I read the other day about poor TV weathercaster Al Roker, who somehow got rebuffed when he was trying to hail down a New York City licensed yellow medallion cab the other day.
Evidently, he was with his 13 year old son, and although he has changed his story a few times, he basically claims that the cab driver saw him, and passed him up because he is black.
According to Roker, the driver ended up picking up a white man a block away.
He has filed a complaint with the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, and you just know they will jump on this case like bread adheres to butter.
The last thing I read is that they think they have the driver, and once a hearing is held, he will be fined, suspended, or perhaps even both.
Even though the driver may not have clearly seen Roker and may have jumped to another possible fare, Roker cries racism, because that is the thing to do nowadays.
Of course, as a white Jewish person, I have also been bypassed for taxi service, but somehow, I never blamed the driver for discriminating against me because of my background.
Yes, as Roker said, most cab drivers do their job, which is to pick up fares no matter who is hailing them down, and no matter where they are going.
However, Roker pulls the race card--as is so prevalent a thing to do today--by claiming that the driver used racism in not picking up himself or his son, who--and get the violins ready--just happened to be sick that day..
Cab drivers are people, and people make mistakes.
Cab drivers also make initial judgments based on what they see and don't see, just like all of us do, whether we admit to it or not, and anybody who has hailed a cab in Manhattan must admit that cab drivers have missed them, whether on purpose or because they didn't clearly see them.
In fact, there are rules and regulations about where drivers can pick up their fares, and they are not allowed to pick up fares in the middle of a block, only at the corners. Perhaps Roker was in the middle of the street, and the driver decided it was not worth getting a hack inspector to fine him than to pick up this fare.
But of course in today's America, you can pull the race card and get noticed really quickly. The media loves this type of story, as does the PC Police.
My father is nearly 84 years old and he still drives a New York City medallion cab.
Has he ever bypassed anyone on the street hailing him down?
In over 50 years of doing this for a living, sure he has, but he has had good reason to do so. After you get robbed by young people, you don't pick up young people anymore.
He has picked up beggars, drunks, drug addicts ... of every color and background. When he owned his own cab, he would often give the indigent a free pass.
He generally picks up everybody, and probably would have picked up Roker and his son--but only if he had seen them clearly or if he didn't have to do it in the middle of a block. If he didn't see them, or didn't get a clear view, he cannot be knocked for not picking up a person of color, whether they be the color white, the color black, or the color orange.
Being a cab driver is the most unsafe job in America, because you never know who you are picking up.
A guy could be wearing a suit and tie and rob you as easy as someone wearing something less.
People have to make a living, but people have to be safe, too. When only a thin partition separates you from your passenger, you have to be extra careful.
Was Roker not picked up because of his race, or because the driver did not see him or his son clearly? How does he know that the driver picked up a white guy rather than him? Was he able to see that clearly a block away from where this guy was hailing a cab?
Is he Super Al with telescopic vision like Superman has?
It really is like a he said/he said thing, but you know who is going to win this particular fight.
Even though a majority of its drivers are minorities themselves, Roker is going to win this one, because he is a high profile person.
But really, how do you decide who is right and wrong here, or if there is anybody really right and wrong here?
Let's not decide everything is a racial act, which is what Roker is doing. Heck, if I bumped into him by mistake on the sidewalk, am I a racist?
And is the cab driver, probably a person of color too, also a racist?
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ReplyDeleteLarry, your bias is showing here. Back when I was in law school I had a summer internship with a city agency, one that adjudicates complaints against taxi drivers and medallion owners. If I were to rely solely on my experience there I would have characterized most taxi drivers as hot shot rule breakers who should have been thrown out of their jobs.
ReplyDeleteMy first law firm did defense work for an insurer who covered NYC taxis, and we used to joke about how bad the drivers are. All of them were equally bad, we used to say "Pedestrians are an endangered species when taxi drivers are around." You and I both know that's not true, but ...
The truth, of course, is somewhere in between. There are bad drivers who break the rules, cause accidents, etc. But if all drivers were that bad, the yellow cab system wouldn't function.
But here's the thing. Back when I had my internship, there were many drivers accused of doing exactly what Roker alleges. Many of them were acquitted. Many were found guilty. It depended on the evidence. And from what I've read of recent adjudications, it is still happening in this city.
I'm sure it still happens. Just as many cabbies refuse fares to the outer boroughs even though they're not supposed to. That's the reason the green cabs have flourished. Too many drivers illegally refuse fares.
You just admitted that your father bypasses potential passengers. You've told me that your father is so hearing impaired that he must read lips in order to determine where his passengers want to go. That scares me, for his sake as well as his passengers'.
I don't think a man like Al Roker would make up a story out of whole cloth. Truth is many cabbies have been found guilty of exactly what Roker alleges.
I'd like to see where the evidence leads, before I pass judgment on either Roker or the driver.
"Being a cab driver is the most unsafe job in America, because you never know who you are picking up." Really? Really? I think the police officers and firefighters would dispute this. I did have a friend who quit taxi driving on Long Ilsand after he was robbed, but honestly ...
So...evidence. Roker had his hand on the door handle when the cabbie drove away. And he saw the cabbie pick up another person down the block. And the cabbie has pled guilty to bypassing a passenger on a previous occasion. Was it racial? I'm thinking it was. http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/cabbie-snubbed-al-roker-repeat-offender-article-1.2444738?utm_content=buffera04ad&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/cabbie-snubbed-al-roker-repeat-offender-article-1.2444738?utm_content=buffera04ad&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, police and firemen know what they are getting into when they decide to serve the public as they do. Taxi drivers do not carry guns, they do not work in tandem with others, they are all alone, in a vehicle, and I think the fear that many have makes it a very dangerous occupation. My father got robbed by teens, so for a while, he didn't pick up any--was he racist? The question remains: did he bypass Roker because the cab driver did not want to pickup a black man? Black cab drivers, just like white ones, often will not pick up people because they feel they will go to Brooklyn, and will be coming back to Manhattan empty. It is not a racist thing, it is just that they know their potential passengers better than you think they do. It is not racist, it is really a territorial decision. And Roker has changed his story many times already, so who knows who is telling the truth here. I don't yell anti-Semitism when a cab driver doesn't pick me up--was it a racial thing with the cab driver and Roker? And if you get into a non-medallion cab, whether a green one or a Uber, you are taking your life into your hands. They are pretty much unregulated, unsafe, and the driver has not been trained at all. Say what you want to about yellow cabs, but if you want a cab ride, that is the one to take.
ReplyDelete