I Couldn't Help but Wonder What Role Race had to Play + The Bystander Effect in Action (Crazy Bus Story Part I)

So this is an absolutely true story - it literally happened on Friday around 1:30 pm.

Me and a friend had gotten on the bus, happy to be done with school for a bit, excited to go home and not have to do anything.

A couple of stops in we realize the bus driver was arguing with some guy that just got on, I'll Call him BlueBag, and I remember being curious about what happened, but then the guy walked into the bus, and though he muttered something along the lines of  "shut the fu** up" it seemed like the thing would just blow over.

About a minute later we find out what BlueBag and the bus driver had likely been arguing about - he'd just spit on the bus.

So another guy, I'll call him Bob, who was sitting pretty close to where BlueBag was standing starts talking to him, none too nicely, might I add. Bob was saying things like "Stop it. You're fu**ing ignorant, you're so fu**ing ignorant". In return BlueBag answered with things like "I don't fu**ing care. Why don't you make me [stop spitting]?". BlueBag was being aggressive about it, walking over to Bob's seat, and because of the way the seat is placed and how he angled himself Bob was pretty much cornered in.

I didn't quite see what exactly happened, but then BlueBag was saying things like "You put your hands on me? Don't put your hands on me. Do it again and I'll take care of you." so I assume Bob had pushed him away or put his hands on BlueBag's shoulders/arms.

Bob yells to the bus driver about telling BlueBag to stop spitting, Bluebag starts yelling at the bus driver to tell Bob to not touch him. (And I find this part very interesting, I'll elaborate later, so keep it in mind)

So the bus stops and the Driver asks Bob whether he feels like a call should be made (I'm not quite sure to what, but I assume to some sort of security enforcement or even the police). And Bob goes "No, no whatever"

And once again I thought things were going to be fine.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

The bus driver was getting ready to continue driving, but then BlueBag, turns toward Bob and if he didn't legitimately send his saliva in Bob's direction, then he made the gesture.

After that it got crazy.

Bob was absolutely enraged by the gesture. He

surged up from his seat like a tidal wave or tsunami or something and just bashed Bluebag, without holding back. Then he got up from his seat and the two men were full on fighting. 

They were punching each other, throwing themselves at the other guy etc. At one point one guy overshot where he'd meant to throw himself and ended up flipping.

They traveled a good 3 meters from where they were standing up toward the front of the bus, and somehow Bluebag got shoved off the bus (the bus' front doors had been open). 

Right after that, is one of those moments of solid clarity that you get sometimes, Bob had been wearing earphones, the earphones caught on something and I just remember Bob yanking them back toward him abruptly and angrily, they snapped back toward him, the two earpieces flying apart before coming back together.

All I could think was "Oh my God, somebody could have choked."

At this point a third man steps in, putting himself in the doorway of the bus' front doors, I couldn't hear what he said, but he seemed to be trying to placate the two. He even got off the bus and seemed to be planning to accompany BlueBag somewhere, or maybe he was trying to make sure BlueBag stayed put.

Nothing happened for a bit, and then everyone was told to get off the bus and get on the next one. As we were getting off, we noticed that out of nowhere some sort of vehicle right in front of the bus - it was striped like a police car, but had no lights at the top.

So where does Race come in? Well what if I told

you Bluebag was a Person of Colour - a young man that was maybe 20. Bob, was a white fellow, probably in his fourties - his hair was grey. And the good Samaritan that intervened was another white man - maybe 25.

And I know the chance of these actual men seeing this is slim to none, but this also goes out to anyone who can relate.

First off: Bluebag I understand. Life is tough, yours is probably tougher than a lot of other people's and you're angry about it. And I really hate that life would make it so you are that angry, but spitting in the bus, antagonizing people and being rude is not an acceptable way to deal with anger.

Bob: Thank you for trying to do a good thing by trying to keep the bus clean, but in truth being condescending and swearing at BlueBag etc was probably the exact wrong thing to do. When someone is doing something you don't like and you want them to stop, usually the best course of action is to be assertive, but polite, for example saying something along the lines of "I don't like that, nobody likes that please stop"

This was the most prominent case of the bystander effect that I have ever experienced. There were maybe 20 people on that bus. We could all tell that BlueBag and Bob were not happy with each other and showing signs of aggression. Nobody really did anything until that third guy stepped in, and even that took a while. 

So to the third guy that decided to intervene: thank you for stepping in and doing something when nobody else did.

Stay tuned, because in the next few days I'll have a post up exploring what happened and factors that may have been involved