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Sunday, May 12, 2013

Daily Kos: Sharing a time I lied, and I am proud of it

Daily Kos: Sharing a time I lied, and I am proud of it:


Sharing a time I lied, and I am proud of it

deciding to share after reading How a saleman lost a sale
It was very late.  I do not know if it was just after 4 AM, when bars closed on Friday nights in NYC in those days, or somewhat earlier, when they closed on Saturday night.  That doesn't matter.
I had closed out a bar on E. 79th Street and hailed a cab to take me home to Brooklyn Heights.
I got in the cab, which in those days had no partitions between driver and passenger(s) in the rear set.  Then driver started up.
He offered a string of racial epithets, claiming this and that about the N*%@ERS!   This went on for more than 5 minutes, until he finally paused to take a breath.   The rest is pretty much how  remember the exchange.
Me: Hey, mon, do you know what an Octaroon is?
Him:  No, is that some kind of cookie?
Me:  No, mon.  That is a person who is 1/8 black.  My father's paternal grandmother.
I heard him let out air as if someone had punched him in the solar plexus.  I could see through the gloom that he was looking intently in his rearview mirror, trying to make out my face, but he could not.   He kept glancing up, not saying a word - probably given his racism expecting me to slit his throat.
I had him stop a bit away from my apartment, gave him no tip, and walked away.
Somehow I hoped he might be a little more careful about offering his racism in the future.  At least a little.