7.31.2006

Civic Duty

I'm back! Big thanks to Schuyler for keeping this blog going in my absence. Obviously, he was awesome. Many of you commented on his awesomeness. If you liked him, please remember to read A Ton of Bricks on a regular basis.

I returned home to Friendship Heights on Saturday evening. I was greeted by a copy of the most recent Northwest Current. I immediately noticed that Inspector Andy Solberg had been reinstated to his position as 2nd District Commander. Oh, joy. This, of course, after his insanely racist remarks. Since so many people stood up for Solberg and his crazy-ass statement that it's "not a racial thing to say that black people are unusual in Georgetown," I refuse to let this go. I will never let this go until everyone admits that what he said was wrong.

I'm not holding my breath.

Saturday night I ended up at Georgetown Billiards on Prospect Street. (I had a good time even though the jukebox stole a whopping nine credits from me.) I left at 1:30am. Before leaving, I took a head count. I found three black people in the bar. Since their presence was so unusual, I decided to call the police and report them as suspicious and potentially dangerous characters. It wasn't a racial thing at all. Just doing my civic duty. I'm sure Inspector Solberg would be proud.
Posted by Rusty at 11:59 AM

26 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 31, 2006

    Speaking of race, this DC area has a growing number of Hispanics--so it's not just a black-white thing anymore....

    Have you noticed that many new arrivals stand close to you in line even when there's not another soul around? I'm an attractive man, but don't see why they feel the need to dry hump me as I wait to pay for my groceries.

    What is the deal? Hispanics seem to believe that literally pushing someone in line will actually make the line move more expediently.

    I wonder sometimes if it is just their cultural norm (different space proxemics for first generation immigrants) or if they're purposely showing disrespect. Do any of the brain surgeons here have any insights?

    I'm not kidding. I'm serious. In NYC, it's Arabs. Here, we have different groups.

    And, btw, I think that cop's remarks were stupid b/c he uttered them publicly, not because he thought them.... I mean, they should definately bar that guy from appearing on camera again. Get a smarter guy, or gal.

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  2. RustyJuly 31, 2006

    I have no idea how to respond to that.

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  3. AnonymousJuly 31, 2006

    Sorry, I didn't mean to hyjack you, buddy. This hasn't happened to you? I'm just trying to make sense of it. No hate. Just curious. I mean, maybe I'll go get a book at the public library and try not to trip over homeless people.

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  4. AnonymousJuly 31, 2006

    He should be reassigned to Anacostia. LOTS of "unusual" people there.

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  5. AnonymousJuly 31, 2006

    Since their presence was so unusual, I decided to call the police and report them as suspicious and potentially dangerous characters.

    Gee, I didn't see that joke coming from a trillion light years away.

    We miss you, Schuyler.

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  6. AnonymousJuly 31, 2006

    Why is it that demographic and criminological facts so offend you?

    Fact #1: Georgetown IS lilly white, especially in its residential areas. [It's also very affluent; I sure can;t afford to live there.]

    Fact #2: Black males have the highest rates of incaceration in the USA. [A sad fact, at least partially attributable to racism.]

    Fact #3: Crime rates peak after 11 PM.

    Put these facts together and you get Solberg's admonition- black males hanging about a residential street in Georgetown at a late hour is odd and worthy of a doubletake. It's all very logical.

    Too bad your political sensibities won't allow you to be rational about this.

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  7. AnonymousJuly 31, 2006

    You literally made my stomach hurt (anonymous who listed the facts). Thats all I will say, no comments deserved.

    I (a black female) applaud Schulyer for taking a stand against a white person. Its sad that I have to be amazed when white people side with blacks on racial or heck any issues.

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  8. RustyJuly 31, 2006

    I am not Schuyler. I am Rusty. But thanks for the positive sentiments.

    As I said, I counted three black people in Georgetown late at night. So, obviously it's not that unusual.

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  9. AnonymousJuly 31, 2006

    They guy who cited the stats must be smoking some hella good SE DC dope. Who does he think he is? Mel Gibson?

    The law enforcement community opposes racial profiling because it doesn't work. Ir you run around interrogating black men all day, you'll just let all the white, hispanic, and asian criminals have thier way. (hey that rhymed)
    as a gay man, would it be appropriate for me to whip out my bedazzler-encrusted cell phone and call the cops everytime I see a straight guy in Dupont for fear of being gay bashed? By that dude's logic, it would.

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  10. AnonymousJuly 31, 2006

    Let me just ask a serious question, Rusty.

    What more do you want from Solberg, honestly? He was suspended, he profusely apologized, said he was flat wrong, no excuses, and he feels like a huge ass. Are you just intent on destroying the man for one stupid, racially insensitive comment?

    BTW, what were the numbers like for the site while you were gone? Just curious...

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  11. RustyJuly 31, 2006

    I could care less about Solberg. I want every yahoo who agreed with him to admit that he was dead wrong.

    And, as for hits, my site meter link is at the bottom of the page and open to anyone who wants to view it. Schuyler got a lot of hits. This was helped by the many, many posts (that gets the RSS crowd) and a Wonkette link (HUGE boost). He was awesome.

    Of course, quality of posts doesn't have as much to do with traffic as you'd imagine. Some of my least popular posts got huge numbers.

    In conclusion, keeping track of these things is lame.

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  12. AnonymousJuly 31, 2006

    Rusty,

    It will be interesting to see what your feeling is about Solberg once you inevitably become the latest victim of DC crime.

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  13. RustyJuly 31, 2006

    Considering Solberg's team had the address of the murderers but didn't do anything about it, I would say my opinion of him will remain rather low.

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  14. SethJuly 31, 2006

    Looks like your friendly Massachusetts has some questionable civil servants too- time for a post about Romney?

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  15. RustyJuly 31, 2006

    I used to carpool with an Amorello!

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  16. AnonymousJuly 31, 2006

    Please... No more posts about Massachusetts... please...

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  17. AnonymousJuly 31, 2006

    I think the point was, if Rusty's so upset about racism in DC, then why not his most favorite of places, Assachusetts? Or is it ok there?

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  18. AnonymousJuly 31, 2006

    Ahhhh, Rusty's a masshole..

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  19. AnonymousJuly 31, 2006

    Here is the problem with what Solberg said and with those who defend him. I am lilly white. Whiter than white actually. But believe it or not, I have a good friend who is African-American. Solberg's statement implies that if the two of us went to Georgetown at night to go out for drinks, and we ended up walking around town, that because of his skin color he should be looked at suspiciously but I shouldn't.

    Can't everyone see what is not only racist but also distinctly inhumane about that way of thinking?

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  20. AnonymousJuly 31, 2006

    And don't get me started on how IMPOSSIBLE it is for a person of color to get a cab in this city. True life example, witnessed by me:

    I was at a downtown bar a few years back right after work, having a cold one with some co-workers. The bartender needed some change and asked someone from the kitchen (who was African-American) to go to another bar and get some change. A few minutes went by, and all of a sudden the bartender (who was white) said, "Jesus Christ", and went outside onto the sidewalk. He came back about 30 seconds later, and I asked what that was about. He said his cook was standing out there for over 3 minutes with his hand up, and not one cab would stop for him. So he went out, put his hand up for him, and the first cab driving by stopped.

    When a white person has to hail a cab for a black person, the city has a problem. And I know, this is not endemic to just DC. Plenty of cities, especially Eastern US cities, have this same problem.

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  21. AnonymousJuly 31, 2006

    you were at a downtown bar and yet the closest bar with change that the person could go to required a cab?

    ReplyDelete
  22. AnonymousAugust 01, 2006

    You want to know why cab drivers don’t like picking up black people? They're notorious for giving AWFUL FUCKING TIPS. About 6 years ago I drove a cab for a few months in Chicago. When I started the job I would take just about any fare regardless of the race of the passenger.

    But after a few weeks I started noticing that 9 times out of 10 black passengers would screw me on tips. Many times I wouldn’t get any tip and when I did it was basically nothing. It wasn’t just poor blacks either. Many affluent blacks that I dropped off at expensive restaurants and nice homes also stiffed me.

    This really started to piss me off. If a cab driver is polite, gets you where you need to go quickly, and does an overall good job (as I almost always did), then he deserves to be fairly compensated. While most people seemed to understand this, nearly every black passenger I had seemed to think tipping was optional.

    I mentioned my observation to some of the drivers I was friendly with (including a few black drivers) and they told me that they often keep driving when a black person is hailing them. It just isn’t worth it most of the time when you can make a lot more money on another fare.

    So I took the other drivers’ advice and I started to avoid picking up black passengers as often as I could. Was it discriminatory of me? Yea, but at the time I was working two shity jobs and I was still broke. Not only did I not give a shit about being PC, I couldn’t afford to waste my time with assholes that didn’t tip.

    Someone on this blog will inevitably argue that the reason black people give shity tips to cab drivers is because they feel discriminated against. I say that’s bullshit because as anyone who has ever been a waiter knows, black people also give awful tips at restaurants. (Unlike hailing a taxi) These days black people are almost always treated equally when they go to a restaurant yet they still don’t adequately compensate there servers. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a black family at one of my tables rave about the excellent food and service and then leave me a 5% tip.

    So I guess my point is that if blacks want to be treated like everyone else they need to tip like everyone else. Until then don’t complain about inferior service.

    ReplyDelete
  23. AnonymousAugust 01, 2006

    Rusty what about the MS-13 rubbah's that are taking over Columbia Heights & the DC cruisers that have "Latin Gang Unit" on the back of their car? Why can't we just shoot them? They don't exactly contribute to society, so if they were to get mass curbed, there would be no net effect on the GDP. My best educated guess (thanks UNH!) is after they're done finger blasting each other by the end of the day, they're too tired to do something for the community or pay taxes on their income (meth labs make a killing these days, always a strong IPO out of the gate).

    ReplyDelete
  24. AnonymousAugust 01, 2006

    Interesting point flk. I can understand cabbies wanting to make as much money as possible but I don’t think that justifies the blanket generalization of an entire race. That type of discrimination is both unethical AND illegal.

    But unfortunately for you the privileged, 20-something, wannabe intellectuals that ruin this site with there worthless, just out of college opinions, are probably just going to call you "ignorant" and a "bigot" instead of actually engaging in a meaningful conversation.

    But the ppl who follow this blog probably won’t even get a chance to read your post since the cowardly pc thug that runs this site is too afraid to be associated with any thing the least bit controversial. He'll most likely dismiss your post as "hate" speech and delete it.

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  25. AnonymousAugust 01, 2006

    solar,

    What the hell was that post? I think you were trying to be funny but I really can't tell. Either way your a douche. Oh and your fake investment firm was just as pathetic. LMAO.

    ReplyDelete
  26. AnonymousAugust 04, 2006

    Rusty's back - race and bars. I'm giving up on this blog. I've waited long enough for the new blogger to get up to speed. Bye.

    ReplyDelete

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