
An allegedly racist comment by an elderly white man sparked a fight on an Oakland bus that has been spread all over YouTube. The comment involved the 67-year-old man asking a young black man to shine his shoes.
"The white guy was asking the black guy for a shoeshine," Iyanna Washington, the student who shot the video with a small camera, told CBS station KPIX. "And I guess the black guy took it as a racist comment, like, 'Why's a black guy have to spit shine your shoes?'"
There was a great deal of yelling back and forth before the elderly man moved to the front of the bus. The younger man followed him, and before long, a fight broke out, but it didn't quite go as expected.
"I guess he hit him across the face once," Washington said. "And then the white guy stands up and lets loose."
To the surprise of everyone, the older white man landed a flurry of punches that caused numerous injuries to the face of the younger man. The young man had a broken nose after the incident, according to Transit Spokesman Clarence Johnson. After being hit repeatedly by the old man, the young man simply laid on the floor in a daze.
The older man left the bus, but continued screaming and kicking at a newsstand. He surrendered when police showed up. Both men were taken to the hospital and reports are that he was off his medication.
Apparently, the young man underestimated the force of an old man who is no longer on his medication. I am not quite sure why this fight is newsworthy, but you have to admit that it's a little bit funny (other than the shoe shine comment, which was obviously inappropriate). The old man has become a legend on YouTube since the incident took place.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here. 

Comments: (246)
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By: Bryant on 2/09/2011 11:44AM
Rick, if you would have listen closely. the white man was talking about his own brother shined shoes. the white guy never applied or said blacks shines shoes. The moral of this story is "when keepin' it real goes wrong". LOL, I LMAO everytime i watch him get the snot beat out of him. After getting his a$$ beat, he said I get you next time.
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By: Vickiss on 2/22/2010 9:30AM
The white man was being overtly racist to the black guy on the bus. Shine his shoes? That isn't acceptable either.
- Also it should be common sense not to start a fight with someone who has 50lbs+ and 6 inches of height on him. What do we expect, regardless of age?
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By: Mimi on 2/22/2010 4:15PM
The white man was much taller, had more weight and apparently had that "crazy strength" that sick people like him have.
The black man should have never walked up there where the white man was sitting. It should have been more than obvious to him that the white man was crazy and they should have left him alone.
They should have left him alone....they meaning those women who were taping and edging the young black cowardly man on. They were just as wrong as the black man was for going up there to hit the white man.
I don't condone violence, but if someone provokes you and you are unable to walk away or they don't walk and a fight happens then you do the best you can to defend yourself.
This was not the case. The black man should have ignored the white man and should have been glad when he walked up front to get away from him.
Now I must admit, if the black man was not a wimp, had some weight and some height I am sure the outcome would have been different.
However I do have a strange feeling that perhaps this black man and those women perhaps were doing this on purpose or something. The tape was rolling from the beginning...why?
What was that all about?
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By: Bill Schrier on 2/22/2010 5:49PM
A 67 year old man on a transit bus is being harassed by a much younger black thug. A black woman with a video camera eggs the thug on and calls the man racial slurs, and also steals the old white guy's bag. The 67 year old walks to the other end of the bus just to get away from the thug, only to be followed. Finally the thug throws a punch at the man, i.e. the Negro thug threw the FIRST PUNCH. White guy stands up and pummels the thug until he screams for mercy .. GOOD FOR THE WHITE GUY.
Millions have now viewed the fight on YouTube and most are praising the actions of the 67 year old victim. The initial posting of the video has 2.6 million views and 50,000 comments. The video has already spawned facebook fan pages, cut and paste music videos, and other tributes. The WHITE GUY IS A HERO.
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By: Bill Schrier on 2/22/2010 5:52PM
The white guy didn't start anything ... the Negro offered to shine his shoes first ... you missed that part. This was all a scheme by the Negro woman who egged the whole fight on and later stole the white guy's bag.
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By: PeteRocks on 2/22/2010 11:24PM
That was the funnist thing I have seen in a long time........lol That black guy is a punk for leting that man talk to him like and then geting his butt kick like a little school girl(too funny) The white guy did say some mess up stuff but moved and it was over. WHY WOLD YOU FIGHT SOMEONE IF YOU CAN'T FIGHT? Should have had a gun and shot the whole bus up, now that would have been hot to post on YouTube....lol
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By: iketheterrible on 2/23/2010 11:12AM
It is obvious that common sense is not one of the brotha's strong traits. I'm sure that if you put him in that situation again and said ignore the guy saying something you don't like or move to another seat or get into a confrontation, most likely, this clown will choose the beat down.
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By: Tyrone on 2/22/2010 10:00AM
Shoe-shine boy had it coming. He should've known his role and got down on his knees and started polishing. Hard to talk tough when you have blood spilling out from your face.
Euthanize all these darkies.
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By: djkut on 2/22/2010 10:25AM
Tyrone please u wish blacks would shine your shoes. Stop getting behind a keyboard and acting like u an internet KKK member. you know damn well u fear blacks folks and u know if it came down too it that white ass of yours would get kicked and roasted...lol..lol
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By: Dark Gable on 2/22/2010 3:53PM
I would be hate filled too if I were a grown man with a little boys *enis! White men! The "ANGRY INCH"!!
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