IN MY SHOES: Racism On The Railway?
John Edgar Wideman, a professor of Africana studies and literary arts at Brown, pondered why no one sits next to him during his twice-weekly three-hour commute between NYC Providence, RI on Amtrak’s high-speed Acela train, and comes to “an obvious, disquieting truth”:
The route passes through a region of the country populated by, statistics tell us, a significant segment of its most educated, affluent, sophisticated and enlightened citizens. …
Almost invariably, after I have hustled aboard early and occupied one half of a vacant double seat in the usually crowded quiet car, the empty place next to me will remain empty for the entire trip.
I’m a man of color, one of the few on the train and often the only one in the quiet car, and I’ve concluded that color explains a lot about my experience. Unless the car is nearly full, color will determine, even if it doesn’t exactly clarify, why 9 times out of 10 people will shun a free seat if it means sitting beside me.
Giving them and myself the benefit of the doubt, I can rule out excessive body odor or bad breath; a hateful, intimidating scowl; hip-hop clothing; or a hideous deformity as possible objections to my person. Considering also the cost of an Acela ticket, the fact that I display no visible indications of religious preference and, finally, the numerous external signs of middle-class membership I share with the majority of the passengers, color appears to be a sufficient reason for the behavior I have recorded. …
[I]n the year 2010, with an African-descended, brown president in the White House and a nation confidently asserting its passage into a postracial era, it strikes me as odd to ride beside a vacant seat, just about every time I embark on a three-hour journey each way, from home to work and back.
Editorial Note: There is one variable Wideman seems not to have considered: Whether the open seat next to him is a window or aisle seat. When The Stiletto scouts for a “good seat” on a commuter train or bus, she is exclusively looking for an aisle seat – regardless of the race or gender of the person sitting in the window seat. Three reasons why:
† The Stiletto is a fidgeter and having extra room to the side of her allows her to cross her legs or stretch them out with greater freedom than the more confining window seat;
† The Stiletto doesn’t want to keep relying on another passenger’s kindness and patience if she needs to visit the restroom more than once during the trip, because of the venti iced coffee she quaffed before boarding; and
† The Stiletto has noticed that when she sits in an aisle seat another passenger is less likely to take the empty window seat next to her – unless it’s just about the only seat left – because most people feel a twinge of guilt over asking someone who is already seated to get up so they can slide into the seat next to him. So chances are, The Stiletto will also enjoy the luxury of an empty seat next to her.
So if The Stiletto were to encounter Wideman on a half empty train and he was sitting in the aisle seat, she would not sit next to him if there were any open aisle seats. If he were sitting in the window seat and the seat beside him an aisle seat, she’d sit next to him – unless there was another open aisle seat closer to the restroom or closer to the exit (so she can get off the train and onto the taxi line faster) or facing in the direction in which the train is travelling (The Stiletto hates riding backwards).
The Stiletto’s point is that there are many, many factors people use to decide where to sit on a train or bus, and his race is not the determining factor Wideman fears it is. Hope he feels better now.
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