Outrageous ride

The first one I'll mention wasn't outrageous, but interesting. I picked up a 20-something black female, very nice, from a hotel where she works. She was going to a trolley station ($15 fare). I asked if she had heard about Don Imus, and she had, except she hadn't heard exactly what he said. She asked me to tell her. It was a little strange, being a white guy, telling her Imus called a mostly black, female basketball team "hardcore hoes" and "nappy-headed hoes".

She did a sharp intake of breath. "Oh, that is offensive."

She heard that Imus apologized to the team, and that they accepted. Based on that, she didn't think he should have been fired.

The outrageous ride was two 20-something white guys. A radio host on my car stereo was discussing the Imus situation, and one of my customers chimed in. We talked about how Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson had rallied support for Imus' firing.

They brought up how Sharpton had over reacted in the Tawana Brawley situation, and I agreed. And that Jesse Jackson is no saint. Both reacted too strongly to the Imus situation, we all agreed.

Then one of them said this: "Al Sharpton should be shot and killed. The world would be better off without him."

I said: "That's absurd. You don't really want that."

Him: "Yes, I do."

I didn't say anything for the rest of the trip. I contemplated throwing them out, but the truth is, if I tossed everybody who said outrageous things, I couldn't make a living. They paid $21 on a $17 fare.