This morning, I was walking to work (approximately 5:50 AM). I am just north of Times Square, so there are more people out and about than would be in most other areas of the city, but it's nowhere near what it's like during normal business hours. I had my walkman on and I heard someone yelling, "Yo nigga! Nigga!" So naturally I assume they are talking to me. But no one usually calls me nigga until at least 9 or 10.

I look to my right to where the calls were coming from, and there is an SUV with four black guys in it yelling out and laughing. Then I hear the one guy and read his lips and I hear him say, "Yo! Jewish nigga! You a Jewish nigga!" Then I realize they weren't talking to me at all, but they were yelling at a Hasidic Jew who was walking behind me.

I didn't really get the joke, but these guys thought it was hilarious. The Jewish nigga really didn't find it too funny either. He was ignoring them altogether or perhaps he was a deaf Jewish nigga.

I'm curious to know if they were just going around yelling at everyone and adding "nigga" to the end of whatever they were calling people. Like if there was a guy in a suit, he was "Business Man Nigga." Or if there was a kid in a stroller, he would be "Baby Nigga." Or an Asian guy, he'd be "Chinese Nigga," even if he was Japanese or Korean or something, because the natural assumption is that Asian people are Chinese. These could all make great superheroes. I guess a black guy would have been "Black Nigga."

Sometimes I just don't get the joke, and this is one of those examples. Hey, yelling at people from your car is fun -- I've done it plenty of times, mainly while drunk. I'm assuming these guys were drunk and decided, "Hey, let's go ride around and yell at people, only we will take their most distinguishable characteristic and add 'nigga' to the end of it, OK? Let's ride!"

I'm glad I wasn't that Jewish guy, because I think I'd be wondering for the rest of the day, "Why in the world would those guys say to me, 'You a Jewish nigga.'" Who knows, perhaps he's used to it. I lived in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood for about three months, and I never was the victim of any, "Hey, look at the white guy" taunts. Maybe I was, it's just that my Spanish isn't good enough. There were moments where I thought maybe some guys were talking about me, but I was like, "Wait, did they just call me a guitar? No wait, maybe they called me a bird. Should I be offended?" It's times like this morning where I realize I'm pretty lucky to be a white guy, age 18-49.

Not much of a point here. I just don't like all the silly hate.

Remember after 9/11 when we thought all the people of the world would unite and come together to hate Muslims? Now, there was some hate that made a lot of sense.