weekday, at a very busy intersection, with cars, pedestrians galore (a few blocks from three major hospitals, so a lot of people park & walk), in a fairly respectable older neighborhood. Colorado Blvd is a major commercial artery. So this is a fairly bustling area. And the guy didn’t look like a bum, or threatening, (to me.) Well anyhow, maybe I read it wrong…perhaps she was deaf and had really poor peripheral vision, or something. **ENugent** …I agree; I try to do the same thing if I can. I’d only get out of my car to get their attention if they had a purse sitting on top of their car or something of a slightly more urgent or potentially dangerous nature, I suppose. When I bought my house six years ago in a “diverse” East Denver neighborhood (maybe 50% black, & a lot of Hispanics, white folks are in a minority) I was amazed at how many people asked me if it was “safe.” It’s not at all a high crime 'hood, but it is recognised as the one of the “black” parts of town, which many people, (admittedly it’s often, though NOT always, the case) associate with high crime & gang activity. So I do get a bit irritated when I see what I take as automatically biased behaviour based only on the colour of someone’s skin. Being sensible & aware of one’s surroundings is a good thing. Being unduly paranoid & fearful is a sad way to go through life. ---
**Author:** ![Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wonko_The_Sane)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2001, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-helpful-black-man-a-paranoid-white-woman/67637/23 "2001-06-07T23:26:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cuautemhoc \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Wonko The Sane \* > > **Both I and the old woman were white.** > > What color are you _now_? \*\* I’m still white. The old woman however, being that it was over 12 years ago… and she was _rather_ old… what with life expectancy, current embalming techniques… soil moisture and pH… \*\*Greenish. ---
**Author:** ![dodge\_this](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@dodge\_this](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dodge_this)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2001, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-helpful-black-man-a-paranoid-white-woman/67637/24 "2001-06-08T02:57:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tomcat \* > **You cannot afford to trust strangers anymore.** was probably what the two women I shared my umbrella with were thinking. They were was standing in the rain waiting for the lights to change and I, having a large enough brolly, decided to share. They looked pretty shocked when I offered, and the one closest to me recoiled a little, clutching her purse closer to herself. Up to today I still wonder what it was about me or my appearance (I’m a small Asian woman) that freaked them so much that they didn’t even nod or say ‘thank you’ after I had brought them across the street. Then again, maybe they were just rude. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2001, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-helpful-black-man-a-paranoid-white-woman/67637/25 "2001-06-08T13:31:02Z")
“Up to today I still wonder what it was about me or my appearance (I’m a small Asian woman) that freaked them so much that they didn’t even nod or say ‘thank you’ after I had brought them across the street.” —Oh, well, Jesus, who can blame them? I mean, who among us has not lost a friend or loved one to the merciless beatings, gunshots and knifings of you small Asian women? WHEN WILL THE MADNESS STOP? ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2001, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-helpful-black-man-a-paranoid-white-woman/67637/26 "2001-06-08T15:09:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > “Up to today I still wonder what it was about me or my appearance (I’m a small Asian woman) that freaked them so much that they didn’t even nod or say ‘thank you’ after I had brought them across the street.” > > -Oh, well, Jesus, who can blame them? I mean, who among us has not lost a friend or loved one to the merciless beatings, gunshots and knifings of you small Asian women? WHEN WILL THE MADNESS STOP? Those _big_ Asian gals, now, that’s a different story. Good folks. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2001, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-helpful-black-man-a-paranoid-white-woman/67637/27 "2001-06-10T04:21:19Z")
Back in 1989, when I was a small white 20-year-old girl, I was at the train station in Wheaton, IL, waiting to greet my dad as he got off one of the commuter specials. I saw a woman who was a breakfast regular at the diner I worked at, wearing the Nikes and carrying the pumps, like they all did. I waved, and when she got closer, called a cheerful “Hi!” She didn’t turn her head, but gave a sidewise glance and huffed away from me. Bitch, I thought. Well, maybe it’s because I have this drippy ice cream cone, and she’s afraid I’ll get it on her nice suit. But the next time she came into Kruger’s, she still didn’t appear to recognize me. Now, of course, I realize that to her I was Waitron, and I could have brought her wheat toast-cottage cheese-coffee with every day for ten years…but out of uniform, I would still have been a teenage punk. No, I didn’t spit in her food. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2001, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-helpful-black-man-a-paranoid-white-woman/67637/28 "2001-06-11T17:24:55Z")
> [@](#): > > Those big Asian gals, now, that’s a different story. I saw this and immediately thought of [Minka](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Minka+(I)). Just goes to show where my mind is today. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2001, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-helpful-black-man-a-paranoid-white-woman/67637/29 "2001-06-12T00:33:29Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Jeff Olsen_ > **Minka** Note to self -do not follow links. Do not follow links. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-helpful-black-man-a-paranoid-white-woman/67637.md?page=1)