# Living while black in America **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 9, 2018, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611 "2018-07-09T21:17:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 87
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1723 "2020-05-28T20:57:04Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > I am saying I don’t personally have enough information about this to say, decisively, that she’s racist–unlike some things that are pretty clear. Like, I don’t even know if she really called the cops, and I don’t know if she was really in fear. > > I do have enough information to believe that both of these people were jerks. I would say the birdwatcher is the bigger jerk because he started it, but I could also say that the woman is the bigger jerk because she accelerated it. I am actually not interested enough to pursue it any further, but I have seen a lot of stuff in this thread that is assumedly racist that doesn’t seem racist (I don’t remember what) and I don’t think it’s productive to go around looking for racism everywhere, because there is plenty that’s obvious. > > The longer I read this board the more conservative I get. Weird, right? He started it? By asking her to leash her dog in an area where it was required? One of them was following the rules, one wasn’t. ONE reacted by threatening to call the police and say the other was threatening her (and he’s BLACK!) . the OTHER responded by filming the encounter to protect himself in the face of her allegations. Oh noes, he posted her acting like a damned fool, calling the police on a man trying to enjoy the park, and indigents, throttling her rescue dog. Maybe she was handling her dog to elicit the yip that you hear in the video. Maybe not, maybe that was accidental. Her suddenly hysterical “come now!” To the police seemed or cannulated. How was he the jerk? ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1724 "2020-05-28T21:00:27Z")
> [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](#): > > My understanding is that his friend posted it, but so what? Not jerkish. Also, ‘Citizen Gestapo’ is bizarre. I’m guessing you let your dog run amok, tear up park habitat, shit everywhere, and let other people clean it up. Person trying to enjoy bird-watching in a part of the park specifically set up for that: Gestapo Person letting her dog run wild and chasing away those birds and then calling fucking 911 when called on it: Not Gestapo Yeah, I don’t get it either. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1725 "2020-05-28T21:06:24Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Yeah it does. I’ve had to crack open my Monster Manual for new insults. That wasn’t the “it” I was referring to. Regards, MrDibble ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1726 "2020-05-28T21:21:01Z")
> [@raventhief](#): > > How was he the jerk? He was uppity, that’s how. He didn’t address her as “Ma’m” and he didn’t avert his eyes when she looked at him. And he spoke to her with nary a white man in sight. I mean, how dare he. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1727 "2020-05-28T21:46:57Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > I would say the birdwatcher is the bigger jerk because he started it, but I could also say that the woman is the bigger jerk because she accelerated it. If you want to call out the person who actually started it, that would be the woman who let her dog run around without a leash in violation of leash laws, and refused to comply with the law when she was reminded of it. > [@Hilarity N. Suze](#): > > I am actually not interested enough to pursue it any further Sure, that’s one of the many convenient things about being white in this society: we have the luxury of not having to care about problems of racist behavior unless we happen to feel personally interested in them. Oh, somebody’s trying to exploit racist stereotypes about African-Americans in order to intimidate an African-American man into fearing that the police are going to overreact to him as a potential threat, possibly by use of deadly force? I don’t need to worry about that stuff, I’m a white person! Ha-ha, ain’t it great? > [@Hilarity N. Suze](#): > > The longer I read this board the more conservative I get. That’s more of a reflection on you than on the board. I’m not claiming that SDMB lefties are always right about everything, but if your response to justified outrage about blatant exploitation of racist stereotypes is to circle the wagons and complain that the lefties are just being mean to the poor misunderstood stereotype exploiter, then you were probably already a conservative. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1728 "2020-05-28T21:47:53Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Please point out the racism. Are you saying she was racist for calling the cops at all? Minneapolis is on fucking fire because cops killed a black guy. Yes of course she’s fucking racist for threatening to call the cops! I see no reason for any black person to not see a white person calling 911 as threat on their life at this point. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1729 "2020-05-28T21:48:36Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > I see the disparity. Not once, that I can remember, have I advocated or supported extrajudicial violence. That cannot be said by many on this board who do advocate mob violence, prison rape, etc. it’s funny how that is acceptable around here yet taking rational steps to preserve one’s life is met with shrieks of “dat’s racist!1” I wasn’t suggesting that anyone was advocating extrajudicial violence - funny how you slipped in that non sequitur. Just pointing out the role that police have played throughout history in the US of KKK. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1730 "2020-05-28T21:57:59Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Minneapolis is on fucking fire because cops killed a black guy. Yes of course she’s fucking racist for threatening to call the cops! I see no reason for any black person to not see a white person calling 911 as threat on their life at this point. It’s obviously not always wrong in every case, but it’s absolutely wrong when the perceived threat is disproportionate to the evidence of threat that has been indicated. And it’s really, really racist when someone obviously understands the historical overtones of having a white woman who claims to be threatened by a black man and calls on the police to neutralize the situation, knowing that interplay as well. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1731 "2020-05-28T22:00:59Z")
> [@Grey](#): > > How’s this?[It’s from NPR](https://www.npr.org/2020/05/26/862654130/a-video-of-a-white-woman-calling-the-police-on-a-black-man-in-central-park-goes-) “oh yah well like we ummmm didnt see the video so we can’t so just how scary and BLACK he is!!!” Hilarity has not ensued. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1732 "2020-05-28T22:10:40Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > I am saying I don’t personally have enough information about this to say, decisively, that she’s racist–unlike some things that are pretty clear. _Like, I don’t even know if she really called the cops, and I don’t know if she was really in fear_. > > I do have enough information to believe that both of these people were jerks. I would say the birdwatcher is the bigger jerk because he started it, but I could also say that the woman is the bigger jerk because she accelerated it. I am actually not interested enough to pursue it any further, but I have seen a lot of stuff in this thread that is assumedly racist that doesn’t seem racist (I don’t remember what) and I don’t think it’s productive to go around looking for racism everywhere, because there is plenty that’s obvious. > > The longer I read this board the more conservative I get. Weird, right? Italics mine. The police showed up, per the articles I’ve seen, so I think she really did call. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1733 "2020-05-28T23:09:23Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > I am not seeing the racism here. It’s true that a person could use racial epithets and stereotypes to their advantage without actually believing them, but that woman’s behavior was appalling and she should be arrested for it. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1734 "2020-05-28T23:34:27Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Hilarity N. Suze View Post > I am not seeing the racism here. Ah right. She just \*pretended \*to be racist. Or wait… Maybe she’s legally blind! Ya that’s the ticket! Anything to excuse the disgusting behaviour of this repellent woman, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1735 "2020-05-28T23:37:34Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > He was uppity, that’s how. He didn’t address her as “Ma’m” and he didn’t avert his eyes when she looked at him. And he spoke to her with nary a white man in sight. I mean, how dare he. And then he the gall to record her which really ticked her off. You can tell by looking at her face as she marched right to him in spite of his repeated and very polite requests that she stop. Woman must have been terrified for her life and the life of the dog she was strangling. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1736 "2020-05-29T01:54:21Z")
I suppose its possible that she wasn’t racist but just saw an opportunity to manipulate the racism of others to get what she wants. So, not racist, just evil. Just like it might not require a prince to necessarily be anti-semetic to recognize that starting a pogrom might be an easy way to clear his debts. Still it does seem pretty likely. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1737 "2020-05-29T02:10:26Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > I suppose its possible that she wasn’t racist but just saw an opportunity to manipulate the racism of others to get what she wants. Which _makes_ her racist. Racist acts make a person as much or more a racist than racist thoughts, especially since people have much more control over their actions. And we can’t read minds anyway so really, it doesn’t actually matter for practical purposes. The effects are the same either way. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1738 "2020-05-29T02:38:32Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Which _makes_ her racist. Racist acts make a person as much or more a racist than racist thoughts, especially since people have much more control over their actions. Basically yeah. Like, if I voluntarily lie to get something I want, then I’m being a liar, irrespective of whether I also hold the opinion that lying is ethically wrong. And if I’m willing to exploit racist prejudice to threaten somebody else, then I’m being a racist, even if in principle I think that racist prejudices are immoral and wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1739 "2020-05-29T02:48:40Z")
> [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](#): > > My understanding is that his friend posted it, but so what? Not jerkish. Also, ‘Citizen Gestapo’ is bizarre. I’m guessing you let your dog run amok, tear up park habitat, shit everywhere, and let other people clean it up. Your guess is incorrect. But I also don’t tell people who do that to leash up or I’ll sic social media on them. Asking someone whose dog is shitting if they need a bag is as far as I go. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1740 "2020-05-29T03:14:17Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Your guess is incorrect. But I also don’t tell people who do that to leash up or I’ll sic social media on them. Asking someone whose dog is shitting if they need a bag is as far as I go. It was a leash only area, and at the start of the recording, _she_ is advancing on \* him\* I would start recording too! Not because I’ll sic social media on her, but because crazy angry woman coming at me. Like it or not, she was the one acting the asshole in public, and she shouldn’t be surprised if it was a bit more public than she ended up liking. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1741 "2020-05-29T03:23:54Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Ah right. She just \*pretended \*to be racist. > > Or wait… Maybe she’s legally blind! Ya that’s the ticket! > > Anything to excuse the disgusting behaviour of this repellent woman, eh? Legally blind? Where did that come from? ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/1742 "2020-05-29T03:42:30Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Your guess is incorrect. But I also don’t tell people who do that to leash up or I’ll sic social media on them. Asking someone whose dog is shitting if they need a bag is as far as I go. It wasn’t about poop. > **[The Ramble and Lake | Birdwatching](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ramble_and_Lake#Birdwatching)** > > The Ramble is one of the major centers of birdwatching in Central Park. At least 250 species of birds have been spotted over the years, including more than 20 species of warblers that pass through during spring and fall migration in April and October. One of the most popular birding spots is Azalea Pond, along the waterfront. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611.md?page=86) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611.md?page=88)