Recently the Sun-Times reported a City Hall crackdown on cabdrivers who refuse to pick up customers in tough neighborhoods or who pass up African American customers. “Cab driving is a tough, dangerous profession–and there are a lot of wonderful drivers out there–but the rules are there for a reason,” said Caroline Shoenberger, commissioner of consumer services.
Harry: What people do not understand, when you see a cabbie in the street, it does not mean always he has to pick you up, because sometimes he wants to go to the bank, pick up his children, he’s coming to eat, he has to go to the washroom. What the hell am I supposed to do if I have to go washroom? Park my cab in the middle of nowhere and go walk there? No, you drive the cab there. Then someone writes your number down and says this cab did not stop.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Harry: Sometimes they take you somewhere, then block the street and rob you. They put another car in front of you so you cannot go through, on a very narrow street.
Andy: You have to examine–
Mark: Most of our problems on the street is with educated white businessmen. Because black people, they do not expect as much. They might complain about the money, they might complain about the light, but they don’t push you to a point where you don’t want to be. The businessmen, they’ll push. “Cabdriver,” they think, “his class is lower than a limousine driver.” So he pushes you. The guy who wants to pay $25 to go to O’Hare, he’s buying you, and he knows when he says to jump you say how high, because there’s 5,400 other cabs out there. Prejudice is something that’s injected into us. Our eyes see fat people and we don’t like them. I used to be very fat–
Mark: Men in general, we are all sexist. We are all sexist because of our parents, grandparents, where we come from. More men in this country beat their wives than in Iran.
