Ed Gibbs: How to NOT get my vote.
Using the MTA as a bizarre metaphor for the Central Nervous System, no one will ever get to my heart by blocking the subway entrance.
A few weeks ago a woman campaigning locally was handing out flyers in front of the 110th north entrance. She and her entourage managed to capture the interest of a woman in front of me, completely blocking the entrance to the stairs. I consider my missed train to be a political casualty.
This morning Ed Gibbs took a similar post for his propoganda distribution. He tried to give me a flyer and I said “no thanks” and kept going. He yelled at me, “you know… we WELCOME you to our neighborhood.” “You need to get involved politically and start caring about or community.” I turned around and said, “I just don’t like you blocking the entrance” and he said something about letting me ride “our subways” as I went down the stairs.
In retrospect, I wonder if ”our subways” merely meant “the subways of this Great City, which needs great leaders, and I need your vote.” It felt exactly the same, though, as every other unwelcome remark I get for being caucasian and living in Harlem. The difference being that he was soliciting my vote to have him represent me at the same time he was telling me I don’t belong in his neighborhood.
