Financial analyst: Guys will say, ‘Oh, Asian women are so exotic,’ like we’re a commodity. I’m not a rug!
Wall Street
New York, New York
Financial analyst: Guys will say, ‘Oh, Asian women are so exotic,’ like we’re a commodity. I’m not a rug!
Wall Street
New York, New York
White executive to black employee wearing brown suit: You're extra brown today.
Marlborough, Massachusetts
White guy: I come from a town of only 400.
Black girl: Whoa! That’s weird. Your town was probably started by a brother and sister or something.
White guy: Actually, there’s not a single brotha or sista in my town.
Black girl: What?
White girl: Oh, God.
Black girl: What do you mean? Is everyone in your town an only child?
White guy: No, there aren’t any brothuhs or sistuhs. You know?
Black girl: I don’t get it.
White girl: That’s probably for the best.
One Park Place
Elmira, New York
Overheard by: Shannon
White girl: Jesus, I just got called a nigger!
Filipino girl: What? On your break?
White girl: Yeah! And by a black person. Homeless. Wouldn’t give her money. I’m about as cracker as you get… total whitey. I mean, I’m wearing Banana Republic.
1900 Broadway
Oakland, California
Coworker #1: He’s Cajun.
Coworker #2: Cajun?
Coworker #1: Yeah, he is from New Orleans.
Coworker #2: What color are they?
Latham, New York
Overheard by: Parker
Coworker, musing: I wonder what a black gay Mormon would sound like.
Government Office
Washington, DC
Video editor: I don’t think we can use any of this stuff with these yellow people at all… Stupid yellow people. [Shocked coworker stares.] No, no, no! The color of the footage is all out– Everyone looks yellow!
108th Street and Broadway
New York, New York
Overheard by: Tigertail
Mom: The neighbor found out you’re gay.
Daughter: What did she say?
Mom: She doesn’t care. Her son is gay and her daughter’s dating a black guy.
Daughter: What does her daughter dating a black have to do with it?
Mom: Well, I would rather my daughter was a lesbian than date a black guy.
8741 W Saginaw Highway
Lansing, Michigan
Overheard by: barista
White dude to black coworker: The cool thing about Obama is that he is able to transcend race. He’s the ultimate embodiment of American multiculturalism and pluralism. He’s white and black, and his race doesn’t matter, he’s got character, which was Martin Luther King’s dream, that people would be judged according to the content of their character, not the color of their skin.
White dude #2: Yeah, well, I just can’t wait until Obama gets into office and he invites MTV over to the White House to film an episode of Cribs and he’s got a stripper pole in the basement right by his poster of Scarface.
130th Street
Tacoma, Washington
Overheard by: Stan Green
