A perfect example of what it means to be anti-racist
I've wondered before what it means to be anti-racist. I recall once asking online and got a not so helpful response of "well maybe you should think about that". But today my friend exemplified the idea.
He was sitting in a bus in San Francisco when an older white man started yelling racist shit at someone else on the bus. My friend is a model citizen. The kind of guy to call in issues to 311 as he's walking home. A frequent volunteer as well. So when he saw this altercation he stood up and got in front of the yelling man. That was enough to interrupt him. But more action was needed. Justice was needed.
He just so happened to have a need to relieve some gas. And so he aimed... and fired right onto the guy. When he walked off he turned to the racist and said "To be clear, I farted on you intentionally because of what you said". I'm told the face he got in response was exactly the same as Hide the Pain Harold's.
We should all strive for this level of bravery. And maybe, one fart at a time, we can end racism.
Safety issues aside, I need to start doing this in real life when people start talking nonsense. Not the fart in their face part but the get up make eye contact, "to be clear, I'm leaving intentionally because of what you said" part. I was raised to be respectful and defer to my seniors and elders but it feels necessary now to change that. I'm not going to argue with them, I'm just going to make eye contact and clearly state why I'm removing myself from their conversation.
I'm not knowledgeable in the subject but to add to your comment; this matches up with the de-escalation methods I've read in the past. Stating limits/borders and consequences that only involve your agency rather than other person seems to be the main subjects when dealing with problematic people.
For instance, "if you keep shouting X I'm going to leave" does both perfectly. And it makes sense too because nobody wants to have their agency taken from them. So, if you were to lets say, threaten the person with removing them from the place, it only serves to provoke them. And you're right to avoid flatulence part since we can safely consider that a provocation as well. Aim is to disarm the person, not get them defensive. Although unexpected -and somewhat crazy- behaviour also has that effect but that is entirely different.
Lastly, if anyone can recommend sources for me to read about the subject, I'd be open to learn more. Because, as much as reading this topic was hilarious, I'm not certain if it's the safest way to deal with problematic people.
We will need to learn to fart on command