Conceptually speaking, this case has a lot in common with the infamous Rosa Parks, and her own bus experiences. Things haven't really changed then sadly it seems.
I greet my fellow passengers with a headbutt, to be on the safe side.
I'd like to stab these cretins who try to make small talk with me.
I'm sorry, but I struggle to see the racial significance of one stab-happy sociopath on a Toronto train. I get your point, but I think it might play into some of the problems regarding "race-relations," namely the thinking that leads one to believe that an isolated incident such as this is an indication of the behavioral pattern of hundreds of millions of people who share little more than the gene that makes skin brown.
By the way, I do enjoy your blog. Cheers.
You are right, Mr. Barnes. I don't deny that this is an isolated incident that plays into problems regarding race relations. But my point is that we, white people or intellectuals or whatever you want to categorize the 'we' as, should not pretend we are above such feelings when we hear of these incidents. Prejudice is ingrained in the human brain: not racial prejudice of course, but prejudice of judging people and situations by appearance. That prejudice was originally born of a survival instinct is amply demonstrated in this example; if the man had been more prejudiced, he would not have been stabbed. His instinct no doubt was to associate the man's appearance with violence, but he consciously overcame this association to spark a conversation. In this case, his instinct was right. That is not a good thing by any means, but it is an ugly fact we should nonetheless acknowledge. Also, you're right about the skin colour part of the appearance, but as for the dress code, I think it's fair to say that it is a legitimate indication of behavioural pattern. Of course the skin colour often gets associated with the dress code, but the two shouldn't be confused.
I suppose, but I still think it involves learned prejudice more than instinct or reasonable fear of a dangerous situation. For instance, if you happen to be someone in an unfamiliar city at midnight and wander down a back alley far from any sort of commercial area, and you see a large group of young gentleman of any colour all wearing the same clothing, it would likely be a good idea to get the fuck out of there. There is no denying the existence of violent gangs and if a group of people are representing themselves as such, you probably don't want to fuck around. But if you're on widely used public transportation, surrounded by various people in no way associated, I don't see why you should assume you are about to get shanked by that black dude with a do-rag. I mean, I'm from a really, really, really fucking white town New Hampshire, but I spend a lot of time in Boston, Massachusetts amongst people of various ethnicities, often dressed in a manner similar to Mr. McStabby, and if I dove for cover every time one of them looked my way I wouldn’t be doing much else. Not that I’m in the most dangerous areas, but that’s my point. Despite their possibly threatening garb, I recognize that: first, people don’t just go around stabbing each other, second, I’m in a public place surrounded by a bunch of people, and third, people tell me I look like a cross between a serial rapist and Bigfoot, and I’ve yet to rape anybody or scratch on some rednecks tent in the middle of the night. I don’t see a reason to fear people like that. Besides, if you head up to Northern New Hampshire, there'll be some white people with no more than ten or eleven teeth in their head who are way the fuck more scary than any wannabe gang bangers.
I don’t know, I guess I’m ranting. I may be wrong, and I may one day get stabbed for it, but I’ll always say “hi” to the scary black kid on the bus. That’s just the way my hippy, liberal parents raised me.
You are ranting, but aren't we all. Appearances can be and are deceiving, I agree. I'm just wary of swinging from one extreme pole--equating one stereotype to an entire race--to the equally unrealistic other extreme pole--denying that in certain individuals those stereotypes are real. This should not preclude an open mind and attitude, but when it comes to starting conversations on the bus, I'm a pragmatist not an idealist.
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