Reply #33: Cab drivers in Chicago would pass by a black man

[undeterred]

and pick me (white female) up. I shook my head in disbelief when this happened. But one time the cab driver (who was middle eastern) got all flustered when I told him I wanted to go to Hyde Park, the same racially mixed neighborhood Obama lived in. He told me he didn't think Allah wanted him to go there. So he said he would pray to Allah about it and he did. While he was praying an empty cab with a black driver came by and he flagged it over and asked him if he wanted a fare to Hyde Park and he did. I went home in the other cab.

So it was even more complicated than I expected. Both cabbies obviously felt I was a safe passenger. The middle eastern cabbie didn't want to go to the south side. Yeah, its illegal to pass up a rider but it happens all the time. He may have been afraid of the neighborhood or not known where to find a fare to go back downtown. There can be lots of reasons why people behave the way they do. There is usually some kind of fear involved, rational or not.