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I have ridden the NY subway every day for years, and I have never witnessed a crime, let alone someone spitting in someone's face. I can therefore assure you that there is no such "that" that people are tolerating.
I’ve lived in NYC three months now and had one Black woman purposefully roll her stroller on my foot for the temerity of attempting to nudging it slightly out of the way because I was attempting to walk past it to get to the back of the bus and last Saturday on the L train between 1st Ave and Bedford at 1:45am saw a homeless Black man swing his bag and almost hit a guy in the face for “looking at him”.
Perhaps people can have different experiences than you especially if they go out at night / not on the UWS?
I'm sure they can, and obviously such events do happen. But the OP implied that his experience was a normal experience (hence, his statement, "I have no idea how you guys can tolerate that."). It isn't. That was the point. And, btw, when I am on the subway, it is largely not on the UWS.
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