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Street and/or Sexual Harassment is NOT OKAY
a time when I worked and lived in Baltimore City I would take what they claimed to be the subway to work as I didn’t have a car at the time.
During the Fall and winter season it was daylight savings time. For at least two months I was all of a sudden being harassed by a burly black male who was taller than me. He would walk with 5 of his blue collar co-workers and cut through the apartment complex where I lived. They would laugh as they were being entertained or pretend like they did not witness the street harassment. Apparently being a covered Sunni Muslim Black woman is nothing but a big joke to Black “Christian” males.
It was generally snide or inappropriate remarks or comments coupled with repulsive laughter. Because it was daylight savings time I had difficulty identifying the culprit and his gang. The one thing I noticed was that no matter what time i left my apartment they would still appear and we crossed paths. The other oddity I noticed is that whenever I ended up walking with residents of other buildings in the complex he wouldn’t even look at me–obviously he didn’t want any witnesses for what he was planning.
After I noticed the pattern I began to document the date and times of the street harassment and the different times each early morning I changed my departure to avoid them but they were still there taunting and mocking my very existence as a not just a woman of color but a G-d fearing one.
Apparently the black thug could no longer take my attempts to ignore his predatory and harassing behavior one morning. Daylight savings time was ending so it was getting brighter earlier. As I was rushing to work one day I was fastening the buttons to my winter coat while walking on the sidewalk within the apartment complex. All of a sudden, the burly large black male was less than a foot in front of me. I was completely startled and with a smirk he mockingly stated “let me help you with that” and reached for the buttons on the front of my coat. It was by G-d’s grace that I had quick reflexes and jumped back before he could actually touch me or my clothing. I began to yell at this predatory “Christian” black male and stated “stop bothering me” and” leave me alone!” The criminal poignantly stated “one of these days I’m going to get you.” Upset, I hurriedly rushed to the transit station and told the empoyee what happened and he said he was calling the police.
I waited for the police to arrive and explained to him what happened. The police asked me if I could I identify him and I told him yes an that I got a good look at his work uniform which bore a company logo. The police officer escorted me to the company showroom floor and we asked to speak to a supervisor or manager. A white male appeared and the officer asked for workers who just arrived to work and explained the incident After the manager brought some out i identified the assaulter and some of his companions. The police officer filled out a report and took the brute’s identifying information. The State’s Attorney filed Harassment and Stalking charges against him. Please see the next post for Part II.
blackmanleaveusalone 