Asked during the YouTube debate whether he was "black enough," Barack Obama replied, "When I'm catching a cab in Manhattan..." Obama was making a wry reference to the widely-held notion that blacks--and especially black males--have difficulty getting cabs in major cities. Years ago African-American scholar Cornel West wrote that when he wears his casual or "cool" attire, cabs routinely pass him by. West complained that they only pick him up when he's in a suit. So the paradigm of the racist cabbie has become a standard citation in the portrait of America as a racist society.
This subject has been well studied, both in New York and Washington D.C., and there's no doubt that cabdrivers are indeed more reluctant to pick up black men. Yet here is a wrinkle in the civil rights narrative: most of the cabdrivers in New York and D.C. are not white. They are either nonwhite immigrants or they are African American. So why would a cabdriver from Pakistan or NIgeria refuse to pick up a black man? Why would African American cabbies in Chicago drive by a wildly-gesticulating Obama?
One possible explanation is that they have internalized white racism. I find this an unlikely explanation because the discrimination is not aimed at all African Americans but is more specifically targeted. Cabs are more hesitant to pick up black males than black females. Cabs are apparently willing to stop for Cornel West when he looks like a Princeton professor and not when he doesn't. A more likely explanation for the behavior of cabdrivers is that they are reluctant to pick up black males because this group, alas, has the highest violent crime rate in the country. Some studies show that black males are roughly 10 times more likely to be arrested and convicted of violent crimes than young white males. On any given day nearly one in four young black males is in prison, on probation, or on parole. This sad data is cited and footnoted in my book The End of Racism.
I interviewed a number of cabdrivers for that book, and here is what they told me. Driving a cab is one of the most dangerous jobs in the country, because drivers are routinely picking up people they don't know. The law requires cabdrivers not to discriminate, and yet it seems that cabbies of all backgrounds are willing to circumvent the law when they believe there is a risk to their security. Cabdrivers know that the average black male is not a criminal, but given what they perceive to be the increased likelihood of being mugged or held up by a member of this group, they don't want to take a chance. My conclusion is that this kind of discrimination is hard to eradicate because it's not based on mere prejudice; it is also based on behavioral differences between groups.
Does Barack Obama--who likes to be considered Mr. Straight Talk--have the guts to address this issue? I highly doubt it. Here's what I'd like to hear him say: of course the law-abiding black male who can't get a cab has a right to be angry, just as the law-abiding Muslim has a right to object to being considered by airport security to be a possible terrorist. (As a brown-skinned native of India, I too am sometimes mistaken for a Middle Eastern Muslim and given the full-body search.) But the legitimate anger that we minorities feel is best directed not at cabdrivers and airline security personnel, who are only trying to exercise caution, but rather at criminals and terrorists who give African Americans and Muslims a bad name.
Reader Comments ( Page 2 of 4)
16. O.K. and to Micheal and everyone else up there I tip 15% for bad/O.K. service, 25% for good and 33% for excellent service. Maybe if people didn't walk up to a table with black customers with an attitude because they don't like serving black people they would get tipped better!! Geo
Geo at 11:00PM on Jul 25th 2007
17. I am fortunate in that I have never had to work for tips, so I have no personal knowledge as to which ethnic groups tip better. But I have had several friends who were cabdrivers, waitresses, bartenders,etc.and I know that people in these jobs literally depend on tips to pay the rent and put food on the table.
It seems to me, however, that the real "cheap bastards" here are the employers who pay inadequate wages. Their excuse is usually that if they paid their employees more they would have to raise prices, so by paying inadequate wages and charging lower prices they appear to be the "reasonable" parties while at the same time pitting the working person who needs tips to live against customers who sometimes don't understand why they should pay more than the listed price for a given service. This is called "class warfare", which Republicans claim doesn't exist, but in which they wage a never ending battle on the side of the wealthy and privileged.
And the solution? Organize! All you folks out there who must depend on tips or who are otherwise poorly paid, instigate or join a union organizing effort and make better wages and benefits and be treated with more dignity on the job. And don't fall for the old b.s "unions were good in their time but..." Under the Bush/Cheney reign of plutocracy and crony capitalism, unions are more necessary than ever!
emelpe at 4:03PM on Jul 25th 2007
18. It seemed a little off color - but that is the experience all of my af-am friends can relate to whereas many - not all of my non-ethnic can't.
A better example would have been that his home state's (Illinois) prison system is 72 times more likely to imprison a black man as a white man with the same records, convicted of the same crime. I don't care how black he is or he is not - show that you can understand and change that NOW - lives are being wasted - and you've got a vote.
br11211 at 2:26PM on Jul 25th 2007
19. Further, if Mr. D'Souza has a column, so should all skillful members of the Klan.
br11211 at 2:30PM on Jul 25th 2007
20. D'Souza has all the charm and usefulness of a refined Grand Dragon; "it is based on behavioral differences between the two groups". This is the type Standford allows to receive government monies, private grants and teach?
Let's do a controlled study of race and violence based on income, years of poverty, generational poverty, and finally (a difficult one but one Mr. D'Souza should be able to handle as a contributor), exposure to media as a self-fulfilling prophesy. Then, let's see what "behavioral differences" there are.
Finally, Mr. Souza should know that his interviews w/cabbies are anecdotal crap which actually don't help any of us. Now I know to skip over articles with his name and mug on it.
We're in this together, for a reasonable explanation and a start to solution, read Malcolm Gladwell, "Blink!" Far superior.
br11211 at 10:11PM on Jul 25th 2007
21. Mr O made an off hand, rather humorous comment about how, in many cases a black person may find it harder than a white one to get a cab. does any one dispute this?
It's been made into a statement of his philosophy of race. How else was he supposed to deal with one of the most complex issues in our country in a setting that requires a quick answer?
This whole tempest in a teapot shows that
1. these debates are nothing like debates and are just organized sound bites more suited to choosing the Last Politician Standing than a president
2. We nitpick every word these folks say to death. And we let some dumb spin by a columnist or opponent make or kill a candidate before the race even starts.
No wonder we had 8 years of GWB We get what we deverve.
Lighten up people take a step back and get some perspective.
Karen Morby at 2:49PM on Jul 25th 2007
22. The explanation is quite obvious: what matters most in the US, and everwhere, is class, not race. The cabbie (black or white) prefers a businessman (black or white) to a worker (black or white), because they tip better.
Joe Bob at 2:54PM on Jul 25th 2007
23. Dinesh. go back to were ever you came from . Get out of our country. You have not a clue what goes on hear. I read you almost every day just to see how wrong you are about everthing. You are wealthy and never had to work a day in your life. Us run of the mill Americans black ,white and brown have to work very hard to make a life. Shit like you make me sick.
walter at 2:58PM on Jul 25th 2007
24. Hurray for Allan Klaus,he tells it like it is. His approach is a threat to our national security.
CVarl von Goeben at 3:00PM on Jul 25th 2007
25. Wow! Talk about "pointing fingers"!
Look, why is it that Black people get so up-tight with white people because taxi drivers won't pick up black people. Surely, assuming it is factual that taxis don't like, or simply refuse, to pick up black people, then get mad at your fellow black people.
This really is profiling, but why? Because taxi drivers really want fares and are simply idiots for not picking a black fare up? Or, they reluctantly, from experience and shared knowledge, know they may be robbed, short-changed, or simply not tipped.
You know, when you are in the military (black or white or whatever) when some asshole in your squad does something stupid and ALL of the squad gets punished...the squad doesn't complain to the NCO's, the whole squad goes after the offender and warns him not to do it again.
So black people, if members of your community are making life difficult for you, then go after them and tell them to smarten up. Its obvious us whites haven't got the wherewithall to change them.
So, what to do?
Ken at 3:16PM on Jul 25th 2007
26. Blacks are notoriously bad tippers.....Interesting... Reading this message board is a clear illustration of America's social problems. Nearly every comment on this board is racist, yet the people leaving the messages think WE as black men and other minorities are supposed to just suck it up and be ok with it.
I tip someone badly when they give me bad service, period. It has nothing to do with my ethnicity. Don't give me bad service, and you won't get a bad tip, it's really that simple. I've given huge tips to people who give me good service.
Dewayne at 3:42PM on Jul 25th 2007
27. Ken, the "community" is not black or white. The "community" is bourgeoise or working class.
Joe Bob at 3:47PM on Jul 25th 2007
28. To deny taxi service to a black person is not “exercising caution – it is breaking the law, which does not share the Ayatollah D’Souza’s sympathy for racism. The law does not make exceptions for bigots who have an explanation for their bigotry -– what racist does NOT believe that his racism isn’t racism at all but rather a rational response to some perceived attribute in the group that he despises?
Indeed, that is the underlying premise of the Ayatollah D’Souza’s virulently racist tract, “The End of Racism” –- that it is not the perpetrators but the victims of racism who are responsible for any discrimination against them. This belief blinds D’Souza to even the most infamous examples of prejudice. Thus, Dinesh writes that slavery was not racist and that slaves were treated “pretty well,” and that segregation was intended for the protection of African Americans.
“The End of Racism” was hardly the start of D’Souza’s career as a professional racist, which goes all the way back to his Hitler Youth days as editor of the Dartmouth Review. There Dinesh ran Klan-friendly racist stereotypes of black students and even featured an interview with an actual Klansman –- subtly illustrated with a noose on the cover.
With this sort of history to his credit, D’Souza is as qualified to discuss racism as… well as the above commenter "looksbooks54" is qualified to discuss anti-Semitism. His post #11 provides a link to a utterly loony Jews-did-9/11 conspiracy website –- and a ringing endorsement of the bigotry his comrade in hate speech, Dinesh D’Souza.
richter at 4:06PM on Jul 25th 2007
29. As I read the comments I relized one thing for sure
It is not about truth. Weather I am black or white that is not the issue. The issue is that in America
you can be cruel and get by with it, The mean and hateful can lie,steel cheat commit crimes agianist the public and recive from the courts a slap on the hand and an early release. If you realy want to do something about crime elect into office those who are willing to do something about it and if they dont remove them from office.
dc gen at 4:12PM on Jul 25th 2007
30. D'Souza has consistently employed one of the most obvious and effective ploys known in media: attack others to insulate yourself from attack. I too have people in my family from all "racial" groups and the one thing those of the dominant e.g.white culture admit: racism still thrives in the U.S.
Denesh errs because he is too biased to know that as African-Americans, Dr. Cornell West and I, [a law professor], do NOT "look" like Professors, to the majority of whites who are blue/pink collar and/or newly "arrived to the middle-class."
Also, Denesh has some undisclosed problems of his own that he has failed to discuss: perhaps a fear of his own blackness. But he's like Steel and others who have found a market.
It is more important to know that racism is an abuse of power to harm, injure and deprive someone of that which rightfully belongs to them because of their "race."
We no longer accuse rape victim of causing her/his own injury [Denesh probably does not know that in the up until the 1970's rape victims were faulted for their "conduct"]. Nor do we blame the elderly and children for needing protection from neglect and abuse. Neglect and abuse destroy the quality of life from its victims, either immediately or over a course of time. Therefore,once and for all, please, get it straight everyone: people who have no power CANNOT BE RACISTS!!!!!
law1star at 4:37PM on Jul 25th 2007