Stupid
….so TBK and I are in the Save-A-Center on Tchoup late this afternoon. We go in the place and there’s a couple of young guys horsing around — one’s wheeling around in one of the motorized carts and another has a video camera. There are two others along with them and we just figure they’re going the usual act-dumb-on-YouTube kinda thing. No harm, right? We don’t pay much attention.
We’re in the store about 10 minutes, get our stuff and leave. As we’re backing out and then driving through the parking lot, there’s some 40ish guy walking through the empty part of the parking lot toward Tchoup, toting his plastic grocery bag. He’s a little ways ahead of us and suddenly a grocery cart comes wheeling out of nowhere at a high rate of speed and hits him from the side. He recoils, looks over and…
…turns out the cart was pushed toward him by these four jokesters we just saw in the store. They’re yukking it up and punching each other and having a grand old time, since they’re the ones who pushed the cart into the guy from about 30 yards away so they could video his reaction when the cart hit him.
The guy wasn’t hurt. But he stopped and looked at the four guys. I stopped my truck and rolled down the window — nearly turning my truck around to cut them off. But the man hit by the cart gave it some thought and turned his back and walked away. I also gave it some thought and kept my mouth shut. I gave them a slow once-over, then we left the parking lot.
Why?
The four young men were black. As white guys, we didn’t want to confront them because it’s the kind of thing that can get you killed.
TBK and I pulled out on Tchoup and headed through the light and past Tipitina’s when I decided I wasn’t just going to let this kinda thing drop. We looped back around and headed back toward the Save-A-Center in search of these four idiots. We crisscrossed several streets in the area but they had already vanished. I was going to at least follow and call the cops but, ah hell — nothing we could do.
It’s this kinda minor incident that too often can become Major Shit in a big hurry. These four young men are extremely lucky it was me in the truck and not some likkered-up redneck with a .357 in his glovebox. Crap like this adds to the distrust that’s already far too abundant in this city — and perpetuates the notion that any young black man in a sideways hat and an oversize white T-shirt is an armed thug. I don’t think these kids were — but I honestly don’t know.
The summer’s already way too hot as it is.
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Does’nt sav a center have a security guard?
I do know that do have security camera’s thru out the store and shooting the closer parts of the parking lot by the entrance and exit. They are recording on DVR so if you can mention it to the store manager and advise him or her they need to do something, as so to keep this from happening again. Get his or her name and then ask for the regional managers name and number, this should put a little fire under them.
Where I’m having trouble here is finding a line between being just Obnoxious Young Folks (I used to be one) and Aggravating A Problem. In this case, it was both.
Say I’d found them and called the cops. They’d have spent a night in jail and had it reinforced on them that Whitey is an asshole. What good does that do? On the other hand, they gotta learn you can’t just Be A Dick. I was seriously hoping some (black) granny would appear and bop them on the head with an umbrella and read them the Riot Act. Likely — problem solved.
…but maybe I don’t get it.
I find I”m catching myself lately and not sneering at people who pull into the pedestrian crossings downtown as I walk perhaps one inch from their vehicle. It has occured to me at could get popped for dissing someone’s car.
This is not a mentally healthy way to live and just compounds the general metally fucked-up-ityness of living around here.
I’ve said it before and here it is again, if you’re going to intentionally dress in an oversize white t-shirt then it’s probable cause. No different than a t-shirt with a pot leaf on it. And as inconsiderate as it is, if you’re going to dress like a criminal then you deserve whatever you get. You can’t just benefit from being a member of a group - all the bad is just as fair. “but that’s profiling” Right, there’s a profile associated with the criminal element in New Orleans. It’s real simple, if you don’t want to be treated like a criminal then don’t dress like one and don’t act like one. I’m tired of the whole romanticizing of thug life as if it’s some culturally relevant thing - it isn’t. If you choose that life for yourself it’s going to be rough but I’d also like to do what I can to make it worse.
And I refuse to believe anything is being reinforced on these people. They’ve already disenfranchised themselves. They’ll probably never contribute anything to society. They’ll just continue bothering people while they wait for someone (no doubt dressed just like them) to shoot them down in the street. They’re already dead and they know it. Fuck ‘em.
The whole oversized-white t-shirt craze started as a part of gang culture, like the loose baggy pants (they take away your belt in prison and don’t size pants properly, so…). I’m sure it extends beyond gangs now, but it’s still probably a safe bet that anyone whose dress emulates gang members is either a gang member themselves or otherwise a thug who is often up to no good. I don’t think that’s unfair stereotyping given how all of this developed.
For more on the history of the large white t’s:
“The culture of the customer is so everyone will look the same,” says Stuart Silberman, vice president of marketing at Changes, a nine-store chain of urban menswear stores based in Baltimore that has been stocking tall tees since 2002. “If the cops are looking for a suspect, [he's invariably wearing a] long white T-shirt with long shorts. So they can’t be identified. That was the real reason it all started.”
http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=10381
Craig,
Say I’d found them and called the cops. They’d have spent a night in jail and had it reinforced on them that Whitey is an asshole. What good does that do?
It keeps them off the streets for a night, and it adds to their criminal record, thereby helping the police identify them in the future. If they blame white society for attaching consequences to bad behavior, that can’t be helped.
There was an NOPD officer working a detail outside the store today. I don’t remember seeing one out there before, maybe SAC has increased their security.
I understand that they dress like a thug, so they might be. If they dressed, like a white man in pink polo shirt and plaid shorts, then you won’t be afraid? Please. New Orleans is just such a waste of space–black, white, all of you. I’m glad I decided to leave there a long time ago. When I came from beautiful Riverside, CA, I thought WTF was I thinking coming to this rotten city?
I was surprised when I saw the type of life that poor, black people lead. They hardly ever get opportunities to better themselves. A lot of them want to be helped. Think about it. Do you think they like their poor living conditions? They have the worst schools, neighborhoods, healthcare, everything. Then, we have our nice private schools, gated communities, etc. I was born living the good life, and I will die with a good life. When I spent time with some of the poorest people in the projects in New Orleans, I felt that rage and anger that comes along with being poor. I’ve seen the looks that we give them. They were all welcoming to me. I bet you would not be that way to one of them. You wouldn’t understand until you let go of that bigotry you have deep down inside yourself and see people as people. We will never know how they feel because our skin color gets us by on a lot of things.
A lot of your city, black and white alike, are just like a bucket of crabs—always pulling each other down. That’s sad because it’s 2007 and hate still exists in the South. Sometimes, when I read stuff on blogs and nola.com that you people are saying, I hope that the rest of the city washes away.
You’re such a ray of much needed sunshine, Tiff. So full of love, compassion, and empathy. Not a trace of sanctimoniousness or bigotry. Wow. You’re an inspiration. Truly. No wonder Riverside, California is the paradise it is.
Tiff,
I’m happy you live a priveleged life and glad you had a chance to see how poorer people live and to help them out in some way. I’m glad you felt the rage and anger of what it is like to have been born into a tough situation. That kind of experience builds character. But while poverty may be a cause of deviant behavior, it is not a justification for it. It’s easy to sit in your gated community and pass judgement on people dealing with crime in their communities. The fact of the matter is, despite all the crime in this city, the majority of the population are good, law-biding citizens. And I will assure you, the majority of the city is not living a privieged life economically at the moment. You felt the rage and anger of the poor when you were here? Well most of those people you met are not criminals, and their rage and anger only grows stronger at the fact that their streets are not safe because a few punks don’t believe the law or rules of common decency apply to them. You really want to help the poor out? Not justifying the crime that tears their communities apart would be a good start.