Thread: Confronting Racism in America ABC News

I just finished watching this on Good Morning America. Video is at the link.

Confronting Racism in America
Customers React Very Differently When Hispanics Denied Service at N.J. Deli
By ERIC HANAN and YARDENA SCHWARTZ
Jan. 5, 2009
110 comments FONT SIZE

It was 6:30 a.m. on a Friday in downtown Linden, N.J., when two Hispanic day laborers were struggling with their English as they tried to order a coffee and a sandwich at a deli.

What would you do if confronted with racism? But rather than getting served, they got a string of insults hurled at them from the clerk behind the counter. Their broken-English request for food was met with a barrage of racist remarks, including, "Get back in your pickup truck with the rest of your family."

This scene wasn't real. It was all part of a "What Would You Do?" experiment designed to find out what action, if any, bystanders would take after watching the men's exchange with the clerk.

Watch the story on "What Would You Do?" Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET

Seth Perlman, the manager of All Aboard Bagel and Deli, agreed to ABC News' using his business to test people's reactions to bigotry. The racist cashier standing next to him was an actor hired by ABC News, as were his victims.

Here in this working-class neighborhood 15 miles west of New York City, people have a reputation for tolerance. But, sometimes, the reactions were far less open-minded than one would expect.

In the face of blatant discrimination, many people seemed immobilized, some too stunned to react. After being turned away by the cashier, one of the day laborers asked a nearby customer for help. She suggested that he try another store down the street. Many other customers had a similar reaction, quietly walking away after being solicited to help.

Although some customers seemed indifferent, others were quite willing to let everyone know exactly how they felt.

Upon hearing the cashier's racist attacks on the day laborers, customer Darick Maxis, a black man, seemed to take the side of the clerk.

"If you want me to make you leave, I'll make you leave," he told the Hispanics. "So leave. That's all I gotta say. Leave!"

When ABC News' John Quinones approached the scene and let him know the exchange was a television experiment, Maxis continued his rant.

"You know what I think?" he asked. "I think they're taking our jobs because we ain't got no jobs."

But, later, Maxis said that he regretted what he'd said and was simply caught up in the heat of the moment.

'I Don't Speak Mexican'
It is a complicated situation for some. There are an estimated 117,600 day laborers in the United States.

Patrons of All Aboard Bagel and Deli in New Jersey had mixed reactions when they saw the deli clerk making racist remarks toward Hispanic customers. The racist cashier standing was an actor hired by ABC News, as were his victims for a segment of "What Would You Do."

(ABC News)One of those workers is Mario Rodriguez. He wakes up at 5 a.m. seven days a week and walks two miles to a spot on the side of the road in Freehold, N.J., where he and 30 to 40 other HIspanic men hope they'll get picked up for a day of work.

Rodriguez, who speaks little English and said he has felt the sting of discrimination, watched as the deli customers reacted to the racist cashier. The lack of empathy for the Hispanic actors brought Rodriguez to tears.

"There are some places that don't want us there," Rodriguez told ABC News. "When we go into a diner, sometimes they won't even sell us a sandwich."

Wanting to see if women got reactions equally as strong as their male counterparts, "What Would You Do?" sent two Hispanic women into the deli to buy coffee and a bagel the next day.

Is Racism on Way Out? As with the Hispanic actors, one customer at the deli agreed with the clerk, telling the women to speak English or go to Taco Bell before saying, "Can't help you. I don't speak Mexican."

But not everyone shared the cashier's sentiments and allowed his prejudice to go unchecked. Many were outraged.

"How do you know they're here illegally?" customer John Barnicoat, who is white, asked.

Others grew so angry that they left the store in tears and vowed never to return. One customer was so shocked by the clerk's behavior that he became determined to set him straight.

"If you can't deal with this country and how we accept other people, you don't belong working here," he told the clerk.

For some, the cashier's comments struck a personal chord.

Joanne Murphy, like many Americans, comes from a family of immigrants. So when Murphy, who is Irish-American, heard the cashier refuse the Hispanic women service by saying they weren't Americans, her response was passionate.

"Neither are my parents," Murphy said, shouting.

Merlange Rene, who is Dominican and Haitian, said she has experienced similar prejudice, even being told to go back to her own country.

"I have family that can't speak English," she told the cashier. "They're not here illegally."

Respect for Everyone
For others, the scene in the deli violated the idea of treating every human being with respect.

"Give them what they want," Walter Orenczak said, after hearing the cashier accuse the day laborers of taking American jobs away. He is white.

"They are human beings and they want to eat something," he said. "And you know what? Nobody wants to do their jobs."

El Salvador native Sonia Contreras said the treatment of the people had nothing to do with where they were from.

"God sent them to Earth like you and me, and they have rights to be in this world," she told the cashier. "Leave the laws to the people who make the laws."

Over the course of the "What Would You Do?" experiment, 88 people came into the store. Of those, 49 didn't get involved at all and nine sided with the cashier. Thirty customers came to the defense of the day laborers.

The scene at the deli came at a time when Americans are very sensitive about losing their jobs and immigrants are concerned for their safety.

Last month, two Ecuadorian men were viciously beaten walking home from a bar in Brooklyn, N.Y. One died days later, after being taken off life support.

And in November, Ecuadorian immigrant Marcello Lucero was stabbed to death on New York's Long Island by a group of teenagers who allegedly set out that night to kill a Hispanic person. Seven teens were charged in Lucero's death.

http://abcnews.go.com/WhatWouldYouDo/st ... 048&page=1

Over the course of the "What Would You Do?" experiment, 88 people came into the store. Of those, 49 didn't get involved at all and nine sided with the cashier. Thirty customers came to the defense of the day laborers.

Seems to me like, if the objective was to prove just how "racist" Americans allegedly are, this was an abject failure.

Even if 49 people didn't get involved, it proves nothing. There have been a muiltitude of similar experiments done to measure peoples' response to various situations. Hundreds of people will walk right by any given situation on the street and not get involved.

To be fair and unbiased...how about they do an expose on the racism of Latinos especially the "Chicanos" against Black Americans in Los Angeles? Or how about have some black teens to a "taqueria" and try to order some food where no one speaks English....let's see just how that would play out shall we? Or how about the Jamiel Shaw case or the Bologna family who were slaughtered by illegal aliens from Central America? Or the four black college students in Newark who were murdered by illegal alien MS-13 gang members?

Thank you for posting this.

This story is ludicrous on so many levels.

One, the creators of this piece of high fiction combine rudeness and other types of hostility with the political views that people should speak English and come to America legally. That makes the exchanges coming from the actor highly unrealistic and disingenuous.

Two, the news crew is shocked to find that even with their highly politicized efforts to create propaganda from this, most Americans still sided with the fake clerk!

They are so obviously targeting Joey Vento of Geno's Steaks in Philadelphia with this skit. Joey is a great guy and an immigrant that has successfully faced down the radical leftist pressures over his sign that says "order in English".

When are these elitists at ABC going to learn that their works of fictional propaganda that engage in trickery like this will not work to reshape American attitudes?

No wonder their news agencies are failing. People tune in to learn the facts of the news in our country, not get some pseudo moral communist political theatrics.

W

In 1991 We had moved to a town in southern AZ. I was unable to immediately find a title job, so I took a job at McDonalds because we needed the money. Hey, there should not be embarrassment as long as you work hard and do a good job, right? lol

For one year I was the morning front line cashier. I had gotten employee of the month twice, then my manager got promoted and left. Our new manager was a young Latina. The first thing she did was to tell me that I could no longer work the registers because she wanted to start to cater more to the hispanics and I did not speak Spanish. I refused to take the lower position with a cut in pay that she was offering me and went to a lawyer. Legally, this was NOT discrimination. I went to three other lawyers and was told the same thing. Why wasn't it discrimination? Because I was not a minority. The 1990 census for this town showed that 60% were Hispanics. To me, that means I was a minority in this town.

Ancient history on many fronts--read below. People are people and reluctant to be involved when they do not understand all the circumstances. Thsi is the way things always have been. The ABC report, in my opinion, is another attempt by the MSM to paint Americans as evil xenophobes.


"Catherine Susan Genovese (July 7, 1935[1]–March 13, 1964), commonly known as Kitty Genovese, was a New York City woman who was stabbed to death near her home in the Kew Gardens section of Queens, New York.[3] Genovese was buried in a family grave at Lakeview Cemetery in New Canaan, Connecticut.

The circumstances of her murder and the supposed lack of reaction of numerous neighbors were reported by a newspaper article published two weeks later; the common portrayal of neighbors being fully aware, but completely nonresponsive has later been criticized as inaccurate. Nonetheless, it prompted investigation into the social psychological phenomenon that has become known as the bystander effect (seldom: "Genovese syndrome")[4] and especially diffusion of responsibility."

Let these strong supporters for undocumented immigrant - sponsor an entire family or group and foot all the expenses of the group.

If Americans are so evil, lock them up with the employers and the undocumented illegal immigrants.

The clerk and the victims were planted. That doesn't tell a real story to me. If they want the truth as to how Americans would react to illegal aliens, why don't they use unsuspecting people and view it with a hidden camera. This entire scenerio is wrong because the clerk got the customers agitated. This may not have been the case in normal circumstances. These liberal jerks are going to do everything they can to make the innocent look guilty, and make the criminal illegal aliens look like victims. If they want to do a story, why don't they film the day laborers outside making lewd gestures and comments at people walking by.

Maybe what they should have taken away from this is that a whole lot of people who should not be here are taking Americans jobs away from them in their own country and they are getting FED UP AND ANGRY ABOUT IT!! Infact DOWN RIGHT PISSED OFF!!!

If these people think that Americans are going to welcome these people with open arms when they can not feed their own family or keep a roof over their head....THEY ARE CRAZY!!!

Originally Posted by tinybobidaho

The clerk and the victims were planted. That doesn't tell a real story to me. If they want the truth as to how Americans would react to illegal aliens, why don't they use unsuspecting people and view it with a hidden camera. This entire scenerio is wrong because the clerk got the customers agitated. This may not have been the case in normal circumstances. These liberal jerks are going to do everything they can to make the innocent look guilty, and make the criminal illegal aliens look like victims. If they want to do a story, why don't they film the day laborers outside making lewd gestures and comments at people walking by.

I agree. ABC couldnt get a real story out of this so they hired actors who played the cashier and the customers. ABC had enough money to have put in a hidden camera and mic to get a real story out of this but they knew it would flop.