How White Entitlement marred my Trip to a Ferguson Teach-in

Salon ^ | Dec. 17, 2014 | Brittney Cooper

[Bon of Babble]

On Friday, I was on the train to New York to do a teach-in on Ferguson at NYU. Beats headphones on, lost in thought, peering out the window, I suddenly saw a white hand shoving my work carry-on toward me. Startled, I looked up to see the hand belonged to a white guy, who was haphazardly handling my open bag, with my laptop perched just inside to make space for himself on the seat next to me.

That he wanted the seat on the now full train was not the problem. That he assumed the prerogative to place his hands on my bag, grab it, shove it at me, all while my computer was unsecured and peaking out, infuriated me. I said to him, “Never put your hands on my property.”

His reply: “Well, you should listen when I talk to you.” That line there, the command that when he, whoever he was, spoke, I should automatically listen encapsulates the breadth of the battle against racism we have to fight in this country.

To have a white man in 2014 demand that I listen when he speaks is the height of racial disrespect and indignity. To have a white person shove my belongings to the side rather than simply get my attention and ask my permission is an unnecessary level of disrespect, one that conveys yet again that their needs matter more than my own.

I do not exist to make white people comfortable. The fact that I know that and act like it makes white people even more uncomfortable.

[dead]

It reads like parody, so maybe it is.

If you paid for one seat, keep your crap off the other seats that other people paid for.

When I get on the train in the morning, and I have no choice but to sit next to somebody, I always pick the jerk who puts their stuff on the empty seat next to them, like they own it. I do this regardless of color, gender.

I do avoid large people, since I'm a member of that tribe and we don't fit well together.

[Borax Queen]

Hahaha, that’s so funny!