I went out for my day off walk and weekly Filet O'Fish sandwich at the McDonald's on 9th Street here in the Slope, and it was during the hours when the place is mostly occupied by seniors and assorted retirees. This relatively quiet time is preferred because it is usually free of the kids who swarm the place when the nearby middle school, and said kids invariably act like loud, abusive fools and assholes when they storm the place. Unfortunately, the day's after school antic s started a bit early, as three obnoxious ghetto crotch fruit teamed up to verbally abuse and threaten an old Latino man who was struggling to remain upright with a cane. I have no idea what sparked the confrontation, but the kids were absolutely horrible, hurling a torrent of profanity and daring the old man to start something when they were apparently the ones who kicked things off, and of course the littlest one, a kid with ridiculous-looking beaded dreads, had the biggest mouth. The old man did his best to stand his ground but it became clear that the situation was about to escalate into junior-level violence, and it was at that point that at least ten senior Latinas and black women stood up and voiced their displeasure at the teens' treatment of the old guy while also warning him not to physically engage with the kids, because he would likely be the one arrested when the police showed up.
I'm guessing the kids were not used to anyone challenging them when they acted up in public, as they were momentarily shocked by the show of resistance, but they mostly ignored the women and continued to harass the old dude. Seeing the boys' refusal to cut that shit out, the women left where they were sitting and advanced on the young thugs, their intent to take none of their shit clearly expressed by their body language and outraged words. If there's one thing that young males of color know and fully understand, it's that they do NOT want to fuck with elder black and/or Latin females, as those women do NOT play. They will beat you senseless, then once they have you on the ground, they will shuck down your pants and spank you bare-assed in public, and you would be lucky if they did not draw blood in the process. And cops of color also understand that shit, and if it's old ladies administering a well-earned beatdown, they tend to turn a blind eye. (I have personally witnessed this happen several times during my quarter-century in the Slope.)
The boys, while still hurling abuse at the coffin dodger, were herded out of the McDonald's and onto 9th Street, and once they were outside most of the women returned to their seats, with the exceptions of two very pissed-off Latinas, one of whom had her beefy fists balled up and ready for deployment throughout the entire sorry incident. The boys, pretending to ignore the Latinas, hung around within range of the McDonald's entrance, waiting for the old man to come out, a move apparently anticipated by the still-standing Latinas. Once outside, the ruckus began anew, but this time the Latinas were there front and center, and they soon drove the boys off.
It would have been easy enough for that cadre of badassed, attitude and righteous indignation-fueled crones to have reduced those boys to chutney, but no one would have come out of it looking or feeling particularly good. In a cosmos filled with moment-to-moment indignities and injustice, this was but one such minor incident on any given day in the Big Apple. (If I had my way, I would have those little shits relegated to the Ludivico technique posthaste.)
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