( 11:22 PM ) teahouse
Racial Profiling
One day last week I left work early. Leaving my office, I made my way to a bus stop to catch a bus home.
The bus stop was on a busy corner on Sixth Avenue. Catching a bus on that particular corner is great for me, as the bus goes straight uptown and eventually to the Upper West Side, dropping me off very close to my apartment.
As I approached the bus stop, I noticed something unusual - there were 8 people sitting at the stop, and all of them were Asian!
This is so cool, I thought as I joined the line. 9 people waiting for a bus, and all of them Asian! What are the chances?
A minute later, a bus pulled up.
I read the sign on the side of the bus - it was going to Flushing, Queens. Not the right bus for me.
Flushing is the home of a very large Asian American population in New York City. So to nobody's surprise, every one of the other 8 people got onto the bus, one by one, until I was the only person left standing at the bus stop.
But the bus didn't leave. It waited there for a few moments.
Then I realized that the bus driver was staring pointedly at me.
He looked confused that I was still standing there, and hadn't jumped up and boarded the bus along with the other Asians who were going to Flushing.
As we made eye contact, he picked up his intercom receiver and announced, slowly and pointedly, "This is the bus to Flushing. I repeat. The bus to Flushing."
The whole time he was still looking at me. I took pity on him and shook my head. He shrugged, closed the bus doors and drove off.
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