Need an African American to Explain this Behavior

[Anonymous]

Being 16 years old and having people clutch their purses when you come near and cross the street to avoid you is tough to process as an immature teen. Even dressed in a suit you see people lock their car doors as if you are out to rob them when you are just coming home from work. Not every Black man is out to harm you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Being 16 years old and having people clutch their purses when you come near and cross the street to avoid you is tough to process as an immature teen. Even dressed in a suit you see people lock their car doors as if you are out to rob them when you are just coming home from work. Not every Black man is out to harm you.

No, it's not. Please stop making excuses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Being 16 years old and having people clutch their purses when you come near and cross the street to avoid you is tough to process as an immature teen. Even dressed in a suit you see people lock their car doors as if you are out to rob them when you are just coming home from work. Not every Black man is out to harm you.

Agreed that being a young black male forces you to deal with a lot of other people's fears and unconscious racism. That does take a toll psychologically and is unfair. Still, it doesn't justify spitting at someone or any sort of hostile behavior. To say otherwise would mean living in chaos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Being 16 years old and having people clutch their purses when you come near and cross the street to avoid you is tough to process as an immature teen. Even dressed in a suit you see people lock their car doors as if you are out to rob them when you are just coming home from work. Not every Black man is out to harm you.

No, it's not. Please stop making excuses.

So 16 year olds are mature ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, may I ask your background? Do you think you may have prompted it in any way? I am NOT saying this behavior is excusable.

Maybe they were jealous? Is it a nice car? This behavior could have been from anyone - including my uptight white neighbors who get jealous if they think someone has more than them

Op here-- Asian background. The daycare folks are nice Pakistanis. I don't think it was prompted - I was just holding my son and walking back to my car. My car is not anything of note and, seeing some of the other posters on this forum, I'm more ashamed of listing its make and model than anything else.

Maybe they spit in your direction bc they thought you were associated with 911, who knows. What offensive is that you expect a black person to defend the actions of some random black person. We can't - the person was rude beyond that I cannot give you an explanation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Being 16 years old and having people clutch their purses when you come near and cross the street to avoid you is tough to process as an immature teen. Even dressed in a suit you see people lock their car doors as if you are out to rob them when you are just coming home from work. Not every Black man is out to harm you.

Not every black man is. But these teenagers could have been. They likely dressed to project a thug impression, and they acted accordingly.

[Anonymous]

Answer my Asian question- you troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the below event to be an act of racism, but I would like a member from the African American community to verify or help me see why I'm wrong.

While picking up my child from daycare today (between Cameron Station and Old Town Alexandria, just off of Duke Street), I encountered four African American males while walking back to my car, 10 month old child in arms. My car was parked in front of the daycare building along the curb. They, the four African American youths (between 18 and 25 of age), were walking parallel to the street, on the street itself. We reached my car at the same time. One of the youths looked at me while I reached for my car door and, without breaking stride, spat on the driver's side of the door while looking me right in the eye.

Racism? Or am I overreacting?

black guy here.

it seems like these AA species you encountered simply spat on your window to inform you that your vehicle needs cleaning. they either spat on your car to provide the water they felt you needed to wipe down your window or they were simply giving you the universal negro sign of "fuck you"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the below event to be an act of racism, but I would like a member from the African American community to verify or help me see why I'm wrong.

While picking up my child from daycare today (between Cameron Station and Old Town Alexandria, just off of Duke Street), I encountered four African American males while walking back to my car, 10 month old child in arms. My car was parked in front of the daycare building along the curb. They, the four African American youths (between 18 and 25 of age), were walking parallel to the street, on the street itself. We reached my car at the same time. One of the youths looked at me while I reached for my car door and, without breaking stride, spat on the driver's side of the door while looking me right in the eye.

Racism? Or am I overreacting?

black guy here.

it seems like these AA species you encountered simply spat on your window to inform you that your vehicle needs cleaning. they either spat on your car to provide the water they felt you needed to wipe down your window or they were simply giving you the universal negro sign of "fuck you"

Is your reply supposed t be funny?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the below event to be an act of racism, but I would like a member from the African American community to verify or help me see why I'm wrong.

While picking up my child from daycare today (between Cameron Station and Old Town Alexandria, just off of Duke Street), I encountered four African American males while walking back to my car, 10 month old child in arms. My car was parked in front of the daycare building along the curb. They, the four African American youths (between 18 and 25 of age), were walking parallel to the street, on the street itself. We reached my car at the same time. One of the youths looked at me while I reached for my car door and, without breaking stride, spat on the driver's side of the door while looking me right in the eye.

Racism? Or am I overreacting?

black guy here.

it seems like these AA species you encountered simply spat on your window to inform you that your vehicle needs cleaning. they either spat on your car to provide the water they felt you needed to wipe down your window or they were simply giving you the universal negro sign of "fuck you"

Is your reply supposed t be funny?

its as serious as her "question" is

[Anonymous]

+1, PP. This black woman thinks your reply was hee-larious. If anyone spit on my car I'd be angry. Would not confront them if I had my kids because I'd think they might get violent.

[Anonymous]

OP is a guy, folks.

[Anonymous]

I don't think it is a race thing...it is someone with no home training, a jerk, an idiot with no respect for themselves or anyone else. They turn up in a variety of hues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is just reprehensible. I don't know why everyone wants to jump on here claiming it's not representative of young black male behavior, but I have seen this sort of behavior from young black males, too -- and have never seen it from any other race in this country. I don't think this act was racism against OP, but I do think it's a deep cultural and social issue that many urban black males grow up behaving this way, but get a pass because it's "racist" to call them out. I'm calling them out: this is not the way a human being in a civilized nation should ever treat the mother of a baby in front of that baby, and PPs are fooling themselves if they think it doesn't cause people like OP and me to associate those behaviors with the whole group. I know this is an unpopular thing to say and think.

Really? I have. From whites, and mexicans.

I have seen it when I was in Israel and in Jordan. The middle easterners are big fans of spitting! I witnessed it no less than 3 times while there and race had nothing to do with it. Jew to Jew. Palestinian to Jew. Palestinian to Palestinian. I got spit at by a bedouin in Jordan b/c I would not buy a rock that she wanted to sell me. These were rocks found off of the ground. Seriously.

Ditto, as a black female the most hurtful experiences in my life were by young white males. The N word, comments about my body at the beach while sitting next to me like I was not there, comments about my breasts on the metro, leaving a DC nightclub with a white girlfriend and a Latina girlfriend and listening to them make derogatory comments about me as we walked past.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Being 16 years old and having people clutch their purses when you come near and cross the street to avoid you is tough to process as an immature teen. Even dressed in a suit you see people lock their car doors as if you are out to rob them when you are just coming home from work. Not every Black man is out to harm you.

No, it's not. Please stop making excuses.

Say the kid is on your son's football team. You cheer for the kid at the high school game for scoring a touchdown but when he walks by you without his uniform on wearing jeans and a tshirt and you cross the street, hold your wallet close and don't speak. How is he supposed to process this? That the color of his skin is only ok when he is providing you entertainment? Otherwise he is unacceptable to society in jeans and a t-shirt?