People don't seem to have read my original post closely, and have also assumed rude behavior on my part. Where do I say in my post that I am rude or don't say 'Excuse me'? In fact, I always say 'Excuse me' and also try to avoid bumping into people. But as I said, jostling is a fact of life when you live in a crowded city like New York. People seemed to miss the most important part of my question: Why is it only blacks who get upset? Is it because I'm white? Maybe I should watch and see if blacks also yell at other blacks who bump into them, even when they say 'Excuse me.' That would make it clear if it was a racial thing or not.
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Name : Mark, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 49, City : New York, State : NY Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, Jill, yours is the voice of reason. Reading all the responses sounded like kids fighting. Racist kids at that! I am so ashamed of my fellow countrymen! You can tell that there is still a lot of hating one another from both sides. Black folks are angry and white folks feel that blacks are too sensitive. It is intersting that not one white person (except for yourself) mentioned the simple act of saying 'sorry' or 'excuse me'. I am an ex-pat living in Australia and seeing America from this end of the globe makes me want to give up my citizenship.
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Name : Rachel28801, Gender : F, City : Sydney, State : NA Country : Australia, I can agree with you completely on this one. I am an African-American woman and once was at a party and bumped into another African-American girl and almost had to fight her. I see this predominantly in women. It usually doesn't take much to rub a black woman the wrong way, anyway. I wish I knew why this is the case, but believe me, a lot of us are not like that.
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Name : R. Jackson, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Age : 28, City : Lubbock, State : TX Country : United States, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, It's just a matter of personal respect. Blacks have to deal with people disrespecting us on a daily basis due to racism (that a lot of whites don't want to admit still exists). As a result, we feel that the least you can do is mumble a 'sorry' or 'excuse me'. I guess whites weren't raised to respect people in that way.
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Name : Denise, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Age : 24, City : Chicago, State : IL Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, Notice the original poster never said that he said 'excuse me'. Polite people say 'excuse me' when they bump into others. Most people know this and expect it. On the rare occasions that someone bumps into me and doesn't say 'excuse me', I get annoyed too. I don't shout, but I usually mutter 'excuse YOU' under my breath. Frankly, I'M curious as to why (from your report, at least), only black New Yorkers seem to expect others to have good manners.
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Name : Lynne, City : Gainesville, State : FL Country : United States, watch where you are going. it really is not your world. say excuse me..damn. don't be rude.
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Name : Tyrone28896, Gender : M, City : Washington, State : DC Country : United States, The subway is a hotbed of rude white people? EVERYONE is rude it seems in the subway, not just whites. Last time I was on the subway, and this happens all the time, a group of black teenage/early 20s women were laughing, screeching, telling disgusting stories in the loudest voice possible. I just want to tell them to shut up, keep it down, I don't want to hear about you going down on your best friend's boyfriend.
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Name : Brittany28936, Gender : F, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Age : 21, City : New York, State : NY Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, When you bump into someone, the proper thing to do is to say excuse me, regardless of race. Because there has been so much racial tension in the past, and it has yet to go away, many African Americans may feel you did not say excuse me for just that reason: because you lack respect for them. It is nothing personal. Just understand that with the history of America and current situations, people are still touchy when it comes to people of other races being impolite.
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Name : T. Arroyo, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Baptist, Age : 23, City : Kansas City, State : MO Country : United States, Occupation : Managment, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, Ann, you said 'a disproportionately large number of blacks, especially well-off blacks in big cities like New York and Chicago, view themselves as 'victims of racism' and all whites and Asians as 'racist oppressors,' so every accidental bump or jostle is instantly elevated from 'whoops' to 'racist assault,' and is reacted to accordingly.' While I do not view myself as a 'victim of racism,' I DO view white people as self-centered, self-absorbed, intrusive, rude and oblivious to the personal space of others. Example: some of you just HAVE to read your newspaper, regardless of how crowded the subway is. Many times I've had to ask white folks to get their filthy newspapers out of my face, off my clothing and off my hair. Drinking piping-hot coffee on a moving vehicle is not only stupid, but dangerous. Some of you can't seem to tell when you're standing on someone's feet. Yawning with your mouths open, resting your magazines on people on a crowded train, and my goodness the hair tossing thing. It's not only rude but unsanitary. So it's not a racism thing, it's a rude thing. Get it?
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Name : Rhonda-P-Outlaw28802, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Lutheran, Age : 43, City : Laurelton, State : NY Country : United States, Occupation : Account Rep, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, Another twist to your observation is that black school kids (in our local high school at least) intentionally walk slowly, in a group, across the entire hallway width in between classes, causing others to have to push through them, or be late to class. Many non-black kids are afraid to try to pass them and just remain behind them. All three of my children noticed this behavior, and I try to raise them fair-minded with regard to race matters.
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Name : Jamie-A, City : Middletown, State : DE Country : United States, I notice frequently that many black people--regardless of age--walk right into my path when there's plenty of space left on the sidewalk. I don't quite get what their intentions are but I guess they're 'challenging' me or something... Any ideas on this? This happens to me several times every day, and it's quite stressful.
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Name : Ted, Gender : M, Race : Asian, Age : 21, City : New York, State : NY Country : United States, Mark, why are you still beating the same old dead, smelling, rotting horse, after all these months? (insert rolling eyes here). I think I gave you the BEST answer here...I told you I've lived in NY all my life, and I DO NOT bump into people...I know how to manuever in crowds, I watch where I'm going, and most of all I am respectful of the personal space of my fellow New Yorkers, regardless of ethnicity. Unless you suffer from some sort of neurological disorder, there is no reason to bump into people. Simply watch where you are going. OK, can we please bury the poor horsey now? He's really stinking up the place.
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Name : Rhonda-P-Outlaw28877, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Lutheran, Age : 44, City : Laurelton, State : NY Country : United States, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, I am black and I can tell you that not all black people behave that way. I try not to disrespect others and can only pray that in return others will not disrespect me. If this keeps happening to you then maybe you need to ask yourself why. Maybe you are letting all people disrespect you, but you are only noticing it when the people happen to be black. Sometimes people can sense when someone is a pushover (so to speak) and they take advantage of it.
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Name : krazyredd, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, City : Gainesville, State : FL Country : United States, Occupation : personal tutor, Education level : 2 Years of College, Because of social conditioning, many whites expect black people to move out of the way when they're passing. To clear the path. Many black people are aware of this mentality and feel disrespected when bumped. As if the person feels the black person is not worthy of an apology or 'excuse me'. Many whites feel protected in heavily populated areas like NYC. However, in a less populated white environment, there would be a lot less bumping. Not as much bumping happens uptown on 125th St or MLK Blvd.
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Name : Butch, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 37, City : New York, State : NY Country : United States, Occupation : Regional Manager, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, I hear your stress. I go to school in Philly, where I learned about this whole dominance struggle on the sidewalk. I cant help it, I act like a dumbass and I mentally challenge every single guy I walk by. I stare them in the eye, taking huge amounts of personal satisfaction when I 'break someone'. Get them to break a stare, ignore eye contact, etc. I cant explain it, but it happens everyday unless I am preoccupied. If I am walking by some huge dude, Ill stare them down too, knowing they will win. Most of the time, you can almost see an admission of respect by the huge guy for you taking the challenge. Maybe this is all in my head, I dont know, but I know several other people who do the same thing. Ive been broke before, by white guys and black dudes, and Ive broken my fair share. I just wanted to personally attest to the fact that there is at least one white dude doing the exact same thing. Solution? The shoulder lean. When you see an equal, give a shouler, most of the time they will too. This is all sounds so dumb, but it happens everyday to me at least.
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Name : Thom, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Lutheran, Age : 21, City : Philadelphia, State : PA Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 
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