In a tense situation like that, everyone except the big mouth racist is thinking of one thing: “What do I have to lose by engaging or confronting this guy right now?”
That includes the main target of this hatred, the white man sitting there with his frightened son. He too is likely to be thinking “This idiot Thug in front of me has nothing to lose, he may even be trying to provoke a fight so to build up street cred. and be part of a gang. A ‘show’ or performance for his fellow idiot Peeps. It won’t last long.
The father stands to lose everything, his son, his wife or himself could end up struck or stabbed or even shot. All over nothing.
The father has to deal with the temporary shame of not getting up and demolishing this fool in front of him, because the verbal abuse is not likely to last for very long. His son may not understand quite yet, why there was no confrontation. Why his dad did not ‘make’ that guy leave them alone? Explain the facts of race relations to him later.
Yes, the dad did the right thing to keep from escalating the situation. The antagonist was obviously trying to bait him..................
I would of been thinking similar things, and watching the guy on the left which might have been there in case the white person reacted.
It’s almost never the guy that is instigating the situation you have to worry about, but his buddies beside or behind you.