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8.13.2007

angry asian metrodad

Had to post this excerpt from a recent entry over at MetroDad, one of my favorite blogs. The post is titled "Memos to the World-at-Large":
To the guy who called me a "FUCKING CHINK" on the subway this morning...

In the overheated ant farm known as the NYC subway system, it's part of the social contract that exiting passengers be allowed to get out of the train before incoming passengers enter. Apparently, you're too much of an ignorant fuck to understand this common-sense rule that has been in place since the days of Noah's ark. No, my friend, you obviously felt some sense of entitlement. When I didn't budge to let you on the train because I was getting out, you felt compelled to call me a "fucking chink."

Normally, I don't take that shit lightly. I've only been in 6 fights over the course of my lifetime and they were all because someone felt compelled to slander me with racial epithets. Just so you know? I'm 6 for 6 in those fights. Don't fuck with an angry Asian man!

Anyway, the only reason I didn't throw your racist ass under the train tracks today was because YOU WERE WITH YOUR FUCKING KID!

Man, at that point, I just felt horrible for your little daughter. I felt terrible that she has a father filled with so much hate that every little misstep in daily life turns into a potential interpersonal Gulf of Tonkin incident. I felt disgusted knowing that she's being raised by a man who can spew racial epithets at the drop of a hat. And I felt worse thinking that, without proper perspective and life experience, she might end up adopting your racist views as her own.

In the end, I kept coming back to that brilliant Denis Leary quote, "Racism isn't born, folks, it's taught. I have a two-year-old son. You know what he hates? Naps! End of list."

I hope your daughter realizes what a total fucking asshole you are and grows up to reject not only you but everything you represent. That, my acerbic little friend, would be an even greater revenge than kicking your ass up and down 7th Avenue.
I think we've all wanted to write a similar memo at some point or another, to every racist asshead we've had to deal with in our lives. MetroDad is dead right—racism isn't born. It's taught. And we witnessed right here on the subway.