I really like this picture a lot, but this story is not about a Jew and a Muslim walking into a bar.
It’s about a black man, a Romanian, a gay man, a bunch of Asians, and more, all heroes and heroines, all sharing a subway train yesterday morning.
Usually, I share DK posts on Facebook. Today, it’s the other way around. Here is a Facebook post from one Amaira Hasan, a fellow New Yorker. Now, I don’t know her, but yesterday, June 13th, at 8:50 in the morning, with this post that is now going viral around Facebook, she made my day.
Just now, on my way to work, a man got on my train yelling as he came onto an incredibly packed train for the "two terrorist foreigners to go back to where they came from." These two "terrorist foreigners" were two (understandably terrified) hijabi Muslim women. Before I could say anything, the entire train erupted in anger. A black man, a Romanian, a gay man, a bunch of Asians, and a score of others came to their defense demanding that this man leave these women alone and get off this train. The man insisted that the two women go back home and take their bombs with them.
After some back and forth, one man said, "This is New York City. The most diverse place in the world. And in New York, we protect our own and we don't give a fuck what anyone looks like or who they love, or any of those things. It's time for you to leave these women alone, Sir."
I couldn't have said it better. Sure enough, our train was stopped. This royal douche got off the train to the sound of cheering.
I say all this to say that in light of all the bad happening around us, remember that there's so much good and so much love.
I'm late to work, but it was for the best reason.
Ya know, there are all sorts of jokes about New Yorkers. One has a tourist going up to one of us, and asking, “Do you know what time it is, or should I just fuck myself?” We have a reputation to maintain, and we do it well. But we take care of people. Especially our own. And you, too, when we must…. ;-)
Amidst tragedy and strife, I’m feeling proud, right about now. I would have liked to have been there….