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 4 of 4)
46. 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
47. To Rob Zimmeman: your example is flawed. If you say all pitbulls are bad you are refering to pitbulls, not all dogs, ergo if you say all black males are criminals you are refering to all balck males, not white or Chinese etc. Furthermore you go on to equate my statements with Leslie with whom I share no opinions. I also do not follow or put any faith in the Al Sharptons of the world, nor do I share his beliefs. I thought the Imus episode was disgraceful and the reaction of black leadership hypocracy. Rob you need to follow your own advice and talk to people of other ethnic backgrounds as individuals, not assume we all have the same point of view, only then can meaningful discussion take place... Geo
Geo at 11:15PM on Jul 25th 2007
48. Well, there is indeed some real close-mindedness and racism on this board. As I expected when I made the second comment on this post, most writing in have done so to spew a bunch of vitriol - where it comes to issues of race they are close-minded, intolerant, and hateful. How many times is Dinesh's skin color brought up on here? How many times are his ideas and points ignored, but he is called a Klan member? Someone even misrepresented a spoof he helped with on a college newspaper - deliberately, one can only think.
Other haters alternated between saying D'Souza is black based on his complexion and that he is a white racist. Which is it?
When we wonder why there is so little straight talk, so little common sense, so little progress on issues involving race in America, look no further than the close-minded bigots who have attacked D'Souza on this board. These brown shirts of political correctness are a disgrace to America, and when it comes to race they are precisely what is holding us back.
I suppose the real fear among some of these anti-thinkers is that if some obvious truths are acknowledged, then racism will be ok. It won't be. Blacks in America enjoy what they call "black culture." They celebrate this openly, but then say that any observed group differences are racism - unless they favor blacks. We can say that blacks are good dancers but we can't say whites are good tippers. Blacks will say that they are different at the drop of a hat if it's to compliment themselves, but deny whites the same privelege. (What's the word for this?)
But to acknowledge group dynamics is not to accept racism. We can't control the individual behavior of a cabbie, but we in America (for the most part) still enjoy the principle of equality before the law, and live under the rule of law. The importance of this is that in our "individualistic" society, the individual is an individual and enjoys his or her rights as an individual, free of any group association.
Generalizations address groups; rights and laws address individuals. As long as we remain a society of rights and laws and equality before the law, we should have the courage to approach group differences with a mind open to reality.
brett at 11:47PM on Jul 25th 2007
49. My wife tells me that when she was a construction worker in the 70s her crew worked in New Yoek city and couldn't figure out the subway or bus routes so they tried to hail a cab, with no success. They figured out real quick that the cabbies shied away from anyone who looked dirty or of low class. They fixed the problem by waving 20$ bills at passing cabs, it worked like a charm no matter what color they were.
The moral is that green is the dominant color in America.
Darkmanwp at 6:54AM on Jul 26th 2007
50. Dinesh's article asks; "Why would cab driver's of color be reluctant to pick up black passengers?" As a white man whom has traveled extensively and has friends of every color, I believe I can answer that. First of all people of foreign birth come to America knowing only the often sensationalized news stories regarding crimes committed by blacks and the stereotypical black criminal types peppered throughout American movies and television.
Coming here and having expectations that American blacks are criminals, it isn't long before those expectations are met thus, the stereotype is reinforced. (Abraham Lincoln said; "If you look for the bad in a man, you most certainly will find it.")
In addition, foreign born persons of color do not identify with African American as the differences in cultural identity have created perceptual differences that are as wide as a chasm.
For instance, African American women perceive Jamaican men to be possessive. (i.e., even after a divorce, its never really 'over')
Conversely, Foreign-born persons of color perceive African Americans to be self-hating, lazy, negative people who blame everyone else for their troubles. These foreign-born people are so busy trying to make a new life for themselves that they see assimilating with that kind of negativity to be counter-productive.
Keith J. Mohrhoff at 8:30AM on Jul 26th 2007
51. Here is what most people missed: The taxis in question are overwhelmingly driven by people of color. African-Americans, African immigrants, and south Asian immigrants make up the majority of cab drivers in both NY City and DC. If they drive by a dark-skinned man in a track suit, it isn't because of racism; it's from fear of becoming a victim.
John at 9:14AM on Jul 26th 2007
52. as a conservative republican who is not going to be voting democratic in the next election... i feel compelled to note that i find it curious that the dems are already trying to cannibalize each other and tear each other apart...
the most recent example of this is for the clinton machine and the blind backers of said machine to throw out the blanket statement of how obama said he would meet with leaders of countries that we are at odds with... these shills are so fragrantly playing with words that it is sad.
BIG franky at 10:31AM on Jul 26th 2007
53. Darkmanwp, exactly what I've been saysing: it's class, not race.
Joe Bob at 12:46PM on Jul 26th 2007
54. Joe Bob:
Unfortunately, 'classism' will be around long after racism and sexism are forgotten.
The Ancient Greeks got around this by introducing the toga which was worn by everyone from slaves to senators. The only telltale that a person might be someone of import was that they might have a purse or wear rings that were actually keys. These were necessary because togas have no pockets.
Later, they invented language to set 'educated' people apart from the lower classes. In this way, the first difference between 'layman's terms' and professional speak was created. For instance, if you met someone at a club and they told you they were a 'brain surgeon' you'd know they were lying. Hence, the division of classes was started.
Keith J. Mohrhoff at 1:18PM on Jul 26th 2007
55. the real Axis of Evil is revealed here:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/KUP310A.html
lionesswimmer at 7:04PM on Jul 26th 2007
56. Jillian, How about this reality? Taxi cab drivers have one of the most dangerous jobs in this country. Historically black males enjoy the highest % of the crime rate. It's not just economics, it's basic survival instinct. By the way I am black and I resent that they make the rest of us look bad and you support that behavior by ignoring it. Once you acknowledge the truth the path to change becomes clear.
Andie Pauly at 1:06AM on Jul 27th 2007