Home > Gwinnett > Rick Badie / My Opinion > Archives > 2006 > March > 30 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USPair don’t rise to cab ‘driver’s’ race bait
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
They asked the taxicab driver to take them to a restaurant that came highly recommended.
Cheryl Sadoti and Paige Hilliard Powers of Gwinnett settled into the back seat. Suddenly, the white cab driver launched into a tirade about Arabs. He said he despised them and wished they’d go back to where they’d come from.
Sadoti and Powers, in Savannah for a meeting of the Georgia Association of Realtors, didn’t bite.
“I have Arabs that are agents in my office, and they are wonderful people,” said Powers of Snellville. “So you just can’t say all Arabs are bad.”
Sadoti chimed in.
“I am married to a Sicilian,” the Suwanee woman said, “and if everybody was sent back, I wouldn’t have my three precious children.”
Strange cab driver. Stranger conversation.
All caught on hidden cameras and microphones. In truth, the driver was an actor hired by ABC News. The network was doing a segment to see how fares in New Jersey and Savannah would react when confronted with racist slurs.
John Quinones, an anchorman for ABC’s “Primetime,” had been in a panel truck trailing the taxi that February night in Savannah. When the cab stopped, he told the befuddled women what was up.
My guess is the producers chose a Southern city in hopes of capturing blatant racism. What they taped in Savannah was no more profound than what transpired in Jersey.
Down South, though, they did strike gold with a white male who fit the role of a “Deliverance” extra.
“Well, I like to go target hunting, you know — Mexicans, Puerto Ricans,” he told the white cabbie.
In the four days of the taxicab test, “Primetime” picked up 49 passengers. Only seven challenged the drivers’ racist diatribes, according to a story posted on the ABC News’ Web site.
Two of them were Powers and Sadoti.
“I just expressed what my mommy and daddy taught me,” said Sadoti, a North Carolinian who oversees the Duluth office of Keller Williams Realty Atlanta Partners. “We are a country of opportunity. Some people take advantage of it and run with it. Others don’t, no matter what the color of their skin or heritage.”
Powers, an Atlanta native, manages Keller Williams’ North Gwinnett office. Colleagues of Arab descent tearfully thanked her after the segment aired. A black male real estate agent told her she’d made him proud.
“I said what was in my heart,” Powers told me. “I am who I am.”
The segment that featured them — “Dealing with Racist Cabbies” — aired last Thursday. You can watch a Web cast of it online at ABCNews.go.com/Primetime. I missed it when it came on TV. Gwinnett County Sheriff Butch Conway didn’t. He was so touched by the women’s response that he called to tell me about it. See, Southerners get sick and tired of seeing their home branded racist. Sure, you can find it here. We don’t hold the patent on it, yet the stereotype, sometimes self-inflicted, festers.
So we react with pride when, in racist situations, people respond like Powers and Sadoti. Cameras or no cameras. They spoke from the heart.
The morning after the segment ran, Conway sent Powers, a friend, some flowers. He also called her and left a message to say he was bursting with pride.
That makes two of us.
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Larry
March 30, 2006 07:48 AM | Link to this
The most interesting comment I’ve heard is from my brother who lives in Rochester, NY. He said that people just “act differently” there (Atlanta). Hmmmm…maybe we’re a little further along than we think. I’m proud to call Atlanta home.
By Jesse's Girl
March 30, 2006 08:32 AM | Link to this
Cudos to these wonderful Southerners! They spoke a truth that belongs to each and every one of us….no one is all of anything. We all owe our heritage to dozens of cultural influences. I am so proud to call Georgia my home.
By Bruce Wilcox
March 30, 2006 08:58 AM | Link to this
They picked the wrong city, Savannah is one of the most laid back cities in the South. If they interviewed a number of state legislators with the recent ‘racist’ illegal immigrants bill they get a feeling for the true South.
By Deborah Lee
March 30, 2006 09:17 AM | Link to this
After losing my health insurance and now paying $200.00 a month for insurance that only kicks in after I pay a $5,000 deductible and then only 80% after that for emergency services ONLY I have become a racist after I heard that illegals can get the same service for FREE.
By James Bryden
March 30, 2006 09:18 AM | Link to this
I hope that racism and religion go the way of the dinosaurs (instant extinction)
By Nikole
March 30, 2006 10:30 AM | Link to this
I saw the piece and was also very proud of these women. And Deborah is misinformed. Don’t take rumors and run with them. Educate yourself, get informed about the true costs of illegal immigration. And focus your efforts on health care reform, because even if all illegal immigrants left this country, my sister still wouldn’t be able to afford health insurance.
By Jim
March 30, 2006 10:50 AM | Link to this
Racism will never go away as long as people like Cynthia McKinney continues to use her race and the race card to benefit their own peronal agenda. Look at the fiasco she caused in DC, had it been the other way around Oprah would be doing a show tomorrow and Jesse Jackson would be on his way to plan a march. Certian ethnic groups are too accustomed to entitlement to ever get use to being treated equal. With this said, the tossing of the race card is yawn tired and old and…not getting much attention nowadays. It’s being greeted more and more with…” Ah, so that’s all you have..”
By Nikole
March 30, 2006 10:56 AM | Link to this
Jim- Racism won’t go away if people like you keep bringing up “playing the race card” when that hasn’t even been done. Read the article, McKinney did not play a race card in her statement.
By Jennifer
March 30, 2006 11:14 AM | Link to this
I am very proud of the two ladies and I am extremely happy they did not take the bait. It helps me realize there are still good, decent people in the world.
However, I think had they chosen Lawrenceville, Snellville, Cobb (yeah, the East Cobbers for sure) they would have come away with different results. I am proud to live in Atlanta, and yes I do really live in Atlanta. I don’t live 25+ miles away and claim to live here. Atlanta is much more tolerant and being non-white means nothing here. And as far as the ‘race card’ goes: It won’t go away as long as you keep bringing it up when the situation arises.
By Tommy
March 30, 2006 11:33 AM | Link to this
Jennifer- Is that you from “Let’s Take Our Kid’s Liquor Shopping”??
By Jesse's Girl
March 30, 2006 11:43 AM | Link to this
I agree with the opinions regarding the “race” card. It is, sadly, dealt entirely too much. That being said, I can also see the opposite point. There is a huge double standard. I admittedly do not know the race or creed of the person who tried to stop Ms. McKinney. But all too often this scene is unequally played out in the public eye. Take for instance the case of the DJ who was fired for his slip of the tongue comment regarding Ms. Rice. Had the remark been made by a black person pointed at a white person…the outcome would very likely have been completely different. Political correctness seems to be a one sided issue. With white people being expected to police everything they say, write or sing. But this is not the case with most black people in the spot light. I find this more sad than anything else. If you have a nasty slip of the tongue…regardless of your race, creed or nationality…the consequences should be the same.
By Jim
March 30, 2006 12:37 PM | Link to this
Nicloe, it’s not over with yet,she is looking for a way to do so, to play it. She is infamous for it, pick someone else to defend, not her.
By James McCoy
March 30, 2006 12:52 PM | Link to this
Remember ABC was looking for certain results and they had time to edit and decide what the end results would be. With that said here is the real deal as I see it. Bubba is alive and well no matter what city or state you live in. Racism and hate is alive and well no matter where you live. When I interact with someone I try to treat them with the upmost respect,no matter what background you are. When you open your mouth and show me your hand,then I adjust the way I deal with you or not. It would be nice if the world was perfect and we could all get along as fellow humans beings. But that’s not going to happen anytime soon as long as there are people in our society who reap benifits from hate. I could justify in my own mind as a black man why I should hate every white person that’s on this planet. I do know for a fact that there are beautiful white folks and beautiful black folks I interact with everyday. Problem is we don’t do enough interacting to know and understand each other. Most people now days get their impressions of each other from the 6pm news.
By Larry
March 30, 2006 02:32 PM | Link to this
No, McKinney didn’t have anyrhing to do with THIS story, but the issues are similar. I’m a little less proud of Atlanta, now. Seriously, can you see Denise Majette acting the same?
By Bruce Wilcox
March 30, 2006 02:41 PM | Link to this
McKinney won 64% of the vote in her district, unless you live there it really shouldn’t be of much concern to you.
By James McCoy
March 30, 2006 03:06 PM | Link to this
Since this conversation has turn to Mckinney,let me add my two cents,no one and I mean no one has the right to put their hands on another person unless they are defending themselves from an attack. I don’t think this was the case of Ms.Mckinney,she was as wrong as a three dollar bill. But I do detect some Mckinney hating going on here. She does think outside of the box and that seems to grate a lot of people here. But I’m glad she’s where she’s at because you won’t run any okey dokey by her.
By Jan Houston
March 30, 2006 05:56 PM | Link to this
to Jennifer, One of the ladies LIVES in Snellville and I don’t believe the other one was from Atlanta, so what’s your point, again???
By Regularjoe
March 30, 2006 07:52 PM | Link to this
Rick,
I noticed some other AJC blogs have a 300 word limit. These people are fine, perhaps in the future you could use that rule to keep people from writing a book.
By Paul Gaither
March 30, 2006 09:48 PM | Link to this
Freedom of speech guarantees me the right to say whatever I want—short of yelling fire in a crowded theatre. If I want to espouse hatred of blacks, jews, homosexuals, mexicans, old people, dalmation dogs or Krystal hamburgers then that is my right.
If you don’t like what I am saying, punch me, debate me, hate me, try to whip my a*, ignore me, or tell me to shutup. For sure, don’t try to make friends with me. There are no laws preventing me from expressing my opinion.
Anyone care to debate? No name calling please. And please don’t use the “r” word.
The ABC deal was entrapment—just like a john picking up police “hooker”.
PG
By Wiley Sims
March 30, 2006 09:58 PM | Link to this
Rick—-please don’t waste your newspaper’s space with crap like this.
Do you have any original thoughts that aren’t tainted by hatred of whitey?
Stick with the abandoned shopping center drum and shilling for the school system. You are no Jesse or Al—leave the race issues to them. You are rapidly becoming a one man racism band.
Do you really see a klansman on every corner?
Wiley
By MC
March 30, 2006 10:25 PM | Link to this
How nice. Rick puts this up at 6:21 AM, and it takes but four hours and twenty-nine minutes for the term “race card” to enter the comment section. Is it just me, or is there some kind of persecution complex that’s starting to creep through affluent white suburbs? Why can’t people just accept that blatant racism is a reality even now in America, and stop whining about being picked on?
By Jan Houston
March 31, 2006 06:56 AM | Link to this
I agree with Regularjoe, I skip the long blogs. They are usually self-proclaimed-know-it-alls, that run on…………..
as for CynMc, she is just a horrible horrible person, regardless of her skin tone and now she is freaky looking on top of it all!!!!!!
By Paul
March 31, 2006 07:13 AM | Link to this
Hey Wiley - the race card has two sides, and your hand is showing!
By Wiley Sims
March 31, 2006 07:56 AM | Link to this
Hey Paul—-please explain.
By M.E.
March 31, 2006 01:24 PM | Link to this
Ho hum Rick, all the authoritarian “Blog Nannies” are becoming a “real bore”.
By Paul
March 31, 2006 07:45 PM | Link to this
Wiley:
Regarding my comment above, imagine if you will a poker game, wherein you are concentrating intently upon the cards that you have drawn while others in the game are seeing only the backs of yours. The clear view from my side of the table is that you have entirely missed Rick’s point, not realizing that the other side of the cards you are holding can also tell a less than attractive tale. I would suggest a careful re-read – it’s a very well thought out and insightful piece, by a very bright, caring and proud voice in an all too often otherwise negative sounding Gwinnett.
Anyway, I have always chosen to live in highly “mixed” neighborhoods – you meet a lot more interesting people that way. Just call me “whitey” and color me a great admirer (and hopefully a friend) of Rick’s – I too celebrate diversity and all of the benefits that arise from it. Peace and love, brother!
By Wiley Sims
March 31, 2006 08:44 PM | Link to this
Hey—Paul, please speak plain English—your analogy makes no sense.
I re-read the article——realized the article contained more B.S. than I picked up on the first read.
You want a badge for your “enlightened” attitude? Maybe you and Rick should get married.
Wiley
By Paul
March 31, 2006 10:06 PM | Link to this
I rest my case, sir - it is very difficult to see through a veil of percale.
By Wiley Sims
April 1, 2006 07:38 AM | Link to this
Damn Paul—You are good—I am not sure if you just dissed me or agreed with me!!! Are you a politician perhaps?
By clarissa
April 1, 2006 10:38 AM | Link to this
Veil of percale? WTF? Paul, your efforts at eurdition are making you opaque. I can understand how you feel the need to defend Rick. He seems like a good guy that is trying to do the right thing and start a discussion about race.
The thing is, Rick, that you are relying on anecdotes which do not speak to race at all. They are cute stories manufactured by the media. Step up, brother, and say something meaningful. I think you have it in you.
By Paul
April 1, 2006 06:44 PM | Link to this
A thousand pardons - that there big haided edjumakashun o mine sometimes gits in the way. Anyways, sometimes opacity is in the lenses of the beholder. Rick definitely doesn’t need any defending - the way I read the piece was as a simple expression of thanks that these two fine ladies had done did us all proud, with which I wholeheartedly agree. Yes, the “story” from which it arose was contrived (thus the ancient term for TV as a “vast wasteland”), but there were some meaningful points made.
By Wiley Sims
April 1, 2006 08:41 PM | Link to this
Paul—do you get drunk before you write a post? You are a strange one. You must be the “crazy neighbor” in your diverse neighborhood.