Riding a NYC subway can be an unpleasant experience, particularly when it’s overcrowded. One angry lady’s rant, over a lack of seating, was so unhinged, it went viral on Twitter.
The lady, who happens to be black, took offense when another black lady with 3 children were forced to stand because other riders didn’t offer them a seat. An Orthodox Jewish man asked her to stop and that’s when it got nasty.
Full details can be found here. In a nutshell, she claimed that if a Jewish family had needed a seat, it would’ve been provided, but the black family was being denied due to racism. (Clearly, not the case.) Towards the end of her outburst, she claimed that “your people treat my people differently in our community,” meaning that she feels Jews discriminate against blacks in their shared neighborhoods.
While I find her behavior horrendous and totally unnecessary, it’s the last part that really worries me because it demonstrates that tension between the two groups continues to persist. I’m old enough to remember the 1991 riots in Crown Heights that were sparked by a Jewish man accidently running over a black child with his van. The amount of violence and hatred that was sparked from that one incident, decades ago, is still simmering and a lot of folks don’t want to talk about the deep wounds that never healed.
In Brooklyn and the Bronx, where the Orthodox and blacks live together, they are in close proximity, but rarely mix. It’s terrible to see such fear and anger, on both sides. I’m truly afraid that somebody could be seriously injured or killed from this feud that just will not end.
We do have a problem with prejudice in America; I’m willing to recognize that. Racism and anti-Semitism are both awful and nobody should be discriminated against. But we need to be reasonable and look at the circumstances before accusing someone else of being hateful. Preferring to sit down instead of stand on a subway has nothing to do with prejudice and everything to do with comfort. Sure, it would’ve been courteous to offer up a seat, but it’s not a legal requirement. Unfortunately, the days of chivalry are behind us and it seems like even pregnant ladies, the elderly, and small kids aren’t accommodated.
The man who taped this incident now says he regrets posting it. I think it’s a good lesson for everyone to remember that there is no privacy in a public place. We need to be careful about the words we choose. Any conversation can become a viral video and that’s a double-edged sword. Perhaps the lady who started all this nonsense will do some soul searching within her own heart, rather than pretending she knows what’s inside the heart of another. Calling someone a racist is a very serious charge and it should never be made lightly.