What would you do, Incident at Playground

[Anonymous]

Op here. Thanks for the responses. It has truly been weighing on my mind. I had been wondering if I'd done enough.

If any are annoyed, my apologies. I normally switch the channel when a song comes on that I don't want to hear .

Best to all

[Anonymous]

Based on the description, it's got to be the new playground at Taft

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thanks for the responses. It has truly been weighing on my mind. I had been wondering if I'd done enough.

If any are annoyed, my apologies. I normally switch the channel when a song comes on that I don't want to hear .

Best to all

You did fine. Don't worry about it.

And in the future, that kind of "hide the ball" posting is really annoying. Just FYI.

[Anonymous]

Take his picture on your camera phone and upload it along with your story on the neighborhood listserv.

[Anonymous]

My heart would be racing. My mouth would be dry. I would be ready for a physical confrontation and thinking about my Krav Maga class and my kids nearby.

I can't say what I would have done in the moment. I would not initiate a physical confrontation, nor would I shrink from one. I would be torn between outrage on my own and the kids' behalf, wanting to show that racism is not tolerated (my kids are minorities) and the possibility of that a physical escalation would teach the wrong lesson/set the wrong example. Even if I thought it would get physical, I would be aware that he has kids too, and nobody needs to see their dad get his ass kicked, even if their dad is an asshole.

My best guess would be something like telling the man "you need to go now." Probably it would be less calm, more confrontational, and wordier than that. If it looked like it was about to get physical, I'd try to tell the nearest person to call the police before getting into it.

(white dad here)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disgusting. Things like this make me ashamed to be white.

Why? You didn't do it and aren't responsible for his behavior. White guilt is boring and phony.

Thank you pp!! I couldn't think of a response to this stupid comment, but you nailed it!

Yep, me too. I'm not ashamed in the least to be white. This guy was a certified asshole, but that doesn't make white people in general that way.

[Anonymous]

Trolling level ,9000

[Anonymous]

You did the right thing by getting the kids out of there. I then would have called the police non-emergency number, because something sounded off about the ranting dude, so they should come make a determination if he needed to be on the playground anyway. Crazy doesn't always "look" crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Trolling level ,9000

grad student. psych experiment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trolling level ,9000

grad student. psych experiment.

Yeah, like this would never happen in your altered reality world.
Live in someone else's shoes for a minute. You'll understand it's more common than you think.

[Anonymous]

I would've gone all mama bear a la bjork.

[Anonymous]

I just think the kind of middle-aged, white guy who would talk and act like that is not the same kind of middle-aged white guy who frequents NE DC playgrounds. The demographic does not exist in that area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trolling level ,9000

grad student. psych experiment.

Yeah, like this would never happen in your altered reality world.
Live in someone else's shoes for a minute. You'll understand it's more common than you think.

And yet, you could be wrong. Go figure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just think the kind of middle-aged, white guy who would talk and act like that is not the same kind of middle-aged white guy who frequents NE DC playgrounds. The demographic does not exist in that area.

You are soooo clueless. I was at a private school in NW DC for a sporting event and a middle-aged white guy turned to me after a black kid scored and he said... that scholarship money is paying off.

[Anonymous]

OP, I don't know what I would have done. But thank you for posting because this gave me an opportunity to reflect, and if something similar happens to me, I'll remember your experience. And I'll try to do the same!