The name of the game is reverse psychology. The lemon’s in the shop again, but at least it’s for reasons I knew existed, and knew were coming. But it doesn’t change the fact that I had to wake up at ass o’clock in order to be the first person at the shop, only for them to wait about two hours to even take my car for a shakedown. Needless to say, with my entire morning more or less wasted, with it about to encroach into my afternoon, here’s temping fate. I’m sitting at the adjacent Starbucks, tired of reading, and settling into a writing mentality. It will be during this time that the shop will call me to update me on my car. With that in mind…
What historical events led to the disposition of the overwhelming majority of African-Americans preferring to back into parking spaces?
Driving in my neighborhood is a little bit of a chore, if there is anyone in front of you. Since an also overwhelming majority of African-Americans are averse to using turn signals, you have no idea when a person in front of you is going to slam their brakes, appear to be turning right for a moment, only for the brakes to hit again, and then the white reverse lights appear. With more care and patience exhibited to this task compared to their lawns and house upkeep, they will gingerly reverse their vehicle into their parking space.
Seriously, anyone who visits my neighborhood should keep mindful of how many cars they’ll see that are backed into their driveways.
This behavioral tendency is doubly worse in public parking lots, since most people want nothing more than to get out of their cars and be on their merry ways, but the inconvenience of having to wait for someone to back their car into their parking space is an annoyance.
Sometimes, backing in is unavoidable, or sometimes it’s the most logical choice to exhibit. Some parking lots are precariously cramped, and the foresight to realize that there would be difficulty in backing out of a parking space could be negated by initially back into it in the first place. Or sometimes, we feel like being parking spot jews, and passing up an open spot with hopes of getting rockstar parking. But when nothing better is available, and realization that the previously available space is still open could lead to the swift reversal, and Jackie Chan-like backing up demonstration happens.
But for all intents and purposes for this exercise, the stereotype exists for a reason, because simply, black people prefer to back in their cars. Or I should rephrase, park their cars in a manner in which they can simply pull forward and leave, as opposed to the chore of backing out of a parking spot, alternatively done by pulling forward into a vacant parking space.
So I just want to know why this is?
Long ago, I worked for a company that literally had one black man in the entire office. I remember when I first started there, I noticed an entire row of Ford Tauruses, which turned out to be the fleet of company cars. But at the very end of the row was always a Chevy pickup truck, that was backed into the last spot. Furthermore, such positioning of parking made the situation that the driver was directly in front of the exit of the premises, so that at the end of the day, it’s the optimum exiting position. When I met this black employee, I kind of had a guess that the truck was his. And then one day, I pulled into the parking lot, and as I was walking to the building, I saw the Chevy arrive, and without fail, watched it swing around and back into the parking spot. The black guy got out of the truck afterward.
My knee-jerk, racially-insensitive hypothesis is that the disposition to this behavior is an innate instinctual need to be able to escape quickly, in the event that a quick get-away is necessary. Since most activities possibly necessitating a quick get-away tend to start calm and carefully, the most effort-requiring part of parking is used up at the beginning, with the careful, thoughtful positioning of parking, complete with optimum escape path. But without question, the key to the behavior appears to be the aspect that exiting is a lot simpler than the time necessary to arrive.
Historically, I’m guessing that since African-Americans were societal outcasts in the past that occasionally needed to be able to flee, be it from harassment, racism, or criminal activity, the need to be able to get away quickly as possible essentially turned into a life on its own. It’s kind of like evolution. Because slaves needed to run away from those who tried to capture them, criminals needed to peel out and escape when the cops were on their way, this behavior has literally become instinctual to a majority of blacks today.
Whether they realize it or not, it’s completely instinctual that they prefer to back into their parking spaces, and subsequently oblivious to how many people they inconvenience in the process. But I just would like to know why, or what happened in Black History that led to this disposition?
Welp, this exercise didn’t work. Lemon’s still in the shop.
