offbalance (
offbalance) wrote2010-11-14 04:37 pm
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I'm tired of the excuses everybody uses
Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm not generally the type who enjoys starting trouble. But I will open my mouth if I feel it necessary. Today was one of those times.
I was walking home from a lovely brunch excursion with
airspaniel when I noticed a couple hugging against a car at the corner of my street. Usually I ignore that kind of thing, but I heard the girl pleading and crying for him to stop and let her go. I looked, and her face was wet with tears. She was punching him, begging him to let her go, and he kept trying to kiss her. She kept punching and crying. At one point, he grabbed her up and was swinging her around like a sack of laundry, while she screamed and pleaded for him to let go and stop.
And I couldn't keep walking. I stopped, turned, and asked her if she was all right. If she needed me to call someone. Loudly, too.
At just that moment, a completely different guy walking buy started yelling at me that "This is the hood. Mind your business!" Several times. Like he was more upset that I dared to intervene on the girl's behalf than the fact that this guy was possibly hurting this girl. If that wasn't disgusting enough, the guy who had been torturing the poor girl on the corner started calling me a fucking bitch, and also that I should mind my business. I decided I had no other choice but to beat a hasty retreat, as I don't have Buffy's strength or Veronica Mars' taser. What I wanted to say was that I'd been living in Brooklyn longer than any of these teenagers had been alive and a girl in trouble is , in fact, my business, but I didn't. I didn't believe for one second my point would get across.
I was disgusted all the way back to my apartment. I don't regret speaking up for one second, and I only wish I could do more. How am I supposed to ignore something like that? Why should I turn a blind eye? How is that the way to do things? There were two older women down the block who'd been watching this girl and continued just standing there, watching. I don't understand how "staying out of it" is ever okay. I'm not suggesting some kind of police state where everyone informs on their neighbors for every wrong, but what I am suggesting is the type of world where pain does not go without notice, and problems are not ignored. I do everything I can to not turn a blind eye, without causing myself injury, of course. But I thoroughly reject a culture of "not your business" or "not your problem." It's why I regular write letters to all levels of the government for issues I deem important, and I'm not going to ignore a problem I see right before me. Sorry, asshole, but this is my neighborhood too, and this is absolutely my business.
I was walking home from a lovely brunch excursion with
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And I couldn't keep walking. I stopped, turned, and asked her if she was all right. If she needed me to call someone. Loudly, too.
At just that moment, a completely different guy walking buy started yelling at me that "This is the hood. Mind your business!" Several times. Like he was more upset that I dared to intervene on the girl's behalf than the fact that this guy was possibly hurting this girl. If that wasn't disgusting enough, the guy who had been torturing the poor girl on the corner started calling me a fucking bitch, and also that I should mind my business. I decided I had no other choice but to beat a hasty retreat, as I don't have Buffy's strength or Veronica Mars' taser. What I wanted to say was that I'd been living in Brooklyn longer than any of these teenagers had been alive and a girl in trouble is , in fact, my business, but I didn't. I didn't believe for one second my point would get across.
I was disgusted all the way back to my apartment. I don't regret speaking up for one second, and I only wish I could do more. How am I supposed to ignore something like that? Why should I turn a blind eye? How is that the way to do things? There were two older women down the block who'd been watching this girl and continued just standing there, watching. I don't understand how "staying out of it" is ever okay. I'm not suggesting some kind of police state where everyone informs on their neighbors for every wrong, but what I am suggesting is the type of world where pain does not go without notice, and problems are not ignored. I do everything I can to not turn a blind eye, without causing myself injury, of course. But I thoroughly reject a culture of "not your business" or "not your problem." It's why I regular write letters to all levels of the government for issues I deem important, and I'm not going to ignore a problem I see right before me. Sorry, asshole, but this is my neighborhood too, and this is absolutely my business.
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You did the right thing and those boys, ugh. I'm glad you at least attempted to stand up for her.
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And thanks. Your question just now made me doubt myself a little, honestly. Like I could have done more. But I guess I couldn't force my help on anyone. I just couldn't completely ignore things.
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You did what most of us (I know, I'm generalizing here) probably wouldn't have had the guts to do. And you never know, maybe that gave her the confidence to run away after you'd gone.
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I wish more people spoke up.
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Me too.
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I'm glad you got out of there without any trouble, and I pray that girl is okay.
*hugs*
Thank you for at least interjecting. It may have given her enough time and leeway to get away.
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I hope she's okay, too. That was some bullshit.
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Oh, dear god, you're gonna get me started.
HOOD
BITCH PLEASE. You lived in Brooklyn LONG before it came the fucking disneyland full of hipsters and trust fund kids that it is now. You remember when Brooklyn was truly dangerous. Do we NEED relive Kitty Genovese(yeah yeah I know it was Queens, but the principle still applies)? Oh HELL no.
These little kids wanna talk about HOOD, they need to talk to people who grew up before NYC became a sugar frosted fucking wonderland.
Jebus on fucking toast points.
Of course you did the right thing.
Re: Oh, dear god, you're gonna get me started.
Exactly. I grew up about a mile from where I was standing. I know full well how hard the residents of my neighborhood (the real ones, not the trust fundies) to get the neighborhood back from how it was in the bad old days. And I'm just supposed to ignore this? Like I don't know what's going on? I know bad news when I see it. Neighbors should look out for one another - not ignore wrongdoing.
UGH. I could rant for days, but I think you know exactly what I'm getting at.
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