Jillian came up to Philly to celebrate her last weekend before college. My lady and I showed her some of the sights, took her out, and fed her beers, etc. Then on Saturday we took her up to New York. We had been in the city only five minutes when we saw an incident of blatant racism.

We were on the subway, headed to the PS1 Museum when an Asian couple tried to get on the train. They were obviously tourists. They had their subway maps out, they were wearing backpacks, and the guy had a camera around his neck.

As they were boarding, the guy accidentally bumped into a white guy who was already on the train. The white guy turned to him and said something like, “Watch where you’re going - and say ‘Excuse me’ next time!” The Asian guy was rattled and apparently confused. He kept saying, “Sorry. Sorry.”

Done deal, right? Wrong. The white dude looked pissed. He kept badgering the guy, saying “When you bump into someone, you gotta say ‘Excuse me’ or else someone’s gonna punch you.”

“Sorry. Sorry.”
“”Well just watch where you’re going next time.”
“Sorry. Sorry.”
“You don’t belong here anyway. Why don’t you go back to where you came from?”
“Sorry. Sorry.”
“You’re lucky I didn’t punch you.”

The Asian guy was about to say ‘Sorry’ again when his wife stopped him. She told him not to say anything. The white dude kept talking, but the Asian couple kept quiet. A minute later, the train reached the next stop. The Asian couple scurried off, staring at the ground like they were ashamed.

That fucking jackass made them feel like they were unwelcome in New York fucking city - home of “give us your tired, your weak, your huddled masses.” What a fucking asshole. He obviously doesn’t see the big picture.

After the train started moving again, the guy tried pleading his case to the other passengers. He was like, “They come to our country and don’t speak our language. They don’t belong here.” “I was raised here. This is my country.” “This is my neighborhood.”

People were rolling their eyes, trying to ignore him.. but I was so tempted to punch him in his pasty neck. Then the strangest thing happened. The dude started hitting on this African-American lady who saw the whole incident.

He was spitting game left and right, begging and pleading for her number. She played along like she thought he was funny. I thought it was an act on her part, but I was wrong. As we got off the train, I saw the racist standing there alone with the lady, chatting her up. It looked like they were exchanging numbers.

Either she was acting, or she was a flat-out racist just like the asshole.

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