I have actually seen people give up seats to women of colour with kids, hold doors open for them, help them get strollers on or off the bus or up and down stairs, etc. - sometimes. But probably not as reliably often, and I think it might depend on the area. In most of the neighbourhoods I've lived in over the past decade or two, people of colour tend to be the majority or pretty close to it, so the crowd of other passengers on the bus/streetcar is not likely to be anywhere near all white.
And disproportionately, I think the people who do help tend to be one or more of: a) other people of colour, b) other moms, c) people like you and me who just tend to help people generally. Also, occasionally and strangely, d) elderly people, though maybe that's really a subset of c. "Strangely" only in that, as with you being disabled, elderly people are more likely to need the seat, or have a hard time trying to lift a stroller, but I think they were also raised in an era when people tended to be more polite and considerate of others. Not that that always lasts -- Elsa LaRosa is certainly a prime counter-example -- but apparently sometimes it does.
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Date: 2013-01-23 08:01 pm (UTC)And disproportionately, I think the people who do help tend to be one or more of: a) other people of colour, b) other moms, c) people like you and me who just tend to help people generally. Also, occasionally and strangely, d) elderly people, though maybe that's really a subset of c. "Strangely" only in that, as with you being disabled, elderly people are more likely to need the seat, or have a hard time trying to lift a stroller, but I think they were also raised in an era when people tended to be more polite and considerate of others. Not that that always lasts -- Elsa LaRosa is certainly a prime counter-example -- but apparently sometimes it does.