Black employee: Yo, why you gotta be hatin’ on my family like that?
White kid: Because you’re black.
Black employee: … Your mama’s black!
–Gristedes, 20th St & 1st Ave
Overheard by: Caroline
Black employee: Yo, why you gotta be hatin’ on my family like that?
White kid: Because you’re black.
Black employee: … Your mama’s black!
–Gristedes, 20th St & 1st Ave
Overheard by: Caroline
White girl: Excuse me, excuse me! God, you have a great skin. Do you tan?
Latina chick: Do I what? It’s December…
White girl: No, [sighs], I mean, do you use a spray-on or do you go to a salon? You know, a salon where you lay in a booth…
Latina chick: No. This is my skin color.
White girl: I can see that, but how did you get it that color?
Latina chick: This is the color I was born with.
White girl: Okay, but how is it so brown when you have green eyes?
Latina chick: Did you just smoke crack?
White girl: Look, it was just an innocent question. I don’t see why you have to get so personal…
Latina chick, turning on iPod: I hate everybody.
–3 train
White hipster #1 watching a white guy climb a streetlight: What the hell?
White hipster #2: White people are crazy.
White hipster #1: Yeah! They’re like monkeys!
–Orchard St near Houston
Overheard by: Julian
White mom calling seven-year-old girl: Isis, come back over here! Don’t wander off – stay where I can see you!
Black man: Woman, you name me ‘Isis,’ and I wander as far away from you as I can get. I don’t blame that girl. Isis! What kind of name is that for a little white girl? Damn! Now I know white people crazy.
–Central Park
Black guy holding out headphones: Hey man, you like hip-hop music? It’s all me right here, pimp!
Long-haired metalhead: Nah, man. I got nothing.
Black guy: White boy with no money? C’mon, I find that hard to believe.
–Times Square
Overheard by: Phil
Prep chick: Is it amoebas that come from Mexico? Or am I thinking of armadillos?
–5th Ave
Overheard by: Francesca
White teen girl: So, is there a Friday next week?
–4 train
Overheard by: Gregorio
Girlfriend: If your friends told you to jump down a bridge, would you do it?
–D train, Grand Concourse
Suit to black gangster holding large chameleon: Excuse me, sir. What species of dinosaur is that?
–Manhattan-bound F train
Overheard by: Josh
Teen: So how much would the game cost if it was $17.99?
–Game Stop, Forest Hills
Future zoologist: They have sea lions here! They’re like lions — from the sea!
–Central Park Zoo
Overheard by: Andrew K.
White guy #1 as stray dog passes by: Oh, that dog looks vicious… And hungry.
White guy #2: Well, I hope it does not like white meat — only dark meat.
White guy #1: Yeah.
–Staten Island
Overheard by: Dark Meat
White girl: I don’t get that girl. I just don’t like her.
Black boyfriend: Why?
White girl: Because if I don’t like someone, I tell them. Straight at their face, I’m like, ‘I don’t like you.’ But she be talking behind people’s backs and shit. It’s not cool, yo.
Black boyfriend: Yeah.
White girl: And she thinks she’s ghetto, but she’s not. We ghetto — she’s not.
–Uptown C platform, 34th St
Dad at hockey game: Wow, there’s like no black people here.
20-something son: Yeah there are, Dad. They’re selling stuff and cleaning bathrooms.
Dad: Aren’t you glad you weren’t born black?
–Madison Square Garden
Overheard by: Deb
Ghetto guy: Why I be so ashy?
White chick: It’s because you’re black, right?
–Canal St & Centre St
