On the 17 going from the U to the library a woman boarded the bus with a crying infant of 2 and half to three and a half years. The mother got on and dragged the child to the back of the bus, far behind me. But I could still hear the mother clearly when she said, among other things, "Shut up!" "I’ll give you something to cry about" and "…trynna feed yo fat ass!"
A couple of things were odd about it. Why yell like that at a small child? Why call a small child fat? Why call a small child fat when you yourself are obese and can barely fit in the bus seat? Most importantly, why was I disinclined to say anything? Nobody said anything. And as I thought about it I realized I would have said something if it was a white woman who was verbally abusing her child like that. But because the mother was black, there was some kind of cultural allowance that made me and others keep quiet. A misguided respect for culture may have inhibited us, at the expense of the child’s welfare. Maybe if I or someone else had spoken up, the mother would think twice before berating her child like that in public in the future. We may have lower standards of conduct for black people, especially if they fit a certain description, as this mother did. Also I personally did not say anything because I feared being shouted at and lambasted like the kid was.
In any case, not speaking up does not benefit the small child.
pseudoisaac 