Not sure, but I may have been the target of racism last night.

We were sitting at a table by the street at a popular Turkish restaurant on Park Avenue. It was early in the evening and my hubby and I wanted to celebrate the New Year, but return home at a reasonable hour. There was a diverse group of people sitting around us, including a family with a woman wearing a hijab, but they were mostly blocked from view by a large SUV Escalade. So, when a car slowed down on the street next to us, there was just the two of us in view. From the corner of my eye I saw the flash from a camera, and then, the car sped off. I looked at my husband and asked him if someone had just taken a picture of us. He confirmed that it had happened, but we both shrugged it off since it made sense that they were probably taking a picture of the restaurant front.

However, a few minutes later, the black SUV was back and this time someone yelled out, "Bitch!" before the car sped off.

Keep in mind that though this was New Year's Eve, it was early in the evening.

Some time went by and the car/SUV returned. This time I locked eyes on the guy in the passenger side. Very definitely young, as in anything between 20 and 22. It was an awkward moment because they couldn't move forward since they were behind cars that were stopped at the stoplight. The kid splurted out, "I love you!" I responded in a skeptical voice, "Back at ya." Before the kid could make another comment, my husband piped up, "There's a police car across the street." Indeed there was. He said it a couple more times and the kid looks at me and says, "Nothing but goodwill here." And they left, and never came back again.

Anyway, to sum it up. I just wonder if the Middle-eastern looking customers of this restaurant have been subject to this kind of taunting? I am not Middle-Eastern but to someone who isn't looking to be specific, I would definitely stand out.