Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch

Query: Would it be possible to find a Muslim restaurant or café owner in a state with a RFRA like the one Indiana passed, who would announce that he would no longer provide service to unveiled women or a woman seated with a man not her husband? That would be interesting.

I used to live on the Orange line of the DC metro in a very Asian neighborhood in Arlington. There was a korean restaurant that was open 24 hours. we went there alot during normal hours. One night I woke up hungry at 3 AM and went there. It was 100% Korean customers. I sat at a table and was ignored for a while. eventually I left. The crowd cheered as I walked. In short, I'm sure what your asking about happens de facto. It probably happens in glatt kosher restaurants too (think of the knucleheads who won't sit next to a strange woman on an airplane)- but would a restaurant announce the policy? Ty may be right, but on the otherhand it may be a way to advertise how very specially they follow Koran/torah.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

I used to live on the Orange line of the DC metro in a very Asian neighborhood in Arlington. There was a korean restaurant that was open 24 hours. we went there alot during normal hours. One night I woke up hungry at 3 AM and went there. It was 100% Korean customers. I sat at a table and was ignored for a while. eventually I left. The crowd cheered as I walked. In short, I'm sure what your asking about happens de facto. It probably happens in glatt kosher restaurants too (think of the knucleheads who won't sit next to a strange woman on an airplane)- but would a restaurant announce the policy? Ty may be right, but on the otherhand it may be a way to advertise how very specially they follow Koran/torah.

Funniest incident like this I experience was a kosher deli in the catskills where we were welcomed and treated very hospitably - until they learned my sister was Reconstructionist.

[Sidd Finch]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

I used to live on the Orange line of the DC metro in a very Asian neighborhood in Arlington. There was a korean restaurant that was open 24 hours. we went there alot during normal hours. One night I woke up hungry at 3 AM and went there. It was 100% Korean customers. I sat at a table and was ignored for a while. eventually I left. The crowd cheered as I walked. In short, I'm sure what your asking about happens de facto. It probably happens in glatt kosher restaurants too (think of the knucleheads who won't sit next to a strange woman on an airplane)- but would a restaurant announce the policy? Ty may be right, but on the otherhand it may be a way to advertise how very specially they follow Koran/torah.

One of the things that I loved from the moment I moved to SF was how little of this sort of conduct I saw. I have been in restaurants, bars, stores where I was the only (except, possibly, for the person with me if I wasn't alone) straight person, non-Muslim, non-Latino, non-Asian, non-black person. I have not felt unwelcome. Give respect, get respect. My experience in other places, particularly east coast cities, has not been as good in this regard.

I recognize, of course, that even the negative experiences I've had in this regard are nothing compared to what, say, a black man experiences walking into a white crowd in many places. Here, too, what I see outside SF has been much worse. Two years ago I was in NYC for a trial, and when we went out with a paralegal from local counsel's office -- "we" being me and three paralegals from my office (one white, one Asian, one Latino) -- this woman, in front of people she had met that day and in a work capacity -- said "nigger" at least three times, called the Latino guy "hood-boy," talked about "getting some Mexicans" to do grunt work, and repeatedly marveled that the Asian woman (who grew up in Hong Kong) had a British-sounding accent.

Others' mileage may vary, but my own anecdotal experience has been pretty consistent here. I'm sure people have cheered when I left a room but it wasn't because of my race.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch

Others' mileage may vary, but my own anecdotal experience has been pretty consistent here. I'm sure people have cheered when I left a room but it wasn't because of my race.

You caught his point that's he'd frequented the restaurant during regular hours? That is the key factor here: they KNEW him.

I've been in unwelcoming spots before. I was once refused service at the Ritz. Despite growing up in white, rural America, there are parts of white, rural America that really just don't tom cotton to my kind (I know - y'all are shocked!). I have been yelled at by a black guy on the south side of Chicago who told me that he knew about white boys like me (I had on a Jesse Jackson button and was attending an event there) and I wasn't going to get his wimin and he'd cut me if I tried.

But the unwelcoming folks are most often self-declared real mercins than immigrants or racial minorities. And I expect they're even less welcoming to immigrants and minorities.