This morning, I got up, showered, and headed to school, like any other morning. I waited for the train, got off, and headed up out of the station to the bus stop. As I walked up, a homeless-looking white man kind of bumped into me, but as I’ve become inured to invasions of my personal bubble after living here for a year, I let it go.
The bus arrived. People loaded onto it. As is the case most mornings, my mind is elsewhere, wandering. Suddenly, hoboman says “hurry up,” and then actually reaches forward and pushes a black man who is entering the bus. My attention comes rushing to my immediate circumstances. The black guy turns around, as astonished as I am, and the white man says “get on the bus.” The black guy asks him what the fuck he just said, and hoboman calls him a nigger under his breath. Black guy goes crazy, pretty rightfully so, though anyone on the periphery may not have understood much of his side at that point.
Before things heat up any frther, I put my posters in the air, and yell, “Cool out, come on, it’s 7:30 in the morning, I gotta go teach, let’s just let it drop.” Fortunately enough for me and everyone else, the black guy was on the bus steps and mature enough to turn around, get on, and let it drop. I think the white guy was about the last person to get on the bus, because, for some reason, no one would let him near the door.
This is why I have no need for caffeine in my diet.
