Help! Need Your Advice

A storm was moving in. I could smell rain in the air. Lightening splashed across the sky to the west of the city. I love the city when it storms, and since it was such warm January night, I thought I'd walk down to the lakefront. There are few things as dramatic as storm breaking over the tall buildings of Chicago's Loop. The storm added a certain excitement and urgency to the already bustling rush hour. The air was electric. It had begun to drizzle.

A couple of blocks from the lake, at Clark street my attention was drawn to a young African American mother and two small boys, who couldn't have been more than 8 or 9. they were loaded down with groceries and school bags. they couldn't get a cab to stop to save their lives, which seemed odd, since all the passing taxi's were empty of passengers.

Now there is a law in the city that says cabbies can't disseminate, but they are allowed to use discretion when their safety is concerned. It leaves ample room for racism. So I decided to try something. I'm a clean cut looking white guy. So I waited for another taxi to pass the family without stopping. With that I threw up my hand and sure enough the cab pulled over.

Here's my problem. That sort of racism isn't the kind of thing that could be proved in a court of law. There's no hard evidence, it's just one of those quality of the air, wink and a nod sort of things. Its like trying to prove beauty, an impression or a feeling. It can't be touched or felt, but it lives in the air between souls, and as alive as any one of us. It's this racism, like a quality of the night that causes one to pause, that adds a certain chill to the blood for no apparent reason, but it is real to the person who experiences it. It comes from somewhere, and it goes someplace else. More than that it is as real as a hateful word, a strike or a lynching

Certainly blacks are not the only victims, nor Arab taxi drivers or white people the only perpetrators. It is a human condition, a human disease, and I'm damned if I know what to do about it?