In New York City, regulators are searching for penalties that will discourage taxi drivers from refusing service to certain passengers. Why would a cabbie do such a thing? Let's turn to the comment section of NYPost.com to find out:

Tarzan
 This is not about race .Its about some scum bag blowing a cab drivers brains out for a couple of bucks .
Every man has the right to protect his life by any means at his disposal .
I challenge anyone reading this to find a story of a Taxi driver being murdered where the killer was not a black man . Or try driving a cab in N.Y.C. like I did.
Then make your comment.

For Real
 I am total agreement with Tarzan. When I was a police officer, I drove cab part time. My weapon was always in between my legs ready to protect myself in any neighborhood. In those days 1970s and 80s they were killing "yellow cab drivers" by the dozen. I like most other cab drivers refused to pick up any black men. Sorry folks, that's the way it was and still is. It's not racism, it's survival.

Real New Yorkers speaking out, ladies and gentlemen! So the question is, how can we publicly shame these racist survivalist cab drivers? The current proposal is simply to increase fines. That's boring. Plus, it's not visible from outside the cab. How about this: just as some states are now adopting special license plates for people who have been convicted of drunk driving, NYC can adopt a special license plate for cab drivers who refuse to pick up black people. The license plate could be... I don't know, black? Better ideas in the comments.

(To be clear, though, sticking onetime drunk drivers with special license plates is fucked up.)

[Photo: AP]