Despite being a well-known film star, Danny Glover found himself being shunned by New York City's taxicab drivers in the autumn of 1999. After finally being picked up by one cab driver, Glover experienced rude treatment. 'I was so angry,' he said in recounting the event to the New York Times. The Times reported that 'several empty cabs had refused to stop for him, his college-aged daughter and her roommate. Later, when one finally did, the driver refused the 6-foot-4 “Lethal Weapon” star access to the front seat even though he had a bad hip and is entitled under taxi industry rules to stretch out in front.' Glover filed a formal complaint with New York's Taxi and Limousine Commission; the incident received attention in the press; a protest rally was held in Harlem; and even New York's former Mayor David Dinkins added that he, too, had often been refused cab rides. Despite the public outrage, refusing cab rides to African Americans is a fact of urban life and a part of its folklore. In Public Enemy's Fear of a Black Planet, for example, the rap group compared the situation of taxicabs to police and fire fighters disregarding the black community during 9/11. The lyrics of one song report, '9/11 is a joke we don't want 'em / I call a cab 'cause a cab will come quicker.' To compensate, African Americans often use 'gypsy' cabs.

Known as jitneys, gypsy cabs constitute an underground industry in the African American community. At the beginning of the twentieth century, segregation was institutionalized; by mid-century it had become an embedded aspect of everyday life. Cut off from the mainstream socially and economically, blacks turned inwards for financial support.