Black kid #1: …you mean the gay nigger?
Black kid #2: No, the black-brown nigger.
–outside Boerum Hill Food Company, Smith Street
Black kid #1: …you mean the gay nigger?
Black kid #2: No, the black-brown nigger.
–outside Boerum Hill Food Company, Smith Street
Construction worker: …it was like, the biggest skull ever found or
some shit.
–44th & Madison
Teenage girl: I failed the math test so I told Ma I ain’t gonna graduate in June. I ain’t gotta do anything but stay black and die.
–6 train
Black guy: …it’s an endangered species! It must be preserved in a museum!
–Westway Diner, 9th Ave.
Drunk girl #1: He has such bad hair.
Drunk girl #2: No, you know who has bad hair? Derek Jeter.
Drunk girl #1: Yeah, but he can’t help it. He’s half black… what? He is.
–Queens
Old black man: Do you believe in black Jesus or white Jesus?
White girl: White Jesus.
Old black man: I knew there was something wrong with you the minute I saw you.
–2 Train
Black dude on cell: So I got her pregnant. And she wanted me to care and shit, and I was like, ‘I’m a street nigga!’ And you know what I’m sayin’, ’cause you’re one, too. I didn’t want to be a father. I even told my son, straight-up! She was some nasty shit — all mugly in the face; body all fucked-up. But yeah, I was lacing that shit all the way through 1982! Okay, peace out, man.
–E train
Guy #1: He’s always dressed in Gucci, Versace, and all that shit.
Guy #2: Nigga, if I was skinny I’d wear nice stuff too.
Guy #1: Yeah, I’m sure it’s your weight that’s keeping you from wearing Gucci.
–Queensboro Plaza station
Overheard by: Preebz
Well-dressed young black guy: Excuse me sir, do you happen to have a cigarette?
Surfer guy: Motherfucker, you’re in New York City. Of course I have a cigarette.
–13th & Broadway
Overheard by: rpk
Skinny, black charity mugger: Hey, look at you! Help feed the homeless!
Chubby white chick: No, sorry.
Skinny, black chugger: You, feed the homeless!
Chubby white chick: Sorry, no thanks, I’m late.
Skinny, black chugger: You big enough to feed the homeless!
–Broadway & 10th
Overheard by: booksandlibretti
Chick on cell: You know what’s weird? You’re a nigger but in pictures you look like a white boy. Why is that?
–F train
Overheard by: Julie
Black guy on cell: They black people down there! I’m from New York, I don’t know nothing about black people!
–Boerum Hill bodega
A Black man with a cane approaches a white girl sitting on steps and says: Have you ever, since the day you were born till the minute you woke up this morning, desired a black man?
–18th & 8th
Girl: I don’t want to be racist. I mean, not out loud.
–Broadway & Houston
Cashier: I am so sick of Destiny’s Child!
–Virgin Megastore, Union Square
