Black girl: Okay, everybody, here’s where we learn to dance! Everybody repeat after me. To the left, to the right, to the left, to the right… [Passengers sway and laugh.]Sour WASP lady to adjacent white passenger: Is this what people are like when they’re on crack?
–3 train, 125th St
Overheard by: Rich Mintz
Black lady: I really want you guys to meet my new boyfriend. I think you’ll like him.
White lady: Okaaay. Um… How is he with white people?
–St. Mark’s Pl & 2nd Ave
Overheard by: JD
Black guy: Yo, you gotta know Uncle Sam, man. I mean, you pay your taxes, right?
Indian clerk: No, I’m sorry. I don’t know what you’re talking about.
–Deli, 14th & 3rd
Overheard by: hoch
Black lady #1: So, what happened to her?
Black lady #2: She had to have her breast inplates removed! Can you believe that?
Black lady #1: Oh, shit!
–Jamaica Market food court
Overheard by: Pilar
30-something black chick #1, trying on leopard print heels: I don’t know… I’m getting a serious whore vibe from these shoes.
30-something black chick #2: Yes, but it’s an attractive whore.
30-something black chick #1: Right… Whore is the new black.
–Upscale shoe store, Midtown
White guy: Well, this is her third. The first two she miscarried.
Black guy: Aw, man.
White guy: All of them were shake ‘n’ bake.
Black guy: What?
White guy: Yeah, he shakes and she bakes. It’s like 10 grand a shake, too.
Black guy: I heard 25.
–JFK airport
Overheard by: Deeznuts
Black woman: Bitch, stop barking. I’ll beat your ass! Say ‘my mother’ one more time, I’ll come over there and beat your ass, cracker!
White woman: Who says ‘cracker’ anymore?
–4 train
White nerd in monotone: Look, just because I’m a motherfucking P-I-M-P does not give you the right to kiss up on my women.
Black guy: Fool, don’t be trippin’! You ain’t got but one woman, and she’s fat.
–45th & 9th
Fat, drunk black chick: Fuck that shit! I gotta go, and I will pee on this train!
Sister: Stop. I’m not playing, sit down.
Fat, drunk black chick: Say I won’t, Teesha, say I won’t! I will piss on this train!
Sister: Stop, you’re bothering people. Just sit down. I swear to God, I swear I’ll get off.
Fat, drunk black chick: Then I will pee on the platform. Nah, nah, I’m gonna pee on this train! Say I won’t!
Sister: You’re bothering people.
Fat, drunk black chick: White people?! I don’t care about white people! You know what they did? Fuck them — they diseased our country. They brought us HIV! TB! All that shit! They need to go back on their boats! I will pee on this train! Then we’ll see who’s diseased!
–A train, between 145th & 34th
Old black man #1: I’m gonna go get a Post.
Old black man #2: A brotha reading the Post? Oh, man…
Old black man #1: Man, it’s only 25 cents. And it’s got page six!
–Washington Square Park
Overheard by: Jill
Headline by: Dave
Runners-Up:
· “Hahaha…wait…black people? READING?” – pants
· “I always sleep under that one” – Mike B
· “Judge me not by the color of my skin but by the content of my paper” – nyinsf
· “That’s the quilted page” – N. A. Cargo
