"Do you mind if we dance with your dates?"

I'm glad you only sound "slightly" racist. Otherwise I might have to shit in your hallway.

What that place needs is a infusion of clean, well-spoken, articulate black people. I'll call them up for them. They're unionized and such and are easily hireable for just such occasions.

Real JR, according to Joe Biden's calculations, that demographic you seek is currently indisposed in Washington DC.

You know I'm right, where there is progressive modern rock, there is sure to be entitled fucktards, and I wasn't proved wrong.

"slightly racist"?

they should have beat your ugly ass into the ground, fool.

Haven't been there since August, and the mix was 45% African-American, 45% Ancient-Italians, and 10% fagtard (my friends and me). All were having fun. Granted this was around six to eight on a Sunday.

Unrelatedly, my lady-friend said it was very easy to score coke there.

So if he hates all of these young men on the basis of class, instead of race, we wouldn't care, right?

Is that what's going on here?

PSA: If your name isn't Bruce Campbell, don't use the word "groovy."

That's one vote for Joe Biden.

I like how that dude says "where there's young black men, there's sure to be police activity." Thanks, buddy. Sort it out. You sound like Nick Saban.

i bet those thugs stole his little boy's baby stroller

it's a very groovy bar

Groovy? There is no groovy without The Blacks.

It is just "slightly" racist, but it's not hate speech per se. It's just acknowledging, through ugly but heartbreakingly true detail, that when you see a bunch of ghetto'ed up young black men enter a bar and start talking in a language that would make an English professor cry, the typical middle class person - black or white - immediately secures their wallet and becomes vigilant and uncomfortable.

Is it terrible? Of course. But it is not with a lack of precedent. It is pattern recognition. Blame that on whoever you want - uneducated youth criminals who terrorize neighborhoods, the white "man" holding them back, racist attitudes, the media, the gangsta rappers, whoever you want. The problem exists. And the more we excoriate people for having these thoughts, for not keeping these attitudes repressed and undiscussed... the longer that the racial divide will persist.

(Of course, the abuse of the poor in this country plays a significant role in this situation, too, as I'm admittedly just as uncomfortable around white ghetto thugs or Hispanic ghetto thugs. Perhaps people just don't like getting stabbed.)

You know, blanket praise of races for perceived "racial attributes" is actually as racist as blanket criticism.

i spent the afternoon/evening of 2003's blackout at this place...they were giving drinks away for free so nothing got warm/spoiled. they're OK by me.

I must lead a charmed life. I've managed to drink in bars with black patrons and not get stabbed.

Man, you should have seen the tricked-out toys'r'us fag kid strollers lined up out front...

so, is the Park Slope solution to send these undesirables back to Africa (preferrably on a rickety ship, in chains)?
thank god I live in such an enlightened time and country...

Thugs are thugs. Why did he even have to mention color? Otherwise I agree with alot of his points (I live there so I know).

Honestly, just admit defeat. Thugs need a place too. I'm glad that the stupid fucks have 200 bar and Royale, at least they could annoy each other.
Don't try to fight for 'your' bar because you know what? those thugs you speak of were all there before you so SHUT THE FUCK UP!

that hiptard should be petrified with shame because he's sounding like his white-golf-club-no-Jews-no-Blacks-playing Daddy.

I also love how "increased police activity" in places frequented by black people is somehow black people's fault.

That's like blaming the doughnu-- okay, we're too fond of some cops to makes this joke. Someone work up something involving Vans.

Horowitz? Is that you?

thanks for the penetrating insights on racism, bv.

pretty much a triumph of rationalizations, not to mention pointless, as usual.

Given that I'm friends with a fair number of the "ghetto thugs" that hang out at 200 Fifth, and I'm white and sometimes wear long sleeve t-shirts under short sleeve t-shirts and, also own Pumas, I guess I should watch my back.

I guess this means I can't go to Frank's in Ft. Greene anymore either.

Sigh....back to Freddy's and O'Connors to talk about nothing but The Shins and new Arcade Fire.

If it's true the "the typical middle class person - black or white - immediately secures their wallet and becomes vigilant and uncomfortable," then it would make sense that the typical response is anger. Imagine you want to go drinking with your friends and you have people look at you like you're about to rape their girlfriend and steal your wallet for no reason. You're spending the same money as them but you're being made not to feel welcome. How would you respond other than, "what the f*ck man?!)

I'll tell you a story, I grew up in the 'hood but went to a fancy private school based on my skills at standardized tests. Occasionally, friends from school (read: wealthy, well, white people) would pick me up to go out somewhere. One friend, a blond dude, would get f*cked with so much upon getting to my neighborhood, I'd wait outside for him. The other (a nerdier, shorter, also blond dude who wore Tori Amos t-shirts, like, every day) never had a single problem. Not once. And I asked him it it was cool. He didn't know what I was talking about. People have a tendency to give you what you're looking for. Well, that was embarrasingly long and earnest.

You'd be pissed if an entourage of fat people invaded your favorite lunchtime buffet. But instead of being fat, they're... (looks around carefully)... BLACK!!!!!!!!!!

I'm gonna get me a shotgun and kill all the whiteys I see/
I'm gonna get me a shotgun and kill all the whiteys I see/
And when I kill all the whiteys I see/
Then whitey, he won't bother me.

I'm beginning to think Gawker is behind these Daily Slope threads for a quick n' easy content fix:

1) Start thread with controversial subject matter.
2) Let "bake" for a couple of days.
3) "Report".
4) lulz

Anyhow, if you guys aren't currently doing this you can totally use my guide going forward.

Slightly racist. Extremely grammar-challenged.

Seamus-

Yes, after leaving a message in the voicemail box for the Union (yes, they do have classical music being played by Condi in the background of the greeting. How did you know?) you are right. ALL FIVE of the clean, articulate black people are currently in DC.

But I've scheduled an appearance at the Royale for next week Tuesday. Please provide the chicken... chicken sate that is. Not that "ghetto" fried kind.

He just wanted his gentrifying to stick, alright?

I bet this guy think this party's a riot!

Cookie, Animal House, right? I know they were at a club listening to Otis Day & the Knights, and I remember Otter shouting "Hey Otis" and Otis looking at him like "WTF white boy", but whose dates did the gentlemen of color want to dance with? Otter's and Pinto's...?

I wish it was 1979 again.

Brian Van:

I agree with a lot of what you said. The problem is that the original writer seems to think that every young black man, solely by virtue of being young and black, is a "ghetto thug." I doubt s/he even notices their apparent income level or attitude. They're black: End of story.

I'm just glad we got noted Blociologist Seerauber Jenny to comment on this issue.

monica:

As usual, your snideness eclipses your comprehensibility.

Seeräuber Jenny

I love it. These people come to my city so they can live their New York fantasy, yet they don't seem to actually like the things that make New York, New York. Why did this guy come here? Don't they have crappy bars that play white-people music where he's from?

Awwww, sheeeeit--you just got umlauted!

Sarcasto,
I believe the line is:

"I'm gonna get me a big shot gun and shoot all the whiteys I see."

The bigger the shotgun, the more whiteys one can shoot, given the spray pattern of the weapon. It's a critical distinction, both in meter and ballistics.

Damn. The umlaut is like a visual representation of the double finger snap.

Charmer,

I stand behind the lyrics posted above.

Sincerely,
Garrett Morris

Seerauber Jenny: Perhaps not. I see the way that he stated his point, and he's more clumsy than racist.

The thing is, if a dude walked into the bar, and he was black but he dressed like Urkel, then this guy would not likely feel uncomfortable around him. Sure, he might feel uncomfortable FOR him for looking like Urkel, with his underwear pulled up to his nipples and what not, but not threatened.

I think the mistake here, and one that people make too often, is that he made a point by resorting to racial stereotypes. The young black street kid is instantly thought of as dangerous and psychopathic, carrying weapons and victimizing white people. I think it's bad form to invoke that when referring to a social problem, because skin color or genetics has nothing to do with it. Regardless of what percentage of black youth are a bunch of nasty grimy little assholes, you can't make a reasonable point by going there. There are many well-behaved kids of all colors. It's unfair to make a negative generalization like that, and it's not a good descriptor of the underlying problem.

Also, I have friends who are black kids, etc.

"And then a bunch of drunk Injuns walked in and killed us all for being on their property! How was I supposed to know that Commonwealth was built on a sacred burial site?!"

The only time I was ever mugged was by a bespeckled bi-racial man in a gorgeous leather coat and his Asian co-hort in a Roots letterman jacket. Frankly, as I don't know what to believe anymore I have just decided to hate everybody equally.

This post and the thread following it kind of makes me miss Eric Schaeffer.

I love you, cookie.

Where's that Asian chick who always posts wet blanket stastics-laden comments on Racism when you need her? Surely, she's got something to say on this and its effects on Society, and what about the Children?? etc.

As a young black urban professional (BUPpy, if you will), I must say that I go to a lot of clubs/bars where "my type" are. As I go to establishments frequented by mostly black people when I am outside of work, I have yet to go and not see other black educated people, many of them who went to the same ivy league school I did. Yes, some of these educated, working black professionals may choose "urban wear" in there off time, however, unless you are in the Bronx or deep inside Bed Stuy at establishments you wouldn't recognize as bars (i.e. BYOB), you are not around thugs. You are around privileged young black people who like to act "black" around each other, so chill the fuck out.

BTW, between this and Joe Biden, my college-era hatred for the white middle class is slowly creeping up again.

What do these (black) people want? I mean, we went through all the trouble of outpricing them out of their neighborhood, yet they still manage to hang around at my bar?

ae38: There are some among us who can't tell the difference between casual wear and ghetto fabulous. Those misinformed individuals are not all of US, either.

Plus, there are other contextual factors too, such as display of manners, apparent level of education, and most importantly, Glock in the waistband. (okay, that's probably a place where we don't need a wisecrack, but you get the point) Simply acting rude wouldn't be enough; simply wearing FUBU wouldn't be enough; having a gold chain wouldn't be enough.

(I'm Italian-American, so I know all about cultural stereotypes being applied, just not so cruelly. Fuggedaboudit.)

I don't think a reasonable, informed person would be scared of someone merely because they're wearing a designer label from a certain section of Macy's. There's a lot more that would need to be present to cause alarm. If so, I would be public enemy #1, because I have a couple of Ecko shirts.