Oberlin has a wonderful website for the racially aggrieved, of which it has no shortage, called Oberlin Microagressions. The New York Times opinion page today features the ubiquitous (but, to be frank, not scintillatingly bright) Ta-Nehisi Coates on a Manhattan microaggression against a movie star.
The election of Obama in 2008 was promised to usher in a post-racial age. The re-election seems to have ushered in an age of intensifying racial animus against whites.
How come?
Steve, you're a funny and perceptive writer who makes a lot of incisive points, but you show a striking lack of empathy here. We all know the statistics on differential crime statistics, but imagine for a moment how shitty it must be to be a law-abiding, middle class black person and have things like this happen to you on a semi-regular basis. Whitaker is a big, gentle-looking middle-aged man...sort of like you, actually. Have you been stopped and frisked in a Studio City deli recently?
ReplyDeleteThat story about Whitaker is really odd. How does one shoplift at a deli? In what universe does a deli employee think he can frisk anyone for any reason? And what was he looking for? Smoked ham stuffed down the pants? I don't get it.
ReplyDeleteSteve: "How come?"
ReplyDeleteWhites showed their underbelly.
If you were to spoof the Microaggressions blog, how would you do it? For example, someone had said on Facebook that "Afrikana Studies Majors shit talk way too much", which the blog describes as "a macro-aggressive display of white supremacy". How are these delicate flowers going to survive outside of the people's republic of Oberlin? Will there be enough affirmative action sinecures for all of them?
ReplyDeleteSteve -- have you drone-proofed your house yet?
ReplyDeleteFew people are on the "enemy of the state" list as high as you are good sir.
Hm-m-m-m, once I went into a discount drugstore and picked up a gym bag to buy and saw a bunch of discounted bottles of antacid liquid. So-o-o I needed a way to carry them to the cash register. I put six or so into the gym bag. A black store manager came over to me and asked me what I was doing as I stuffed the bottles into the bag. I said I was buying them. He seemed confused but let me go to the register and pay for all the items, including the gym bag. This manager had been alerted about my actions by another employee who thought I was acting suspiciously. I am thus aggrieved.
ReplyDelete"Ask the question, ‘What one frame of mind is likely to cause the most damage to an individual’s happiness, his contribution to others, and the like – what one frame of mind will be the worst?” The answer of course, would be some sort of paranoid self pity. I can’t imagine a more destructive frame of mind."
ReplyDelete- Charlie Munger
The re-election seems to have ushered in an age of intensifying racial animus against whites.
ReplyDeleteHow come?
Progressives have a view of the world that is at odds with reality; therefore, the goals they set, and the programs they concoct to achieve them, are doomed to failure from the start.
Since this is impossible for progressives to acknowledge, they have to explain their failures by pointing to a hostile force that is thwarting them--non-progressives.
As progressives get more and more power they are able to put more and more of their counter-productive programs into effect, thereby pushing the achievement of their goals further and further into the distance.
This leads to increasing fury at the non-progressive element in society, however powerless and accommodating it has become.
If the last remaining non-progressive in America were David Brooks, he would be held entirely responsible for the failure of the progressive agenda.
As a commenter said on another thread, what would really make the progressives happy is if Jim Crow laws were still in effect.
It's the revolution of rising expectations. For American blacks, Obama's election had the equivalent effect of Eric Williams' 1961 speech "Massa Day Done." A messianic age has begun, and, if Trinidad is any indication, things will only get worse. Much worse. Read Shiva Naipaul for more.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/movies/homevideo/new-dvds-how-green-was-my-valley-and-quiet-man.html
ReplyDeletehttp://www.davekehr.com/?p=1584
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om_mAeQ1GWc
What is a "microaggression"?
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of the incident a few years ago involving Danny Glover and a taxicab. It seemed that Glover was ignored while waiting for a cab in Manhattan. He was furious. He was all over the press with his denunciations of white racism.
ReplyDeleteIt never seemed to occur to either Glover or this NYT writer that they could use such an incident to advise black people to behave better. Black people do engage in more shoplifting and more taxi robing than do whites or Asians. That's a simple fact. Apparently racism means accurately observing the world around you.
There is also the matter of proportion. Taxi drivers don't pick up young black men because they don't want to be killed. That life-or-death issue was less important to Glover than the social slight he suffered.
This young black NYT writer would impress me more if he had reported on the history and racial breakdown of previous shoplifters. If they had been racially diverse then I would be inclined to condemn the employee with being a racist. But if blacks had been disproportionally in this kind of theft - what do we conclude?
I don't know about shoplifting in New York but I know that nationally blacks commit robberies at about ten times the rate of whites.
It seems to me that Forrest Whitiker and this writer owe the restaurateur and his employee an apology.
Albertosaurus
The election of Obama in 2008 was promised to usher in a post-racial age. The re-election seems to have ushered in an age of intensifying racial animus against whites.
ReplyDeleteBecause racial animus against Whites isn't possible, in a negative sense, according to the lying narrative of the Leftist tyranny epitomized by that affirmative-action parasite Obama. How racist of you to suggest that such a thing is happening.
We've really reached the era of total Leftist reality denial. This evil nonsense going on at Oberlin is exactly the same kind of childish, spoiled-brat posturing that we saw in the original hippies.
They won't see reality and they won't grow up. They think they can have it all both ways; hate and dispossess their own kind while living in the material paradise of the 50s and early 60s.
Moral superiority as an excuse to party on.
How come?
ReplyDeleteBecause they can?
-SWPH
I love the Oberlin blog, by the way.
ReplyDeletePleased to see that measurement of White-on-Black violence is done in units of micro-aggression, the μA. I guess Black-on-White violence is measured in mA or even A.
Ahh. Even when these people are trying to be serious they're utterly hilarious. They're so innumerate they're not even "liberal arts majors."
-SWPH
"but, to be frank, not scintillatingly bright"
ReplyDeleteVery diplomatic of you, Steve.
As far as popular intellectual bloggers go, he's without question on the far left hand side of the bell curve.
Steve, I noticed you've been commenting at the Atlantic. I'm thinking of starting a pool on how long it will be before you get banned. I've been through about five Disqus IDs over there.
ReplyDeleteHow hard is it to immigrat to Canada?
ReplyDeleteSeriously, if whites move en masse, they would make the very white Canada even whiter. And if conservatives moved there it could get really conservative really fast as well.
I can't believe that Coates left out Bloodsport from his list of movies.
ReplyDelete"The election of Obama in 2008 was promised to usher in a post-racial age. The re-election seems to have ushered in an age of intensifying racial animus against whites.
ReplyDeleteHow come?"
I'd go with your own analysis from "Birth of the Victory Riot". Not only did (old, white, male) Republicans lose the election, they've caved to the White House on a whole host of issues in Congress. On top of that, Pres. Obama's campaign in 2012 was much more overtly divisive than his "unifying" campaign in 2008.
Regarding the surrenders in Congress, one could easily argue that the chaos and last-minute scrambling in that body are largely due to President Barack "I love to hear the sound of my own voice" Obama's total inability to provide decisive leadership and organization, even to his own party, but the Republicans keep giving him what he wants, so in the mind of the public (which is instructed in these matters by slavishly pro-Obama media outlets), the delays must be their fault. After all, losers are wrong and winners are right, at least until 50 years after the fact (when opinions often reverse). Since the GOP is the "White Peoples' Party", white people are, by extension, obstructionist pushovers who cause needless delays in the march of progress, but can be easily cowed with a show of force and resolve.
The conventional wisdom is that the stubbornly obstructionist side in a political dispute alienates the majority and dooms itself to irrelevance. That's sometimes true, particularly in the short run, but in the long run, consistent stubbornness pays off more often than it doesn't. People- particularly the lukewarm, follow-the-crowd types who make up most of the independent center- admire conviction and courage, even when it frustrates their short-term wishes.
If anyone wants a hefty dose of microaggression, just read the comments to the linked article.
ReplyDeleteAlmost no one is critical of the essay, and most of the self described whites fall over themselves congratulating Coates for his bravery in calling attention to the lingering menace of hidden racism.
Of course, not a word about the catastrophically higher rates of crime, both violent and not, committed by black males, both in NYC and in the nation as a whole.
The disconnect between reality and perception with these people is stunning.
I tried to post a comment on the Ta-Nehisi Coates article, politely suggesting that the problem might have something to do with the fact that blacks commit crimes at much higher rates than whites. I backed up my claim with a link to the FBI web site.
ReplyDeleteAlas, the moderators seem to have rejected the comment. Can't imagine why.
Do people frisk you at delis? Kind of think that would be a pain in the ass.
ReplyDeleteCan someone explain Coates to me? Is growing up in the inner city and and being able to string more than three sentences together all the qualification on needs to have a national column?
ReplyDeleteFor growing up hard, he's one of the most thin skinned writers around.
I was just a ten year old walking home with my fourteen year old brother when four young men wielding iron rebar surrounded us, called us "white boy", "white paddy" and "white mother****er". They laughed as the hit us on the legs, back and arms as we tried to block the blows. But that is nothing compared to the heartbreak of this Atlantic editor who has to pass by a deli where a black actor was falsely accused of shoplifting. I'm weeping.
ReplyDeleteThe Oberlin Microagressions blog is an interesting and amusing link.
ReplyDeleteJews and NAMS whipping up hatred of Whites over imaginary slights and White "privilege" (what a privilege to be White and legally discriminated against in hiring and admisssions! Oy Vey!!!)
The blog has one "White Jewish" professor in trouble for using the "n word" in a class to demonstrate its usage in the 1930s.
It seems he refuses to apoligise to students who were offended because as someone whose ancestors died in the Holocaust he claims he does not have "White privilege" (probably married to a Shiksa though I bet).
Very funny stuff Steve ...very funny indeed (and very scary too).
The paragraphs below are from a good little story from a cite titled "Manhattan Transfer."
ReplyDeletehttp://manhattantransfer.blogspot.com/2004/10/you-arent-as-smart-as-you-think-you.html
"The only way out of this conundrum that I could see when I was in the sixth and seventh grade was to assemble what we called "back-up"--a crew of people who would jump those who jumped you. This proved impossible among my classmates. They were thoroughly subordinate, unwilling to raise a clenched fist or join a proposed alliance of mutual protection.
I discovered the secret to my classmates' subordination. They were not surrendering their dignity. They maintained their self-respect by telling themselves that they were behaving civilized amidst savagery. They were convinced of their intellectual and moral superiority over their tormentors and took comfort in this. After three years of junior high school they would be culled from this dull, violent herd and sent to New York City's elite public schools, Bronx Science or Stuyvesant. Their passivity was a subtle form of snobbery. "
Basically the guy who wrote this stood up for himself and was willing to play the ' knuckle game', come what may, with the residents of the Projects. The other good kids were not willing but rationalized their choice with snobbery. They were good and smart. This guy doesn't mention race but I have often thought the disservice most 'good whites' do by backing down, groveling and appeasing. Sure they rise in status with their intra-white status whoring but they make it sooo much more difficult for any white guy on the street to be merely left alone. Any white guy is at a huge disadvantage in terms of racial reputation because most of the other whites don't circle in hopping packs waiting to gang up together at the mention of a word of DIS-respect. Whites get harassed because they have been browbeaten by the TV, movies, newspapers, magazines AND many of their women, to back down. The good and the smart think they are doing the right thing( like their Mommy told them to do) but they make it real hard an any white person, even an anomalous white woman, to stand up for themselves, in any confrontation that even hints of race. Blacks in particular are ready to go to the mat over any little slight. In my former incarnation as a city dweller I used to say, "Blacks will slit their own throats so whitey will drown in the blood." Whitey, on the other hand, meekly looks away, to be a slave for another day.
Consider me as just micro-bothered by these micro-agressions.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/03/01/ending-nkorea-trip-rodman-calls-kim-awesome-guy-father-and-grandfather-great/
ReplyDeleteBlacks and yellows playing together and game ending in a tie!!
Geez, they achieved racial equality in North Korea, something that eludes us.
Could it be due to North Korea's head start or feet start program in basketball?
We must learn from them. Our games never end in ties no matter the racial balance.
Obama's post-racial rhetoric in 2008 was solely a tactic designed to bamboozle credulous whites. his real goal all along was to stoke black rage, 3rd world multiculti sentiments, and leftist academic fury to get Whitey. when victory is in sight, one intensifies the assault.
ReplyDeleteHe flat out says that his wife has been at "war" with whites ever since a 6 YEAR OLD called her cousin a bad word. Does he not see the sheer insanity of this? Can you imagine how bitter and twisted you would be if you carried such a grudge your entire life, and how other people might subconsciously pick up on it and treat you differently?
ReplyDeleteKelly McGillis was a victim of a black MACROagression in Manhattan years before becoming a movie star.
ReplyDeleteNot that anyone should notice of course.
How come minority prickliness has gotten worse since Obama?
ReplyDeleteIt's all about unrealistic expectations. Many were not only convinced that "Obama's gonna pay for my mortgage!" but were certain government goodies were going to flow down like waters from DC.
I'll never forget when Danny Glover claimed "racism" after being passed up by NYC cabbies -- who were black!
ReplyDeleteHow come?
ReplyDeleteBecause too many whites won't fight back and colored people know this. Also whites are the only group (Jews and Gays excepted) that have no system of organized pressure and lobby groups.
What about the poor folks who suffer merely nanoagressions? Don't they deserve justice too??
ReplyDeleteMost people be worried about blacro-aggressions.
ReplyDeleteDuring the Cultural Revolution, communist radicals were laying waste to China, but they were looking for 'capitalist roaders'.
ReplyDeleteDuring WWII, Nazis were laying waste to much of Europe, but they were looking for Jews.
In cities like Cleveland and all across America, black thugs are laying waste to cities, but white liberals look for KKK.
"The New York Times opinion page today features the ubiquitous (but, to be frank, not scintillatingly bright) Ta-Nehisi Coates on a Manhattan microaggression against a movie star."
ReplyDeleteCoates is a talented writer, and is probably pretty bright, but he avoids thinking critically about pretty much everything that's covered on iSteve. I once asked him in his comments whether he had read one of your posts on a particular topic, and he quoted a phrase he found objectionable from your widely-read post on New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina and said he wouldn't read anyone who would say that.
That's unfortunate, because it would be good to see some dialog between you and a prominent black intellectual. But Coates is quite comfortably ensconced in an echo chamber that rarely challenges his views. And he spends so much time reading about the black experience in pre-Civil Rights America that he hasn't seemed to have groked many lessons from post-1965.
"How come?"
ReplyDeleteHaha, good one
http://slnm.us/A1020xL
ReplyDeleteLiberals see a blanket-person as KKK and see a Holocaust denier as a'transgressive artist'.
None of the news reports I've seen tell us the race of the "frisker."
ReplyDeleteIs this a non-barking dog?
ReplyDeleteCoates seems to have overlooked the one question he might have asked of the deli owner: How many times have you been robbed by whites, and how many times by blacks? The answer to that question should have told Coates why the owner stopped and frisked Forest Whitaker.
"...and he quoted a phrase he found objectionable from your widely-read post on New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina..."
ReplyDeleteThat quote is featured on Steve's Wikipedia page. Perhaps Mr. Coats had never heard of Steve until you mentioned him in his comments. Or he may have heard of Steve vaguely. Then, after seeing you mention him, he might have checked out Steve's Wikipedia page.
Steve has written a million other things of that general type and a thousand more insightful things than that, of that and many other types. The only remarkable thing about that quote is that it ended up in the Wikipedia.
Don't these black so-called writers ever get tired of writing about themselves continuously, day after day, year after year? It's just a constant whine, me me me. What a narcissistic, incredibly self-absorbed group of people. Apparently they're the only group on this planet that counts. In reality they're mostly just mediocre, repetitive and boring, just a six hour repeating tape loop.
ReplyDelete"It seemed that Glover was ignored while waiting for a cab in Manhattan. He was furious. He was all over the press with his denunciations of white racism."
ReplyDeleteWhites make up approximately 0% of NYC taxi drivers. It's mostly South Asians, with some African immigrants.
That story about Whitaker is really odd. How does one shoplift at a deli? In what universe does a deli employee think he can frisk anyone for any reason? And what was he looking for? Smoked ham stuffed down the pants? I don't get it.
ReplyDeleteHe probably thought Whitaker was playing "hide the salami".
From the article:
ReplyDelete>>And I’ve patronized the deli with some regularity, often several times in a single day. I’ve sent my son in my stead.
Reading quickly, I thought it said "I've sent my son in to steal."
I must be an incorrigible racist.
"How does one shoplift at a deli?"
ReplyDeleteSome delis have items on shelves too.
On Charlie Rose, Whittaker defended Amin's expulsion of Asian-Indians.
ReplyDeleteA lot of blacks steal, run riot, and act like bullies, and many non-blacks suffer, but the media suppresses all of that or pretend 'youths' are doing it.
ReplyDeleteBecause too many blacks act like that, some non-blacks sometimes suspect an innocent black of being a thief or thug.
And THAT becomes a big issue.
So, if an Arab store-owner had his place ransacked by blacks flashmobs, 'youths' done it and we should forget about it.
But if the store-owner then becomes more suspicious of blacks, he's the bad guy and blacks are poor poor victims.
Btw, if it's wrong to suspect blacks of being thugs and thieves because too many of them act that way, why is it okay to suspect an entire white community of being 'racist' because of a single 'hate crime', even when the so-called incident turns out to be a 'hate hoax'?
What's really funny is that even thieving blacks make this complaint. Indeed they do so more than others.
ReplyDeleteSo, black politicians like Jesse Jackson Jr. have been robbing forever, but they always yelled 'racism' whenever anyone suspected he was doing anything wrong. He even played the 'mental illness' card. He finally admitted his wrongdoing only when the smoking gun was just too hot.
Every black thief says he's just an innocent victim. Every gangster thug frisked by cops acts like he's just an innocent bystander. And we have the liberal Jewish media helping out by making Trayvon into Skittles kid while making Zimmerman into KKK man.
Every black thug in jail says "I didn't do it." OJ says he didn't do it, and 80% of blacks agreed with him.
Blacks will steal and lie and cheat(in schools, stores, government), but if anyone suspects them, they'll howl 'racism'.
It's like that gay Negro I knew at work at a department store. We found him having stashed away items in locker, but he said, "I'm gay and I'm black, and there's nothing you can do about it."
Fucker.
And oh yeah, Obama didn't know for 20 yrs that Wright was giving hate speeches. But when he couldn't deny it anymore, he starts his speech about the matter with, "of course, I knew". If of course, he knew, why did he deny it earlier.
Shithead.
Liberals see a blanket-person as KKK and see a Holocaust denier as a'transgressive artist'.
ReplyDeleteCould it be because everyone knows that Jews are powerful?
Btw, how are you treated if you oppose 'gay marriage' in a liberal setting? How are you treated if you mention HBD in an academic setting? How as Stephanie Grace treated for a private email she sent?
ReplyDeleteHow are you treated if you speak the truth about Jewish power and privilege? Does Rick Sanchez have his gig back?
How was Larry Summers treated for merely speculating that males might have an edge in math?
These bullies and thugs bitch and whine about how insensitive the rest of the world is?
"If anyone wants a hefty dose of microaggression, just read the comments to the linked article.
ReplyDeleteAlmost no one is critical of the essay, and most of the self described whites fall over themselves congratulating Coates for his bravery in calling attention to the lingering menace of hidden racism."
They are just flattering themselves. They are saying, "conservatives are 'racist' but won't admit it. We liberals try not to be 'racist', but we are 'racist' too in some way, and we are soooooooo aware of it and sensitive about it, and because we are so self-critical, we are sooooo much better."
Okay, move to Detroit then.
Something more than a microaggression, and something NY TIMES supports.
ReplyDeleteBlack folks put bars on their doors and windows in black communities.
ReplyDeleteWhite communities don't.
Black folks (like Mr. Coates) move to white communities to get away from black folks so they no longer have to put bars on their doors and windows.
When white folks move to black neighborhoods (or when white neighborhoods turn black) white folks put bars on their doors and windows.
Who is the racist?
The black folks for not trusting their black neighbors?
The black folks (like Mr. Coates) who escape other black folks to live safe among white folks?
Or the white folks who learn not to trust black folks from their black neighbors?
The perennial problem of black escapees like Mr. Coates, is that they want white folks to look at them like they are honorary white folks.
Believe me, Mr. Coates does not get upset when he travels to the ghetto and gets frisked by black restauranteurs or shopkeepers.
He doesn't get upset when he trolls the ghetto and can only purchase goods from behind an inch-thick sheet of bulletproof plexiglas.
What bugs him is that white folks cannot magically tell that he is "one of the good guys". He fails to notice that black folks cannot tell who is one of the "good guys" either.
That is why black folks bar their doors and windows against ALL blacks and eventually pull a Coates and move out to go live with the white folks where they know they will be safe.
So why isn't Coates living in the ghetto where he can surely open his door with a flourish when he gets a knock at 10 pm?
But, no. He knows that would be insane in a black neighborhood.
This is the fundamental hypocrisy of hi-toned blacks.
When they leave the ghetto to escape black criminality and go live with white folks it is called "integration", and it is a Good Thing (tm).
On the other hand, when you do exactly the same thing, for exactly the same reasons, it is called "white flight" and you are evil."
He is the token Negro Complainer for the New York Times, their own personal hair shirt. Ignore him.
Microaggresors: Napoleon. Mussolini. Stalin. Pit bulls. Bed bugs. E. coli (certain strains). Mini-Me. Sheldon J. Plankton. Boris Badenov.
ReplyDeleteCan someone explain Coates to me? Is growing up in the inner city and and being able to string more than three sentences together all the qualification on needs to have a national column?
ReplyDeleteFor growing up hard, he's one of the most thin skinned writers around.
It could be worse. We could be treated to columns by the unrepentant gang rapist Nathan McCall of Make Me Wanna Holler fame. He's beyond Mumia.
So, what did he shoplift and where did he hide it?
ReplyDeleteTa-Nehisi-Coates is tired of the good people. It's heartening, because I'm tired of TaNehisiCoates. Then again, that poor man, forced by white racism into a miserable career opining in blogs and newspapers.
ReplyDeleteThat story about Whitaker is really odd.
My theory is the employee just got finished watching Battlefield Earth and decided someone had to pay.
It's a novel challenge trying to imagine a mob of protesters chanting about "microaggression." Does that even rhyme with anything
ReplyDelete"Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteHave you been stopped and frisked in a Studio City deli recently?"
As for me: Deli? No. Airport? Yes.
Same thing.
"Gilbert Ratchet said...
ReplyDeleteWhat is a "microaggression"?"
The release of Microsoft's latest operating system.
obie and obie aggress against opie, bye bye mayberry pie
ReplyDeletemicro film at elevens
(ps "microagress" = THIS millennium's "that offends me")
"It's a novel challenge trying to imagine a mob of protesters chanting about "microaggression." Does that even rhyme with anything"
ReplyDeleteIt vaguely rhymes with "dyke oppression" or "dyke repression",although I don't think you have to worry about them figuring it out just yet. It takes them years to come up with a new idea,that's why they have to relabel stuff like "passive-aggressive snipes at smug condescending assholes" as "microaggressions",it hurts their brains to think about stuff too much.
I came up with a new slogan for Oberlin just recently. "Oberlin: We put the cult in multiculturalism!"
Whaddaya think?
One thing for sure, liberals sure like to sound smart and 'intellectual' by coming with up all these terms like 'homophobia' and 'microaggressions'.
ReplyDeleteI suppose all these doggerel jargonizing makes them feel special.
So, blacks bitching and whining and seeing 'racism' everywhere--while being totally oblivious to their MACROproblems--is a case of sounding the alarm on 'microaggressions'.
Wow, like 'microbrew'. It's so SWPL-appealing.
The sushi of social terminology.
somebody mentioned bloodsport?
ReplyDeleteI consider the video rental that I paid on "Ghost Dog" to be stolen property.
ReplyDeleteWell, Obama is the usual Dem for all minorties while Bush was not the usual Republican since he was pro-mexician even Reagan was not that pro-Mexicican.
ReplyDelete"We all know the statistics on differential crime statistics, but imagine for a moment how shitty it must be to be a law-abiding, middle class black person and have things like this happen to you on a semi-regular basis. Whitaker is a big, gentle-looking middle-aged man...sort of like you, actually. Have you been stopped and frisked in a Studio City deli recently?"
ReplyDeleteI *am* imagining.
I'm also critically-thinking. Consequently, I'm realizing that if I don't like Whites being suspicious of me, I oughta put my annoyance where it belongs -- right square on my fellow blacks, who because of their "differential crime statistics", make Whites suspicious of big, "gentle-looking" middle-aged Black men....
That is, if I *really* wanted such harassment to stop. But if what I was *actually* after was the opportunity to win a law$uit, I'd do exactly what this "gentle-looking" black man IS doing: practice crying rivers about how terrible it is that someone, somewhere, sometime, thought I *might* be up to no good.