"I'm gonna go about my business and have a nice day."

I enjoy walking, and prefer to do such rather than wait for a bus for a measly five-minute ride from the station. The weather's nice, I got the natural hair products I wanted, and the work week was over! Not without a bout of street harassment, however.

As I walked past the Ellis Island Restaurant, this tall gangly man in a flimsy wifebeater was trying to talk to me.

"Look at shawty," he said. "Sure she hears that all the time."
I was trying to walk past him and his friend when he tried to block my path.
"Yo, shawty!" he says, in my face.
"My name is not 'shawty,' 'baby,' or whatever other name you have for me," I said.
"I'm 6'4'' [and I'm supposed to care because...] and tall," the dude said. "You short. I'mma call you 'shawty' if I want to!"
"No, you're going to respect me and call me 'miss or ma'am,'" I said.
This guy was being a prick. "She said 'miss or damn'...MISS OR DAMN!"
I had better things to do than deal with a child. "You wanna be an ignorant negro?" I said. If a Black man doesn't respect me as a Black woman, then I don't respect him. "Be an ignorant negro. I'm gonna go about my business and have a nice day."

And that I did...continuing onward while he stood there ranting and cursing.

It's not just blatant disrespect by Black men towards Black women...it's the aspect of blatant disrespect of men towards women, period. If these men want a woman to respond to them in kind, then they need to show that woman respect.