Confessions of a Racist Cab Driver

A few years back I worked in a restaurant. The majority of my shifts were night shifts and I did not have my own vehicle. This made me very dependant on taxicab transportation.

Many African American's like myself often complain of being unable to catch a cab. Personally I have problems catching cabs often. Most people would describe me as a clean and generally well put together and harmless looking young woman. Yet, I will always have a problem catching a cab unless I am dressed in a way that can be construed as sexy or unless I am dressed professionally in business attire. If I am dressed casually in jeans and a casual shirt and tennis shoes, I will almost always have a problem hailing a cab on the street. Most people walking down the street that see me having trouble are shocked and offended when they see assorted cab drivers speed past me and often say out loud to one another, "I can't believe that! Did you see that?!" But, this is a common experience for myself and many other African Americans. Often when I know that I'm going to be casual, I will try to call the cab to my house or go to a hotel and have them call one for me.

But, back when I was working at the restaurant and had to catch a cab late at night; I always had to hail one because I couldn't leave a phone number for them to call me when the cab was outside and they wouldn't accept cell phone numbers. Usually a coworker or manager would come outside and wait for a cab with me since it often took 10 - 20 minutes for one to stop.

Well one night a cab driver who was always working at night picked me up. The only reason that I recognized him is because he never picked me up. In fact, he often sped up his car and drove past me when he saw me. But, today he decided to stop. After we had ridden for awhile, I asked him why he never picked me up and explained that I often had to wait a long time for a cab on a busy street and felt it was just because I was black. He stated that from now on he would pick me up because he knew I was safe. But, when he told me his reasons for not picking me up, I was shocked. He told me an awful story that me feel sympathy understanding rather than anger.

He said, "One night when I first started working I picked up a young black woman and her child. They were going to a bad part of town; but she was a young mother out at 9pm. Once I got them to her house she said she had to run inside and get the money. She left her child in the car and went into the house. At that point a man came out of the house and approached the cab while she stood in the doorway. He yanked the child out of the car who ran in the house while the man proceeded to rob him at knife point of his night's earnings."

The cab driver told me that many cab drivers had stories like this one and often told one another to stay away from black people and certain parts of town for this reason. How can you be angry at a human being who has been put through such an awful experience when he was only trying to be a good citizen.

Unfortunately, I think the relationship between cab drivers and African Americans will always be strained just because some of our people are still putting them through these awful experiences. It's just unfortunate that when African American people commit crimes like this they don't realize that they are not only stealing from a hard working cab driver, but they are also stealing the dignity of their fellow African Americans that this cab driver will disrespect in his haste not to pick them up. They may also be stealing a much needed ride that a hard working young woman like myself at that time needed; or real young mother and her child in distress may one day need need to just go home.