How to deal with racist remarks. [View All]

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

I'm at a bus stop, just chilling with my headphones on. Standing next to me is a scruffy older man, with a beard that is slightly grayed and tangled. His clothes are worn, and hung limply on his skinny frame. From my cursory glance, I wouldn't have been surprised if he announced himself as a homeless vet looking to make ends meet. And perhaps he was.

This guy has been waiting here for a while, and we start to talk about how unreliable the public transit system is. All of a sudden, he starts making racial remarks about the bus drivers. Me being the non-confrontational me, I just sit there and make a nonchalant sound. This isn't my battle. I'm a teenager, I figure that he'll run out of steam soon enough. He starts talking more (I usually listen more than I ever talk), and there it is again. The remarks. The words themselves don't bother me, but I don't really know how to receive this guy. I know I don't agree with him.

In any event, I continue just chilling there, muttering a 'yea' or 'I know it' as he rips into cops (who I generally do harbor a dislike for. Not them as individuals, but the entire premise of their profession). And there it is again. I would usually just find a way to remove myself from the situation, but I've been waiting on this bus for almost a half-hour. I now have my headphones on one ear, and start looking through my schoolwork, being generally disinterested. Noticing my relatively overt disapproval, he then raises his arms, as if in defeat, and utters the oh so cliche statement, "I'm not racist. I don't have anything against these black people, but these drugs and crimes ARE all these niggers fault."

I shrug my shoulder and shake my head some, not letting out a sound. From my commentary, it is probably clear that I am not the heroic protagonist of this story that I'm sure most of you would wish me to be. He walks part way across the street, but as I let out a sigh, he turns back around and comes back. Apparently he could see his hopefully-coming bus no better from the street than from the bus stop. At this point I have managed to get my headphones on, and a book out, but I can still hear my surroundings. He continues speaking every now and then with small talk that I lean my head back to, and smile politely.

And there it is. His bus (and I said a silent prayer to whatever gods there may be that it wasn't my bus). He walks over, but he is still talking to me. It is obvious to him that despite my not-so subtle gesture of putting my headphones on, I can still hear him, and still acknowledge whatever it is he says. As he goes to his bus, he bids me farewell and good luck. I do the same, barely bothering to raise my head. If only his bus driver, a heavyset African-American woman with too much lipstick on had heard what he said only moments ago. I turn my music up to a good volume and lie back, to ponder the phenomenon that is racism.


I dislike confrontation. I will engage in it sparingly, simply because it takes too much energy, interest, and self-involvement in a situation. My usual response to anything I disagree with is to acknowledge it, understand it, then ignore it. But the crux of the situation appears at the second step. How can one possibly understand racism, which by definition is irrational.

And so I come here. I want to know what the (usually) fine people of DU would do in such a situation. Let the pens fly.