Last night I was coming home late from a Me'Shell Ndegeocello concert [and can I just sidebar and say that woman is one the best musicians we have on the planet right now]. Anyway, it was around 1:30 am and I was waiting for the B26 to whisk me away because I was dead tired. However, there was some commotion on the corner: five or six women were in SERIOUS disagreement over clothes or shoes. One of the women demanded another to just take it off. To take off all of her... stuff. Well, she did. She snatched off shoes, socks, pants and backpack and made this gesture of "now what?". Apparently, her goods were the goods of the other woman. Well, the relinquishing of clothes wasn't enough. All six of the women seemed to get more agitated. They began cursing at each other. Pushing. At one point someone told another to... well, in order not to get censored here on TheRoot, I'll just say men say it a lot [and yes, it has everything to do with an appendage].
I guess I should mention the women were sapphic [lesbians]. I only knew that because four of them were obviously partnered with one another. Anyway, the disrobed woman was screaming for the aggressive one to leave her alone. She wouldn't. The two women were ready to fight. And by the tone of their anger I would not have been surprised if someone pulled out a gun. It was THAT volatile. I wanted to do something. I looked around for the NYPD. They were loitering a block away and had to hear the fevered commotion. They didn't show up. No one at the bus stop said anything either. And there were at least nine of us. All black and varying ages.
I'm lying. A few things were said. One twenty-something woman [on her cell] told her concerned listener not to worry because "it was just some crazy dykes". An older man had this bizarre grin on his face, as if the womens' rage was so ridiculous it was laughable. A car pulled up at the traffic light, the passenger rolled down a window and yelled out: "Beat some a**!" He repeated it three times before driving off.
The bus arrived quickly after the car drove away and the women ended the fight and dispersed. I assumed a peacemaker within their group shut it down, or the police were in eye-shot. Maybe a bit of both. However, when I sat down on the bus, people were still feeling entertained by the sapphic violence. There were snickers, giggles, someone eagerly opened a bus window to make sure he didn't miss any further developments.
Homophobia plagues our community, yes, just like A.I.D.S., and the refusal to discuss A.I.D.S and its impact on our youth and WOMEN. None of this is news, I know I know. I guess I was just feeling so inspired by the courageous humanity at Me'Shell's concert and the varying types who gather to hear her soulful siren, but then disheartened when lesbians in conflict become sideshow for black people at a bus stop.
Here's my question: Do we quickly dismiss the goings-on of some people within our communities because they're gay, women, or gay and women? [Personally, I've never seen a communal dismissal when men fight or "straight" men fight.] Are we guilty of empowering ourselves with a temporary self-righteousness when the "other" shows its immoral face and we laugh off "the crazy" in order not to take it seriously?
