Thursday, November 5, 2009

fifty year anniversary. rosa parks and suzie wong rumble in the jungle

Riding public transit in SF is a generally depressing look into the human condition. A daily bus commute to work often leaves me angry and faithless. Riding the SF Muni bus can be a test in human kindness and normalcy from both passengers and drivers. Much like when we get into our cars, polite, upstanding individuals become monsters or maniacs, waving around the f bomb with hand gestures and the helpful horn. In a car, we have the protective barrier of four walls of metal and a soundproof windshield. Often we have music like rap or death metal transporting us to an alternate universe. When we drive, we are not ourselves, but we are Tupac, or Zach De la Rocha, or Henry Rollins. We hate the POlice, get our AKs, and don't hesitate to deliver our fellow commuters a big blaring f you. I have often used the line, 'Officer, it wasn't me, it was Biggie,' to get out of a snare.

One might think that the face to face human contact of a bus commute, the 'public' in public transit, would make us more fond of, or at least appear more dignified toward our fellow citizens, those with whom we share our precarious fate, hoping that we get from point a to point b safely, without a hitch, without a bomb or an accident. On a bus commute, we are not only face to face, we are often touching our neighbors. However, in this day and age, we come to realize that people do not want to be touched. Truth be told, most people would rather not be on that bus, next to their less worthy human beings. If we had our choice, we would be riding to work, the store, or to our next drug deal in the back of a Town Car. We deign to ride the bus because we cannot afford better, so we must tolerate the presence of the other imbeciles around us. Some tolerate more quietly than others.

In the vain of Citizen Journalism, which I recently wrote about, here is another example of home video reporting, Youtube newscasting. Citizen Journalism is a wonderful phenomenon where everyone with an Iphone can be a reporter, it is much like a citizen's arrest, except instead of arresting an offender, or being a 'Good Samaritan,' the citizen merely stands by and films the offending act while providing useful commentary.




Unfortunately, this video was filmed after the fight had already started, leaving the viewer guessing as to its origins. At least we can tell that it is NOT STAGED, unless the filmer is a young Kurusawa, forcing us to wonder and replay in Roshomon style awe. A friend who speaks Cantonese told me that the Chinese passenger was trying to sit next to the African American passenger who was not about to let that happen. We can only assume that she was saving the seat next to her for Rosa Parks.


If you are not from SF, you must be informed that a seat on the Muni can be a highly coveted enterprise. Commuters often clamor to the back pushing and screaming as if Robert Plant tickets were on the line. While front seats are officially reserved for Rosa and other senior citizens, I have witnessed their occupancy by chickens, purses, shopping bags, newspapers, knitting, and even an arm draped around what must've been an, 'invisible' rider, while the elderly and pregnant get jostled around clumsily, and often quietly, likely hoping to avoid a throwdown of this magnitude. Americans like to take up space, with their vehicles, fat, belongings, and the occasional outstretched limb in the absence of better territory markers. You never know what can happen on Muni. It is a miracle that more fights do not occur, given the ratio of seats to imbeciles. We owe this to the restraint and foresight of one of the parties who could be potentially involved. When there are not one, but two imbeciles in a Muni land grab, the previous scenario can ensue.

Further second hand translation by my rogue interpreter told me that the Chinese passenger, in her heartfelt pleas to the sympathies of the other passengers, claims that she was originally [trying to be nice] to the other woman, who denied her a seat. While one lady has the power of a language barrier on her side, for we can only presume that she is making an eloquent, lucid argument in her native language, a weary appeal to the masses, much like 'I have a dream...'

Note, full text of comic here.

the other passenger is speaking some dialect of English, which makes us less empathetic, because we can understand her.


Let's break down what we do understand.


Characters.
Chinese passenger, aka Suzie.
African American passenger, aka Rosa.
Citizen Journalist, Edward R. Murrow in the making.
Young woman.

Scene.
SF Muni bus.

Suzie: Fuck you!
You stupid.
Fuck you.

Rosa:
Put yo' hands...[sic]
[Waves hands in the air like she just don't care].

Suzie:
[Turns to other passengers]
[Spoken in Cantonese]:

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity....

...

....

[Switches to English]:

Fuck you!

You are stupid!

[Switches to Cantonese]:

....We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

Rosa:
[Assumes fighting stance]
Various Uninterpretable Obscenities.

{Directors Notes:
It is a good thing this video is annotated with commentary by Citizen Journalist, who may score a Pulitzer for his poignant remarks.

To wit,
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny.

Here Citizen Journalist quotes MLK almost verbatim.
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Citizen Journalist: I'm getting the feeling it's about to go down.

Clearly, the white Citizen Journalist, rather than joining the March on Washington and acknowledging this intertwined destiny, is 'so not getting involved' His only reaction is to hide his phone from view, much like on the streets of Peshawar. We can only assume that he is fearful of political imprisonment.
}

Back to our story.

[Blows are exchanged]

[Fight is broken up by young woman]

Young woman:
Stop it!
Somebody grab her!
Get her back!
Fuckin' stop it!
You're immature!

[In the land of the Blind the One Eyed man is king]

[Rosa, admitting defeat, exits center stage]

Suzie resumes 'I have a dream' speech in Cantonese.
We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities....We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day....little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.


In the words of Langston Hughes.

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

---

Who is to blame here, Rosa, Suzie, Citizen Journalist, innocent bystanders? A culture of racism, entitlement, blase overindulgence and indifference. Desensitization to external stimuli, and apathy toward the plight of mankind? Who cares?

Citizen Journalist: Just another day on Muni. Fuckin Muni.

I have a dream today. ~MLK

Today was a good day, I didn't have to use my AK. ~Cube