Sunday Night Tram Scuffle...
The following post was supposed to come after an overview of the whole weekend's craziness, but after writing it, I was too exhausted to go back and revisit the rest. The gist is Martina, her German/American friend Leah, and I were all coming backon the tram (around 10:30, 11 pm) from an amazing free concert as part of the Festival of Accordians in a town/suburb outside of Strasbourg last night, after a full day of celebrating Carnival (which happens later here in Strasbourg and is a huge event)...
---------
After finally making our way back to the tram stop, we collapsed into our seats, happy that our busy day was finally coming to a close... or was it?
About 4 stops down the line, I heard some shuffling and looked up to see a guy bending over another, younger guy who was sitting at the end of our tram car. He was gesticulating menacingly with one hand and the look on his face was certainly not one of contentment. An argument, I concured, and was in mid-gaze-shift when I saw the older guys hand go to the younger guys throat – not really choking him, just exerting his power, keeping him in check while the former continued to talk in menacing terms. I was too distracted by the visual to really try and overhear the details of the rapid-fire menacings, but it was obvious things were getting a bit heated. The only thing I heard towards the end of the reel of menacings was “the next time...” and the guy held up his fist in the younger one’s face before slamming it into the side of the tram and starting to walk away... but not before his other hand came up and gave the younger a good slap upside the head. Fuck! I thought... which intensified when the younger reacted with the ever-perpetual macho reaction, proceeding to get up with a start and begin to take off his jacket while hurling insults back at his assaulter. Smart. Especially since he was about half the older guy’s muscle mass.
The moment the younger one began to de-jacket, my impulses (whether wise or otherwise) started working and I started up, no doubt figuring being on one’s feet was better for whatever may ensue. Within seconds the older had turned back around and started at the younger, giving him a good kick which sent him stumbling in our direction (they had been about 10 ft away). I immediately headed towards the tram door, ready to make an exit, but instead ended up turning around to block access between the younger and the older, who had been tripped up/slowed down by the younger’s floored jacket. Me, in my pig-tailed carnival hair and flowery skirt, grabbing onto the seat backs on either side of the tram to form a sort of out-of-placer human barricade between the two. Two other men in the tram had also intervened and stood in the way of the older assaulter, telling him to calm down (which I was also somehow saying, the french commands slipping off my tongue without a thought... thank you, adrenaline).
The two currently separated, the men told the younger one to stay back so as to keep the two away from one another. The younger protested, gesturing to his stuff on the ground near where the older was standing. Again, without thinking, I told him to stay there and I went over to gather his stuff, which the older had begun to reach for. Somehow I made him give me the guy’s jacket and pizza, and then noticed (without even really taking notice) a swiss army knife on the ground, which I also reached for, assuming it was the youngers and I would return it him (really, the word “knife” didn’t even cross my mind at this point... nor the fact that the corkscrew part of the contraption was bearing its angry twirls). Before I could reach it, the older quickly kicked it away from my grasp and then picket it up, grumbling “that’s mine” to which I responded, “okay...” and moved back past the intervening men to give the younger one his belongings.
Upon collecting his jacket and pizza, the younger mumbled a distracted thank you and then moved past us to stand by the door. The older guy was about 10 feet away in the other tram. For the moment, things seemed calm... still tense, still buzzing, but they weren’t going at each other. And then I went and had to open my big mouth.
It didn’t even cross my mind that this might be a stupid thing to do, but I guess my curiosity got the better of me, and I turned to one of the now seated me and asked – quietly, mind you – what the issue was. You know, I figured he’d understood the verbal prelude better than I and could offer a quick clarification. Right. Before the guys had even exited the tram. Great job Melia. Didn’t stop to consider that, even if you can’t understand their french, they could no doubt understand mine. In any case, the man I’d asked offered a very short, very over-arching generalization/assumption for an answer: “Problem in the neighborhoods/suburbs.”
“Ok” was I all I could really respond, wondering if this was an answer based on fact or instead merely on the fact that it was a scuffle between two people with somewhat darker skin. Before I had much of a chance to muse about the whole racial discriminations and issues in France, however, the younger guy had come back over, obviously overhearing the man’s generalized answer, and proceeded to explain in a LOUD voice that he hadn’t done anything, that he hadn’t said anything, but that the guys started harassing him, etc. I, again, didn’t catch all of what the kid was saying, but his raised voice sounded like a) he was just pumped on adrenaline or b) – my guess – he was talking loud enough for the older guy to overhear him repeat that he hadn’t done anything, that it was all the other guy’s provocations.
Whether or not the latter was actually the case, the older guy did overhear and trudged back over with a snare-ridden face.... and once again the three of us interveners upped ourselves and assumed our human blockade-stance. The older guy kind of held up a hand as if to let us know he wasn’t going to try and barge through us or anything, but rather said to us “I’m just going to say something to him.” Learning over one of the chairs, he proceeded to call the kid by his name – which surprised me, as I somehow thought this was a first-time confrontation deal – and then spewed some other things I didn’t understand in a low, commanding, and still rather menacing tone. As he turned away he faced the two men who had been monitoring him to make sure he didn’t charge and told them that this was an affair between him and the kid, their affair, and that they shouldn’t intervene, it wasn’t their business. Even while responding yes, sure, just calm down, the two men continued to keep their ground between the two disputants.
Finally, the older moved back and exited the tram at the next stop. When the doors had closed again, the younger breathed another thank you to the group of us and stood by the doors to wait for the next exit (also our transfer point). Getting off the tram with Martina and Leah jolted me back into reality, as I hadn’t even really taken note of their seated presence throughout the whole ordeal. As we made our way back to Martina’s, Martina – who’s more competant than I in her understanding of rapid-fire french – proceeded to explain to Leah in German (too hard in english) the proceedings of the various conversations/menacings overheard and then Leah translated it back to me in english. Essentially, the gist of the whole seed that sparked the tram-scuffle was as follows:
Younger guy, at a party, older guy was there as well with his girlfriend. Younger guy is with a bunch of friends, starts pointing or gesturing at/towards the older guy’s girlfriend (no reason give/understood). Older guy doesn’t like this, comes over and slaps his hand down, starts yelling at him... except younger guy has a crowd of friends with him, so older guy doesn’t dare do anything. So the older guy waits and follows him to the tram to get in his face and threaten him.
That bit was as understood by martina when the younger guy was telling the intervening man why none of this was his fault... the actually threatenings martina overheard went along the lines of “I don’t ever want to see your face around here again... next time your going to get it... watch out... I’ll find you... your mom... your family...” and then the details get fuzzy. According to Martina, she heard what sounded like the english word “shoot”... but she didn’t think they’d randomly stick in an english word, so she thinks she may have misheard what would have been some other french word that sounds like ‘shoot.’ But regardless, when it registered that I had just intervened in a scuffle between two guys who actually did have previous contact, and one of whom was potentially threatening to shoot the other guys family... holy shit. That’s when it kind of hit me that, while my impulses may automatically guide me to try and stop anything labeled in my head with a red, flashing “VIOLENCE” indicator... that perhaps, next time, I should at least try and understand the situation/gravity of the matter before assessing my ability to act.
Leah also informed me that she’d seen the swiss army knife in the younger guy’s hand, or so she’d thought... which lead me to the obvious conclusion as to why the older guy would kick it away from me, pretending it was his, rather than let me placidly hand frickin’ WEAPONRY back to its now-defenseless owner.
Essentially, the entire event was me not thinking, but acting instead. While it worked out this time (though god knows what happened/might happen after they exited the tram), biking home from Martina’s tonight, I think I was hit with the needed epiphany that perhaps, just perhaps, I might think a bit more if presented with a similar situation in the future.
I feel like I’ve really fallen into the placid, comfortable mindset of how safe I usually feel in Strasbourg, even/especially out at night. So tonight provided a nice little prod to shake up that confort zone enough to remind me to keep my head up and stay aware, rather than sink into the habitual every-day pace of trust and “everything’s fine” mentality. Coupled with yesterday’s viewing of “Shooting Dogs” about the Rwandan massacre (horrific film about a horrific piece of recent history), I’ve been reminded, in a cold, depressing way, that humans, however capable of love, happiness, companionship, are also capable of other things, from a mere tramway confrontation littered with meancing threats, to the massacre of thousands and thousands of other human beings. I hate that I have to be reminded that such is true, but i know i have to keep it in the back of my mind as I run into new people and new situations and take chances and try to make connections.
This weekend’s been a crazy up and down that hasn’t ceased to keep me thinking.
_____________________
Next time: an overview of the INSANITY of this past weekend, the exhaustion of which is just hitting me today....
---------
After finally making our way back to the tram stop, we collapsed into our seats, happy that our busy day was finally coming to a close... or was it?
About 4 stops down the line, I heard some shuffling and looked up to see a guy bending over another, younger guy who was sitting at the end of our tram car. He was gesticulating menacingly with one hand and the look on his face was certainly not one of contentment. An argument, I concured, and was in mid-gaze-shift when I saw the older guys hand go to the younger guys throat – not really choking him, just exerting his power, keeping him in check while the former continued to talk in menacing terms. I was too distracted by the visual to really try and overhear the details of the rapid-fire menacings, but it was obvious things were getting a bit heated. The only thing I heard towards the end of the reel of menacings was “the next time...” and the guy held up his fist in the younger one’s face before slamming it into the side of the tram and starting to walk away... but not before his other hand came up and gave the younger a good slap upside the head. Fuck! I thought... which intensified when the younger reacted with the ever-perpetual macho reaction, proceeding to get up with a start and begin to take off his jacket while hurling insults back at his assaulter. Smart. Especially since he was about half the older guy’s muscle mass.
The moment the younger one began to de-jacket, my impulses (whether wise or otherwise) started working and I started up, no doubt figuring being on one’s feet was better for whatever may ensue. Within seconds the older had turned back around and started at the younger, giving him a good kick which sent him stumbling in our direction (they had been about 10 ft away). I immediately headed towards the tram door, ready to make an exit, but instead ended up turning around to block access between the younger and the older, who had been tripped up/slowed down by the younger’s floored jacket. Me, in my pig-tailed carnival hair and flowery skirt, grabbing onto the seat backs on either side of the tram to form a sort of out-of-placer human barricade between the two. Two other men in the tram had also intervened and stood in the way of the older assaulter, telling him to calm down (which I was also somehow saying, the french commands slipping off my tongue without a thought... thank you, adrenaline).
The two currently separated, the men told the younger one to stay back so as to keep the two away from one another. The younger protested, gesturing to his stuff on the ground near where the older was standing. Again, without thinking, I told him to stay there and I went over to gather his stuff, which the older had begun to reach for. Somehow I made him give me the guy’s jacket and pizza, and then noticed (without even really taking notice) a swiss army knife on the ground, which I also reached for, assuming it was the youngers and I would return it him (really, the word “knife” didn’t even cross my mind at this point... nor the fact that the corkscrew part of the contraption was bearing its angry twirls). Before I could reach it, the older quickly kicked it away from my grasp and then picket it up, grumbling “that’s mine” to which I responded, “okay...” and moved back past the intervening men to give the younger one his belongings.
Upon collecting his jacket and pizza, the younger mumbled a distracted thank you and then moved past us to stand by the door. The older guy was about 10 feet away in the other tram. For the moment, things seemed calm... still tense, still buzzing, but they weren’t going at each other. And then I went and had to open my big mouth.
It didn’t even cross my mind that this might be a stupid thing to do, but I guess my curiosity got the better of me, and I turned to one of the now seated me and asked – quietly, mind you – what the issue was. You know, I figured he’d understood the verbal prelude better than I and could offer a quick clarification. Right. Before the guys had even exited the tram. Great job Melia. Didn’t stop to consider that, even if you can’t understand their french, they could no doubt understand mine. In any case, the man I’d asked offered a very short, very over-arching generalization/assumption for an answer: “Problem in the neighborhoods/suburbs.”
“Ok” was I all I could really respond, wondering if this was an answer based on fact or instead merely on the fact that it was a scuffle between two people with somewhat darker skin. Before I had much of a chance to muse about the whole racial discriminations and issues in France, however, the younger guy had come back over, obviously overhearing the man’s generalized answer, and proceeded to explain in a LOUD voice that he hadn’t done anything, that he hadn’t said anything, but that the guys started harassing him, etc. I, again, didn’t catch all of what the kid was saying, but his raised voice sounded like a) he was just pumped on adrenaline or b) – my guess – he was talking loud enough for the older guy to overhear him repeat that he hadn’t done anything, that it was all the other guy’s provocations.
Whether or not the latter was actually the case, the older guy did overhear and trudged back over with a snare-ridden face.... and once again the three of us interveners upped ourselves and assumed our human blockade-stance. The older guy kind of held up a hand as if to let us know he wasn’t going to try and barge through us or anything, but rather said to us “I’m just going to say something to him.” Learning over one of the chairs, he proceeded to call the kid by his name – which surprised me, as I somehow thought this was a first-time confrontation deal – and then spewed some other things I didn’t understand in a low, commanding, and still rather menacing tone. As he turned away he faced the two men who had been monitoring him to make sure he didn’t charge and told them that this was an affair between him and the kid, their affair, and that they shouldn’t intervene, it wasn’t their business. Even while responding yes, sure, just calm down, the two men continued to keep their ground between the two disputants.
Finally, the older moved back and exited the tram at the next stop. When the doors had closed again, the younger breathed another thank you to the group of us and stood by the doors to wait for the next exit (also our transfer point). Getting off the tram with Martina and Leah jolted me back into reality, as I hadn’t even really taken note of their seated presence throughout the whole ordeal. As we made our way back to Martina’s, Martina – who’s more competant than I in her understanding of rapid-fire french – proceeded to explain to Leah in German (too hard in english) the proceedings of the various conversations/menacings overheard and then Leah translated it back to me in english. Essentially, the gist of the whole seed that sparked the tram-scuffle was as follows:
Younger guy, at a party, older guy was there as well with his girlfriend. Younger guy is with a bunch of friends, starts pointing or gesturing at/towards the older guy’s girlfriend (no reason give/understood). Older guy doesn’t like this, comes over and slaps his hand down, starts yelling at him... except younger guy has a crowd of friends with him, so older guy doesn’t dare do anything. So the older guy waits and follows him to the tram to get in his face and threaten him.
That bit was as understood by martina when the younger guy was telling the intervening man why none of this was his fault... the actually threatenings martina overheard went along the lines of “I don’t ever want to see your face around here again... next time your going to get it... watch out... I’ll find you... your mom... your family...” and then the details get fuzzy. According to Martina, she heard what sounded like the english word “shoot”... but she didn’t think they’d randomly stick in an english word, so she thinks she may have misheard what would have been some other french word that sounds like ‘shoot.’ But regardless, when it registered that I had just intervened in a scuffle between two guys who actually did have previous contact, and one of whom was potentially threatening to shoot the other guys family... holy shit. That’s when it kind of hit me that, while my impulses may automatically guide me to try and stop anything labeled in my head with a red, flashing “VIOLENCE” indicator... that perhaps, next time, I should at least try and understand the situation/gravity of the matter before assessing my ability to act.
Leah also informed me that she’d seen the swiss army knife in the younger guy’s hand, or so she’d thought... which lead me to the obvious conclusion as to why the older guy would kick it away from me, pretending it was his, rather than let me placidly hand frickin’ WEAPONRY back to its now-defenseless owner.
Essentially, the entire event was me not thinking, but acting instead. While it worked out this time (though god knows what happened/might happen after they exited the tram), biking home from Martina’s tonight, I think I was hit with the needed epiphany that perhaps, just perhaps, I might think a bit more if presented with a similar situation in the future.
I feel like I’ve really fallen into the placid, comfortable mindset of how safe I usually feel in Strasbourg, even/especially out at night. So tonight provided a nice little prod to shake up that confort zone enough to remind me to keep my head up and stay aware, rather than sink into the habitual every-day pace of trust and “everything’s fine” mentality. Coupled with yesterday’s viewing of “Shooting Dogs” about the Rwandan massacre (horrific film about a horrific piece of recent history), I’ve been reminded, in a cold, depressing way, that humans, however capable of love, happiness, companionship, are also capable of other things, from a mere tramway confrontation littered with meancing threats, to the massacre of thousands and thousands of other human beings. I hate that I have to be reminded that such is true, but i know i have to keep it in the back of my mind as I run into new people and new situations and take chances and try to make connections.
This weekend’s been a crazy up and down that hasn’t ceased to keep me thinking.
_____________________
Next time: an overview of the INSANITY of this past weekend, the exhaustion of which is just hitting me today....
posted by Melia at 9:32 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home