"Hey! You shouldn't have given the little n****r kids that money!"

I was in downtown Cleveland this morning for a job interview at a law firm, and was in desperate need of gas. So I stopped at the busy BP station near E. 9th and the highway to put a few bucks in the beast. I didn't want to fill it up because I was in my best dress and didn't want to take the chance of getting it dirty. I gave some money to the cashier in the store, and headed back to the car to pump the gas.

There were two black children by the pump, a boy and a girl, who looked to be between 10-12 years old. The boy came up and asked if he could pump the gas. I only had a couple of bucks on me after paying for the gas, so I told him he could have that if he wanted to pump the gas. He starts to pump it and is doing a good job.

Well, hoo boy, Katie bar the door, who should come barreling out the door of the station but the old buck-toothed cashier, who immediately started screaming "you goddamned little nigger kids, get the hell out of here, I'm tired of having to tell you, goddamnit! You're too young to pump the gas, you know and it and I'm tired of having to tell you nigger kids that!" Then, while I stood there momentarily speechless at such a blatant, open display of racism, she turned her wrath on me. "You should know better, goddamnit!" I took over the pump from the boy and told the kids under my breath to just hang around for a couple of minutes and they could still have the money when I was done.

Well, the old bat just wouldn't let it go, she stood there and screamed at me, "Hey! What are you giving those nigger kids that money for, you shouldn't give them that money!" At this point, I'd had enough, and I hollered back (we were a distance apart so I almost had to yell) that it was my own damned money and I'd do with it as I damn well pleased and there wasn't a goddamn thing she could do about it. She just huffed and puffed that it was a waste, they were no-good little nigger bastards anyway. I said that at least they were trying to earn money legitimately, they weren't out causing or getting into trouble (they were on spring break from school). Yeah, give 'em time, she said, that'll happen soon enough. I just stared at her. She muttered something about "stupid nigger kids", then turned and went back inside.

The kids, meanwhile, had slunk off and were walking back toward the residential area behind the station. What was really discouraging was such a blatant, open display of racism in a crowd (that included several blacks of various ages) in broad daylight.

Since I was robbed at gunpoint last August by a young black male, far too many whites have come out of the closet with their racism, fully expecting me to hate and fear ALL blacks and to have learned my lesson as to what "those people" are "really like." Yeah, I learned my lesson all right, only not the one they wanted me to learn. I learned that racism is still very much alive and kicking and is often hidden by people who've learned to be very good at disguising their true feelings. And sometimes it's not hidden at all and people don't feel any shame or have any problem at all with blatant, open displays of racial contempt.

And what's really disheartening is the thought of what repeated episodes of shit like that will do to those kids. I really have to wonder.

Its disgusting. I'm sorry you had to see it; I'm sickened that the kids witnessed it.

grew up Jewish in Memphis, TN. It was not until she got to St Louis, MO that she heard the phrase "jew him down." Although she had never heard the phrase before (not even in the south) she had a visceral reaction.

She told me she has encountered more antisemitism in St Louis than she ever did in Memphis.

learned to hide their racism and antisemitism (flame-proof note: I said A LOT of southerners, NOT ALL southerners, and certainly NOT the wonder DU southerners!), whereas in the north it can be far more open and blatant.

My brother-in-law, Scott, has lived in Fort Myers, Florida his whole life. He doesn't have any black friends and doesn't want any. He figures that he lives on his side of town and black folks live on their side of town and never the twain shall meet.
I don't get it as a kid from Saginaw, Michigan. My schooling was multiracial public and I never thought anything about that. It almost sounds patronizing to say "I have black friends," because that would go without saying as a typical urban white person here.
But Scott lives in an all-white social circle (though he went to the same high school as Deion Sanders, IIRC) and that's just the way it is. I can't even say it's racist as such -- it's just the way he is.
I will say Scott doesn't affect me the way some of the white trash Michigan crackers I've seen do. I've never seen or heard him express dislike or contempt for black people. He's a really, really decent guy who goes to work every day and who would give anyone -- black, white, whatever -- a hand who needed it.
But I also think Scott is conscious of his whiteness -- which maybe IS racist. I don't know.
John
It's surely different, anyhow.

say about your brother-in-law?

I've seen a rise in racial slurring and attacks over the past 3 1/2 years. The RW seems to think that its our inherant right to do things like that.
Disgusting!

I think the repukes have made it much more acceptable and have created an atmosphere where people feel freer to show their true ugly racist, bigoted selves. While I've always known how pervasive racism has continued to be, I've really noticed a lot more openness about it these past few years.

Abso-freaking-lutely unbelievable.

I'd stop patronizing that gas station asap, and I'd write a letter to the higher ups to tell them I was doing so, was telling all my friends to do the same, and why. That person doesn't deserve her job.

station I've ever encountered something like that, all the rest I've been to, and indeed every other gas station, I've never seen anything like that.

Maybe one of them will end up being black :D THAT would be what I'd call "poetic justice."

That woman sounds like she stepped out of a time machine or something, it's hard to believe that some people still believe that this is acceptable behavior.

Sorry that happened to you this morning, it must have been so frustrating..and I really feel sorry for those kids, that type of experience must be traumatic..

I would have called a few friends, hid out until closing, and clubbed the bitch as she was leaving. The kicker is that I'm white (latin origin), speak perfect CNN english, and she would have no racist scapegoat to blame. Wicked bitch.

I know you probably wouldn't do such a thing but it sure made me laugh!

While that's funny, it's unfortunately true. Just as Lott felt free to open his big stupid ignorant bigoted mouth, so are more and more people feeling freer to do the same.

I live in Cincinnati, which I thought was right-wing central, but I must admid I haven't seen any displays of racial hate that bad around here.

it's the suburbs that are conservative. That's why this was so surprising, because I usually don't see this kind of thing much in Cleveland itself.

if his club is saying Dumb Ass things.

“It has often been said that the man and the moment come together. I do not think it is an exaggeration at all to say to my friend from West Virginia that he would have been a great senator at any moment. Some were right for the time. Robert C. Byrd, in my view, would have been right at any time."

“He would have been in the leadership crafting this Constitution, He would have been right at the great moments of international threat we faced in the 20th century. You would have been right at the founding of this country, right during the Civil War. I cannot think of a single moment in this nation’s 220-plus year history where would not have been a valuable asset to this country.” -- Senator Chris Dodd

Don't forget that Byrd filibustered the 1964 Civil Rights act and voted against it. He was also a member of the KKK.

Many times in my life, my friends have given me a hard time for giving a couple of bucks to panhandlers on the street. They say things like, "He will only spend it on booze."

Who cares?

It's a GIFT. When I give a couple of bucks to a guy who is down on his luck it is HIS MONEY. He can do with it whatever he will. There
are no strings attached.

Your gas station experience reminds me of a guy I ran into in Missouri one time. He was selling some antiques I really wanted to buy, but, damn it, the first thing out of his mouth as I walked in the door was some racist crap. I walked out of there with my money in my pocket.

I suggest, graciously, I hope, that you might want to find another gas station.

I was only there because I was downtown for an interview.

or whatever.

You sound like "good people" to me.

I get the job too! God knows the interview was grueling enough, being passed from office to office and attorney to attorney.

And good for you for not giving in... I think I would have pitched a fit right back at her, and everyone else who stood there watching silently... that makes me sick. Some people suck :mad:

Just ignore the Ditoheads.

They love living in their own self-hating little world.

:yourock: :loveya: :bounce:

Hi, honey!:hi: :loveya: Thanks!

Have you heard anything about your job interview yet?

Thank you for dealing with that bigot... I am sorry to say that I've seen a rather sharp increase myself in the number of racial comments heard of late.

at least those kids will know where they stand with with her. i sometimes think it's the people that smile to your face but then stab you in the back that are the bigger danger. it's certainly harder to fight the camoflaged racist.

and I think I almost would rather deal with someone who's upfront than someone who smiles to your face while holding a knife behind their back.

I think the honesty makes her twice a bully and it's the bullying that's really offensive here.

People can hold any damn opinion they like but when they start damaging other people with their bullshit it's time to draw the line.

I'm not interested in brain-washing everyone to believe the same things I do, but I do believe that a civil, safe society is worth fighting for- even when it has closet racists, sexists and homophobes behind the surface.

It sickens me. But, even those racist fucks deserve the right to their opinions, no matter how sick it is. It pisses me off, though. :grr: :grr: :grr:

In my state, I saw on the gas pumps that you have to be at least 16 to pump gas. I don't want to see you getting into trouble letting kids under 16 pump gas. Just thought I'd let you know. :shrug:

to my people!

:hug:

Lock the handle down on the gas pump and drive off. She'll shit her pants trying to stop the flow of gasoline out of that sucker. Muhahahahahaa. :evilgrin:

What on earth get in to people? I am ashamed for that lady, and so appalled for the kids. There should be a law against balatant stupidity!

Because of their skin. sigh.

tell the manager and the corporate office about it. Maybe even write an LTTE in your paper.

There is racism everywhere, even in the most diverse and open-mined areas. There is also goodness everywhere, even in the most backward places.

Hmm...there's a big KKK presence in southern Ohio but it's rare to see such blatant racism in Cleveland.

Good for you for sticking up for those kids.

my $0.02
Indy

in Cleveland, especially compared to Southern Ohio. Not that racism doesn't exist in Cleveland, mind you, but I notice it a lot less than I do in other areas of the state.

It will remove her from her job, but all that will happen as far as her "beliefs" (just can't use the word straight in this case) is that she'll blame losing her job on the n***ers.
Of course, getting her out of that job is a goal in itself.

that'll just give her one more reason to hate the "niggers", since people like that don't look at their own behavior, it's always all the fault of "those people."

but it's still important to make sure that racist behavior is not tolerated by firing her.

The guy working at the station made lots of anti-Semitic comments.

Fortunately, my friend worked for a local paper. He wrote an article about his encounter. The gas station worker tried to defend himself in a LTTE, but came off sounding like the ignorant jackass he was.

Everyone laughed at him, and he soon was looking for another job.

A few years ago I was living with my parents in Scarsdale, a very affluent and fairly liberal suburb in New York's Westchester County (not too far from where the Clintons live). One night I was coming back from Manhattan on the train, and as I was coming out of the Scarsdale train station I heard a white-bread thirtysomething soccer-mom type screaming to some black kid, something along the lines of "you fucking piece of shit, you stay away from us, you little fucking nigger!"

Wow, I thought to myself, psycho soccer moms. I always figured that "nice" wealthy suburban mothers, even "liberal" ones (Scarsdale is hardly a Repuke stronghold), could harbor racist attitudes, but I never thought they could be this openly vicious about it.

beyond disgusting! And they call blacks "paranoid", well, hell, I'd be "paranoid" too (just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get you)!

My guess is that this particular incident says more about how mentally unbalanced that one particular individual was than what racism is usually like in Westchester County. Generally, prejudice among the folks there tends to be far more subtle and veiled, and as another poster notes, often based as much on class as race.

good for you speaking up !

might have been trying to put a decent meal on the table for themselves. What is this country coming to???

they weren't causing any trouble or anything like that.

Clearly this is someone that is so locked into what can only be called a "white trash" worldview that there's no cracking through it. The only good thing about it is that she's so blatant about it, she looks stupid. Can't get any respect for your opinions that way.

I did notice a sign recently on a gas pump that said it was illegal for children under the age of 16 to dispense gas.

If you see them again, you might want to give them the $2 to wash your windshield instead.

that anyone under 16 can't pump the gas. I didn't know that at the time, though, I could, indeed, have asked them to clean my windshield and given them the money for that.

That doesn't excuse the horrible language and blatant racism of that piece of white trash, though. NOTHING excuses it!

Maybe you could organize a boycott by sending a letter about this incident to the newspaper. I certainly wouldn't want to give her my business.

and that was really the first time I've encountered anything like that in a BP station.

white folks that aren't doing very well in life, I got a lot of it in my extended family, bumpkins, Heroin addicts and drunks, until my Dad got his Doctorate and us away from my Mom's family for good.

Here in the DC suburbs, we have a much more genteel form of racism, more along class lines, so a couple of kids that were trying to pump gas would be despised because they were trying to make money rather than just get it from their folks.

When I was living in Westchester County NY, we wouldn't have that problem because there was only white folks around. I swear, I would go months without seeing an African American unless I went down to the city. Hispanics are confined to a small section of Mt. Kisco. We also wouldn't have the sort of actual contact between strangers that would prompt a couple of kids of any ethnicity to try to earn some money in that manner.

There's been quite a lot of tension between whites and Hispanics in Mt. Kisco. A lot of them are impoverished day laborers who come to Westchester to landscape and make a buck.

Keep on moving towards equality and standing up for what your heart tells you is right! You made my day!!!

:toast:

Sickening... :puke: What disgusting behavior, especially toward children that too!

Racism is alive and well in America. I faced racism in my ninth grade class (thankfully ever year after that was spent in AP/Honors classes mostly where the students were actually decent people). I remember some guy yellin out 'fuckin A-rab'...keep in mind this was was years before 9/11. I personally thought it was amusing and thought he was really fuckin stupid considering I'm not Arabic...

Either way such behavior is disgusting. While the country has made progress with regards to race, there are many problems, and not only in the south, but in the north east and midwest. Sometimes people in the latter regions like to dismiss racism as mostly a 'southern problem'.

I've lived in Idaho for eight years and heard the n-bomb dropped exactly once.

and they didn't have anything to say about that? I'm surprised. If I saw some woman calling two kids the n word out loud like that I probably would have given her a good cursing or something. I know you can't change the way idiots feel about their prejudices but that was ridiculous.

I left pretty quickly so I don't know.

:thumbsup:

my son is b/w biracial and attends a public middle school. yesterday, while riding the bus home from a track meet, a younger white boy mentioned that "i guess my mom's right, black people are n****". he said this in the back of the school bus (which reminds me, where were the coaches??) with several black kids around. my son said one of the kids just slapped the shyt out of the boy and he started crying. not one teacher got involved, doesn't this seem strange?

i think you have to call racists on their crap, otherwise you are condoning it.

that not one teacher got involved, I know my parents, both retired teachers, wouldn't have (and they never did) put up with that shit for two seconds.

what kind of World is this where someone can just go off like that. I have never in my life heard anyone in public go on a rant like that and I hope I never do. :mad:

from a fast-food manager a few months ago for giving money to a homeless man? Seems like in your town, no good deed goes unpunished.
Don't try to help any cripples across the street, because then they can get you with their cars. What a fucked up place. While the retarded cashier was out fuming at you and the kids, some group of white kids probably went in and cleaned out all the candy bars, etc. Hope so, anyway.

in the city of Cleveland itself, and the homeless incident happened in my own town, about 25 miles east of Cleveland.

is one of the most segregated cities in the U.S. and home to some of the most beautiful black women on the whole continent.

Those observations are not based on a cause-effect relationship, btw, just my 2 cents.

I spin through there on my way to family in Deleware, and Norfolk, Virginia and that area makes such clear partitions between their white and black neighborhoods that I've never seen elsewhere.

talking about...

I'm in Cleveland right now, I get here once or twice a year. And YES, you will find a lot of blatant racism here (just as in a lot of places if you know where to look).

The stupid-ass irony of it is, the most rascist SOBs in this town will still go to Whitmore's BBQ for a Poli Boy and fries after a late-night drinking binge.

on business? Where do you usually stay, right in Cleveland itself or the suburbs?

He lives in Cleveland Heights, so I'm in the near-East suburbs right now.

on both counts! Although, I have seen better race relations in Cleveland than in many, many other areas. Until yesterday.

My old manager, Carol, was light-skinned-kind of cafe au lait, late 40s/early 50s, and not only a beautiful lady, but a beautiful person (and a Democrat!). She has the cutest squeal when she sees somebody she knows.

I told reprehensor about her before we got married, and the gang at work threw us a wedding shower. They'd never met in person, and she recognized him. The first time he heard the squeal he laughed out loud. It's impossible not to love this woman. (Unfortunately, she got laid off over a year ago and I don't see her much anymore)

When I think of Cleveland, I think of her.

You did good holding your cool. I would've given her more than the Riot Act for saying such things. Then I'd tell the manager if I went there regularly and I would never get gas there again until that employee was fired.

I worked with a couple of guys from W. Va. (not that far from you) recently who told me that they actually have a sign in their town that says something like "If you're not white you'd better not be in this town after sundown." These guys were rascist as naturally and as un-self-consciously as a fish in water. The really weird part was that they were just the nicest people you'd ever want to meet otherwise. They didn't really seem to hate anyone. I think that it was just so culturally ingrained in them that they didn't even notice it.

People are strange.

kidding me about the sign, right? Isn't that illegal?

not kidding. We're talking hardcore hillbillies here. Remember how they handled the revenuer problem back during prohibition. Shoot ya as soon as look at ya.

My mom's hometown.

Just across the Mississippi River from Saint Louis. Right next door to E. Saint Louis.

Belleville IL is extremely racist. They have E. St. Louis to look down on. I also heard from my grandmother, who lived there her entire adult life, that there was a substantial part of the population that was pro-Germany in WWII.

Herr Herman und Frau Maria Rennscheidt. They came over from Gladbeck in 1913.

They listened to the Nazi broadcasts over shortwave radio, and thought Hitler was a swell guy.

I never got to meet my great grandparents. They died long before I was born. But I have her little German pug nose and thankfully none of her racist attitudes.

I think you handled it well. Frankly, I dont know if I would have been so kind. If kids walk up to me asking for money, if I have it, I will usually give them a few dollars. Adults I have a tendency to not to give money to, because you can usually tell its not for food. If I am not on a schedule, I offer to buy them something to eat. Race is never a factor. Poverty does not have a color code.

It was a cold raw day, and I was in my light long-distance traveling clothes just out of a warm Subaru. As I pumped gas, a young African-American man with a woman and two young children approached. He said they needed a motel room for the night and didn't have the money. As a long-time volunteer with the homeless I always carry an assortment of small bills in my pants pocket ($5s and $1s) for someone who looks like they really need fast cash and won't spend it on drugs or alcohol. As I pumped the petrol, I engaged the guy in conversation. He was very articulate and said he was a victim of job loss in the poor economy.

I gave him $5 and said, "You know who is responsible for this economy, right?" He looked at me (gray-bearded white man) warily and said, "Yes, it's Mr. Bush." 'Course, he might have noticed my "DemocraticUnderground," "Gore 2000," and "VSR" bumper-stickers and pegged me for an easy mark. I would rather think not.

He and I discussed the economy, bashed Bu$h, and I gave him some advice for avoiding rip-offs in indigent motel housing. Then I reached into the other pocket and pulled out the 10-spot. I offered to give them a ride to a motel, but my two racist dogs were in the car yapping their heads off at the time (wagging tails all the time!).

No one came out screaming at me. No one hassled him, that I saw. He was a poor man with a family, fellow travelers with me. Hoping for something better.

That was a really wonderful thing for you to do, so many others would have just ignored them or turned away. It is, indeed, sad that people have to go through things like that in this economy.

hell, you let little black kids pump your gas today, tomorrow they'll be checking your oil and by week's end they'll be rotating your tires and checking the level of your transmission fluid!!!!!! DAMN!! Got to nip that stuff in the bud....


Seriously LH, I'd have told the woman she was an ignorant bigot, stopped pumping the gas, given the kids the money and finished filling up somewhere else.

And I agree, write to BP.

Her's their "Contact Us" page on the web...

http://www.bp.com/contactusdisplay.do?categoryId=488&contentId=2000734

Tears, rather than rage. What do we create when we raise people on hate? Hatemongers, and the rage of the hated and disenfranchised.

I see my students, and imagine someone screaming that at them, and I want to take them in my arms and tell them that the world doesn't have to be about hate.

Although what you experienced was indeed appalling, it isn't the norm here in Cleveland. I'm spending my 40th year in this area and never have seen anything as blatant as you witnessed.
Good for you for handling it the way you did. I wouldn't say that this situation is indicative of the way the people are in Cleveland, We have very few racial incidents as compared to many mid to larger cities. Good luck on the job interview.