Shocking experience with LEGENDS car service

:idea: I actuall feel sorry for the cabbie:

He is filled with so much hatred and anger that it must consume so much of his life. No one he says the things he says could posible be happy in his own life. How must his wife feel? His children?

You were insulted with cruel words but will rise above it and continue to live your life. He, on the other hand seems to be a pretty miserable person.

So I am sorry about the things said to you becuase they were hurtful and wrong, you will likely move on and not let this define your life or existence.

While he will remain unhappy for a very long time.
So, I feel sorry for him.

law & dis - you might be interested to know that the phrase, "lower than a dog" is a pejorative leveled upon Arabs by non-Arabs - both Middle Eastern and European.

Persians used this extensively to vilify their Arab neighbors and in quatrain 177 of the Rubyiat Of Omar Khayyam this phrase was translated...one of the first usages

"In Spring time I love to sit in the meadow with a paramour perfect as a Houri and a goodly jar of wine, and though I may be blamed for this, yet hold me lower than a dog if ever I dream of Paradise."

So your driver was spewing upon you maybe that which was once spewed upon him/her. And I leave the forgiveness to you - for you are the only one who can bestow or withhold that, certainly none of us can.

Carnivore wrote: [quote=law&disorder]Oddly, he also looked at me and said, "I am fucking a woman like you and you are nothing. Nothing."

Anyone else think that this may be the clue about where this guy's anger really comes from?

nope. I chalk that up to garden-variety misogyny.
and symptom, not cause.

Subject: Re: Source of racism?

mtz wrote: I'm no expert, by I recall a attending a presentation by an anthropologist stuyding in Egypt who noted a rise in racism against the Nubian population. Perhaps that's a source of this driver's anger.

nybt wrote: "What's a Nubian?"

I think I am one.

I think my wife is one and a princess one at that

Hi--
I'm sorry, but not surprised, to hear about your experience. Stereotypes are so easy for all immigrants to absorb, sadly.

(FYI, so people are clear-- Livery cab companies and yellow cabs, while they both get licenses from the TLC, operate under 2 completely different systems. Also, Danny Glover was NOT "the lead plaintiff in a successful suit a couple years ago" about yellow cabs and street hails. He simply began a public awareness campaign about Black riders being refused by cab drivers of ALL races.)

I've heard about (and seen) this kind of experience from and to a variety of people. Examples include: Mexican livery driver to dark-skinned Indian rider; Peruvian livery driver to Dominican rider; Mexican livery driver to Black Haitian rider; AND... African American rider to Pakistani livery driver; Puerto Rican rider to Indian livery rider; Black Caribbean (not sure what natl origin) rider to Lebanese livery driver. (And for a different subject, I can share stories of the most horrific verbal abuse directed at yellow cab drivers every day; often resulting in violence; but thats a different post).

I absolutely dont want to justify what this man did. However, just for information, I'd like to add that for whatever its worth, many many many post 9/11 incidents of verbal and physical abuse (to this day) are perpetrated by both Latinos who "look just like" their victim and also feel effects of profiling; and by persons of African/African American descent, who possibly feel justified in transferring society's distrust of them.

Either way, its something that is awful, upsetting, and shows that random rage manifests itself in humiliating a person in the most degrading way. Its especially embarassing when it happens BY a person of color TO another person of color.

What separates you from the driver and those like him is that hopefully, you will NOT now feel an immediate distrust of anyone of Egyptian origin, or anyone who looks like your driver.

You really should let local Brooklyn papers, and regular NYC papers, know about this ASAP. As a journalist, I'm sure you know that even the best story ideas get rejected by editors when its no longer news. If other journalists keep calling Legends, I'm sure they're more likely to do something. Also, I'd strongly advise you to get journalists to talk to various cool Arab American organizations, so that the public can hear a person of Arab descent talking about how yes we all are minorities, and what they'd like to do in an ideal world. I'd also advise you to ask journalists to get a quote from someone at the New York Taxi Workers Alliance . Technically they only deal w yellow cab issues, but they are well known for being an amazing multiracial alliance, founded on principles of shared inequality and unity, and may have a realy helpful perspective (fyi they are the group that Danny Glover chose to partner with while engaged in his yellow cab awareness campaign; unbeknownst to the general public, they had been working on the issue of refusals and African Americans for years and years and years; of course before that time, the media didnt give a shit, but thats another story). A quote from the director, Bhairavi Desai, may go a long way.

Dont let Legends get away with just firing this guy. They need to be publically accountable for their loyal customers experiences.

Ya should have just gave him 18 dollars you cheap ass.