<p>Well, I have to say I had something similar happen when I was driving a rental car that happened to be a Dodge Charger with New York plates on a North Carolina highway in August 2009. I had two cars with three to four young African American men drive up to my vehicle quite fast - one stayed right behind me about three feet from the bumper and the other pulled up beside me. This part of highway was only two lanes and I was going the speed limit.</p>
<p>They looked me over very carefully and then they sped off. So, I do think your car might have been what attracted the attention plus your age. Here I was a middle aged mom driving a performance car. Unfortunately, it was the only car with a trunk in the size range that I had reserved left when I checked into the rental agency!</p>
<p>You think it’s bizarre that people from other countries and cultures have distinctive mannerisms, gestures, and postures that immediately identify them as non-American? I notice it all the time, so I don’t know what to say. Agree to disagree, I guess.</p>
<p>The issue is not whether they were American or from the African continent, but that there is some kind of information implied in including their race. And we all know what those implications are, so I won’t belabor the point. Is it wrong? Of course it is.</p>
<p>As I drove to and from work on the freeway last week I passed and was passed by dozens of various African American motorists. None of them threatened me or behaved strangely in any way.</p>
<p>Anyplace I’ve ever lived, it’s common to mention the race of a person that one is describing that person’s race stands out in that area. On the south side of Chicago, if a white guy was chasing me in a car, I would make a point of saying it was a white guy, because that’s one of the things that would stand out about him in that place. If I were in Beverly Hills, I might not mention it. I find that pouncing on someone for mentioning another person’s race is just another way of saying, “Look how much better I am than you. I am so enlightened, I don’t even see a person’s color.” It’s like when Stephen Colbert talks about being colorblind. It’s a joke; everyone sees race, and if you pretend you don’t, you’re being pretentious.</p>
<p>Here is what the OP wrote:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Why not accuse him of being prejudiced against people in their early 20s, or people who drive black cars, or BMWs, or cars with dealer tags?</p>
<p>No, I think it’s bizarre that you think you can tell if someone is not American by their facial expressions and skin tone.</p>
<p>America is a melting pot. We have citizens born and raised here with ALL skin tones from very fair all the way to very very dark. I don’t believe you can identify the nationality of a person simply by virtue of their skin tone. Gestures, possibly, clothing COULD be a distinction, certainly one’s accent could be a hint, but not necessarily a GIVEN. Facial expressions? You’re right, we disagree.</p>
<p>Since this is an emotionally charged topic, and since it’s hard to convey tone when writing quick forum posts, allow me to add a smiley and say that I just find this kind of discussion fun and interesting and enjoy being provocative. I don’t want to come off as insensitive to racial issues. I think frank discussion like this really help to move the cause along, actually.</p>
<p>The reason some people took issue with the OP’s mentioning race in this incident is because the context doesn’t warrant it. I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have mentioned that the driver was a “young white male”. Of course, we all notice race and ethnicity, and yeah, it’s a loaded topic. It’s also interesting that the assumption here is that the OP is a “young white male”, or at least not black.</p>
<p>My apologies for trying to give an accurate description of what actually happened. Next time I’ll describe my follower as “a non senior-citizen, driving a car that was certainly not an SUV, and was not a primary color.” What a ridiculous assertion.</p>
<p>Never knew accuracy actually offended people. Good grief.</p>
<p>^^It’s not accuracy that is the issue. The issue is that the driver’s behavior was the problem, not his race. If we were cops and you were filing a complaint, we’d need to know his race to know what sort of guy to go look for. But we’re not the police. On an anonymous internet board the driver’s race is an irrelevant detail. So pointing out his race is unnecessary and suggests that you are attempting to link his bad behavior to his race in some way. That is the issue.</p>
<p>Northstarmom was right to call the OP on it. That irrelevant-to-behavior detail jumped out at me right away in his post. What was the point of mentioning that the guy was black? The OP, responding to this thread several times, still hasn’t responded (or did I miss it?)to questions about that.</p>
<p>
mantori.suzuki, you are projecting. Many people don’t actually take note of a person’s race, or store that information, except if forced by circumstance (if it is necessary to describe a person’s appearance for whatever reason).</p>
<p>In this case, it appears to the people who questioned the mention of race that it explains one reason he felt threatened by the behavior. Would it read the same if he’d said “A blond white guy was tailing me” or how about “an oriental guy with glasses gestured the universal sign for money”? </p>
<p>I’ve had plenty of incidents like this happen (try the German autobahn, homicidal drivers are largely White and Nerdy and driving BMWs, lol), for example driving 100 mph – legal in Germany – and getting tailgated, lights flashing, and the tailgater gets so annoyed he/she swerves in front of me and slams on the brakes. And that’s in the slow lane.</p>
<p>But this story is so weird it makes me wonder about the OP. Perhaps he’s writing a screenplay, to the sequel of the movie “Crash”.</p>
<p>I was just being accurate. I’m sure that if I had noted that the guy following me was white, Asian, or Hispanic, it wouldn’t have been an issue. People are just being overly-sensitive. </p>
<p>As I have said several times so far, I didn’t think anything of the guy’s race when I first passed him. It was only when he started following me that a few different scenarios popped into my mind. The city that I was coming from has a substantial gang problem, and 90% of the gang members there are black (I guess “African-American” is un-PC now). Normally I wouldn’t peg someone driving a brand-new Bimmer as a gang-banger, but his actions led me to consider it. </p>
<p>Anyways, my apologies for giving an accurate description of what actually happened. Next time I’ll edit the story to make it more appealing to the PC-brigade.</p>
<p>“I was just being accurate. I’m sure that if I had noted that the guy following me was white, Asian, or Hispanic, it wouldn’t have been an issue.”</p>
<p>I don’t see what the person’s race has to do with anything. As for blacks making up the majority of gang members in your area, gang bangers aren’t known for driving BMWs…</p>
<p>The person’s behavior was much more important than was his race.</p>
<p>Similarly, your behavior – which IMO reflected a lack of good judgment-- is more important than is your race.</p>
<p>Suppose the tables were turned and I was a young black person, driving alone, and was followed by a white person who looked like he places in the top 10 every year at the Redneck Games? Would it be prejudiced at all to bring this up when describing the situation to someone else? </p>
<p>Rednecks typically are much more likely to be racist than most other people, and young black men in my area are significantly more likely to be in gangs than most other people. It is wrong to make assumptions based on appearance alone, but when members of these groups do actions that could be taken as criminal, these trends have to be considered.</p>
<p>Hello, 911? I just pulled up next to a guy going 80 and falling asleep at the wheel. I opened the window and gestured for him to take a break, but he saw that as a challenge and tried to drag-race me, doing about 100.</p>
<p>I don’t know what make of car, but it looked like something custom. I felt he was dangerous and he could hurt someone. He was a young white guy, and I was afraid he might have a gun in the car.</p>
<p>Too bad I wasn’t asleep, and I didn’t see him on the phone once during the whole encounter. And since when does the “give me money” gesture mean pull over and take a break?</p>
<p>*Rednecks typically are much more likely to be racist than most other people, and young black men in my area are significantly more likely to be in gangs than most other people. *</p>
<p>Shows how " areas" differ.
We have lots of Asian and Hispanic gangs in " my" area.
Not sure what a " redneck" is though.</p>
<p>Rednecks typically live in the boonies, fly confederate flags, drive massive vehicles, vote Republican, collect guns, and hunt and fish on the reg. You’ll find them all over the eastern portion of the country, typically away from major cities though. </p>
<p>We don’t have any Asian or Hispanic gangs in my area (that I know of). Then again, we have a very small Asian population in general and the Hispanic people typically avoid our area for some reason.</p>
and say that I just find this kind of discussion fun and interesting and enjoy being provocative. I don’t want to come off as insensitive to racial issues. I think frank discussion like this really help to move the cause along, actually.</p>