I witnessed something weird the other day. Just wanted to let you guys know.
Some folks have claimed that a number of (but not all) supposedly racist non-violent events that garner huge amounts of media attention are, in fact, staged. I got this impression with the Starbuck's incident. If an African-American is behaving oddly, rudely, unprofessionally, or illegally (yet not violently), a white person can not say anything to them or make any demands on their behavior, lest they be called racist.
The other day in my place of work, a group of five or six African-American women came in, and they were LOUD. Not like normal loud, or jovial, but so loud that everyone in our large store could hear them. Screaming. At eachother and in general, unnecessarily. The whole time. Other customers looked visibly uncomfortable, and shot me nervous, concerned "can't you do anything?" looks. I asked a manager what we could do, and let me know that all we could do was provide excellent customer service. Ok. So I went up to them (they were shopping, not loitering) and just let them know that if they needed anything, to please let me know. They got up in my face jeering and laughing then walked away mocking me. Still incredibly loud. Had I politely asked them to lower their volume, I have *no doubt* that it would have spiraled downwards into a charged, racial incident. Something about the whole encounter felt like a set up.