Ethnic Avenue – The Street That Crosses All the Others

A few weeks ago, this screen capture hit the internet like gangbusters. It inspired a wide range of reactions from “no way” to “oh snap.” The big question was whether it was legitimate racist programming embedded deep in the shag of the Google search algorithm or just another clever Photoshop hoax.

Oh snap.

We may never know the truth—since Google reportedly fixed the problem shortly after word got out. But the whole controversy got me thinking about ethnic people’s unique relationship to their cars—especially in our urban centers. For reasons that remain largely a mystery to most, ethnic youth seem to have a special fondness for after-market parts and accessories. If someone stole your car, and kept it, a reasonably keen eye could discern the degree and hue of ethnicity of the perpetrator, simply from the “modifications” you found on the car. Cars, it seems, can tell you quite a bit about a person—if you know what to look for.

Too fast, too furious.

Hollywood capitalized on the ethnic car phenomenon with the Fast and Furious franchise, featuring a largely ambiguously-ethnic cast, including the king of that group—Vin Diesel. I still haven’t succeeded at sitting all the way through any of the installments, but word has it that they devoted an entire one (Tokyo Drift) to Asian people. Dave Chappelle famously addressed Latinos’ fondness for animal prints in his Lost Episodes. And every other hip-hop video catalogs black people’s undying love for the mighty Escalade.

I’ve realized that we can potentially learn a lot by paying a little more attention to what people are driving. The first in the series: the Volkwagon Jetta.

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