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Danny Glover Ko Gussa Kyo Aata Hain?

Arthur J Pais in New York

He gets about $ 3 million for his work in such huge worldwide hits like the Lethal Weapon movies. But Danny Glover says he has difficulty finding a cab in New York.

Recently five cabbies snubbed him, the actor says, when he stood at the 116th Street near Columbia University, along with his daughter and a friend. One cabbie got into an argument with him when Glover demanded that he should get a ride, and only when the police were summoned could Glover get into the cab.

Glover, who has played dramatic roles in more than 30 Hollywood films, strode into the Taxi and Limo Commission on Wednesday to demand the cabbies -- 40 per cent from them from the Indian subcontinent -- be given sensitive treatment in dealing with the African American and Hispanic minorities. He wants the TLC to take up the matter with cab trade unions.

He said he was articulating the concern of thousands of African Americans who are snubbed by cabbies every day.

Denzel Washington, the Oscar-winning actor, was refused service by many cabbies a few years ago when he was headed to a friend's home in the Bronx.

Many blacks say they find it very difficult to get cabs late into the evening if they are headed to certain parts of Brooklyn, the Bronx and Harlem.

Legally, no cabbie can refuse to go any part of the city. But cabbies will privately confess that they avoid passengers bound for those destinations by pretending there is a problem with the cab or offering some other excuse.

"If anyone refuses to go Bronx or Harlem after certain hours, they are just being sensible," says Gurmit Singh, a cabbie, who does not want say if he has refused such a fare.

"We are not racists, we are afraid of being beaten up or robbed." He says he knows some cabbies who will try their darnest best not to accept African American passengers "even in broad daylight and in the middle of Manhattan."

They are so prejudiced that they do not want an African American even if he is going to the Plaza Hotel.

"Those are bad people," he says of those fellow cabbies. "They adore the whites and hate the African Americans," he says, then adding, "But going to Harlem and Bronx in the late evenings and nights can be dangerous."

He pauses for a moment.

"There are surely many good people in Harlem or Bronx but even when a well-dressed man or woman wants to go there late in the evening we get scared," he says. "Everyone knows we carry loose but substantial cash every hour of the day."

Some leftist taxi union leaders like Bhairavi Desai have tried to "sensitize" the cabbies, urging them to overlook the stereotyped notions the popular media offers at times about blacks.

Many cabbies listen to the exhortation. But in their hearts they feel it is dangerous to go beyond the 116th Street, a few minutes walk from Harlem.

"Our leaders do not have to drive to these areas late in the night," says a cabbie. "I am not racist," he says, adding that, being a Muslim, he has to respect all races. "But when I remember the number of times I have been robbed, I don't feel bad refusing someone a ride to these places," he said.

TLC officials say there were about 10,000 complaints last year against cabbies who refused service. About 85 per cent were related to locations.

"That is precisely the point," says Gurbir Saluja who drives a limo. "We are afraid for our lives. But during the day we do not care. We go to the roughest parts of the city."

"Could Danny Glover provide us with an armored partition and a short gun?" he asks. "We will then gladly drive anyone to Harlem in the middle of the night."

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