November 26, 2007
Metro Employees Indifferent to Green Line Assault
WJLA/ABC7 is reporting on the story of an assault on Metro's Green line over the weekend that's both upsetting and frustrating. The victim reportedly received no assistance from station managers when she attempted to report the incident.
The victim, a woman, was assaulted by a man who began pushing his body against hers just after she boarded the train car. When she protested and tried to move away from the alleged assailant, he grabbed her and pushed her against the window. The victim eventually received help from a teenage girl on the train and safely exited at the next station.
But when the victim reported the incident to the train operator and to two station managers, she said they responded with indifference and failed to contact Metro Transit Police, allowing the attacker to get away. Station managers are required to contact police whenever a crime is reported. Metro told WJLA than an internal investigation is now underway to see if Metro personnel did not follow protocol.
Photo by Dsade
|
What this post is missing, and what the web story on WJLA's website downplays, is the strongly racial nature of this incident, as the victim tells it.
The WJLA broadcast included an interview with the woman at the center of this story. The assailant made numerous references to her race during the attack, according to her.
The undercurrent of rage in this city cannot be understated, and it's infectious.
Doesn't surprise me. These metro employees look angry when I try to ask them one question. Basically they just want to collect a pay check and thats it.
Not sure about the undercurrent of rage in DC. What exactly am I missing?
Until Metro starts actually firing employees for serious lapses like this, should we expect any better?
This makes me ill. Metro station employees are worthless lumps - that's nothing new. They can't even be bothered to help you get through a faulty turnstile, much less help apprehend an assaulter. Props, on the other hand, to the teenager who stepped in.
Jeffrey, she also says the attacker made some derogatory remarks about her gender. Very upsetting but I don't see how it matters to the overall point of the post, which is Metro employees failed to take any action. Whether or not an attack such as this is motivated by race, gender, etc., the lack of a credible response by Metro is offensive.
Does this count as a hate crime?
if someone is slamming you by your lapels against a wall because of your race and gender, i would most definitely consider this a hate crime.
i'm curious to find out the race of the woman to see if my suspicions are right, because i've definitely been put in that position, although not as violently as that poor woman.
and definite kudos to the teenage girl who had the wherewithall and the balls (err, so to speak) to step in and help.
Lately i've been reading more and more instances where metro meekly shrugs their collective shoulders and goes "ehhh". it makes me so fucking angry.
This brings to mind posts over the past year on dcist about crime on the Metro and almost more disturbing the reaction (and lack there of) of certain Metro employees.
see: http://dcist.com/2006/11/13/metro_crime_eme.php
Metro should take this very seriously. The last thing the financially struggling system needs is to have riders scared away when it needs them most (and their $).
And yet they will run you down for eating a french fry or a Snickers bar...
I don't really see the racial rage either in the city. I see people trying to be "gangsta" and stare you down, but not what I would call rage. More apathy and intimidation than anything, but what do I know.
The last thing the financially struggling system needs is to have riders scared away when it needs them most (and their $).
What legal/financial liability is Metro risking here? If they've done everything they reasonably can to prevent a mugging on a train or in the station and it occurs anyway, I can't see a litigant suing for damages and winning. But if a customer is attacked AND Metro staff refuse to provide ANY assistance...?
I was waiting on the platform at Metro Center on Halloween when a man asked me for some change to make a call. After stating no several times, he told me that he had a gun in his pocket, that he was going to "trick-or-treat on [my] ass".
At this point I felt more than uncomfortable. I raised my voice "You just threatened my life over 35 cents", thinking safety in numbers was my best bet. Of the 10 people standing within earshot, most turned away, no one said or did anything.
Eventually, the man told me that it wouldn't be him that would take me out. He told me that he would follow me home. He told me that it would be several weeks later, that his boys would ride up out of nowhere and my face would be on the ground. He went on to explain: "My people are petty. Your people, your people would just walk away from a situation like this, but my people are petty. We will trick-or-treat over some shit like this."
At this point the train arrived, he moved towards the train and I went immediately to the gate to speak to a Metro employee. She made a few phone calls to other stations giving them my description of the man, then to the Metro Police.
A police officer arrived no less than 20 minutes later. I explained the situation. I explained that there was nothing I could do, that the man had gotten away. I asked him instead for advice in this situation. He explained that good people don't have anything to worry about (???), that it was probably an empty threat. He continued, "Don't live in DC. I live in Maryland, I can carry my gun with me anywhere I want to. I don't carry it, but I can. I wouldn't live in DC".
and wear red sparkly shoes to get yourself home from dc ... was that part of his fabulous advice too? Thanks Toto.
wow, omaha, that's out of control. so did you get his info & complain to the metro chief of police or whatever s/he's called?
I'm not feminist (I've been accused of hating other women and I'm a chick)but the disturbing thing about this story is that it brings to mind two other recent incidents were a woman's complaint has been all but ignored by authorities.
One is the student at Howard who claimed she was raped but two hospitals refused to do a rape kit (was there ever any follow up to that?) and two a recent incident on 18th Street in Adams Morgan where a woman alleged she was raped and was essentially treated in a hostile mannter by the male police on the scene before a bystander went and found a female police officer.
Omaha007, did you get the cops badge or name? I don't mean to sound too naive or presumptuous but I think that is newsworthy, or worth a formal complaint to the mayors office, I mean really?? A DC Paid employee telling you to move out of the city?
I am not being ironic here... that pisses me off so much! WE pay him to serve us, to protect DC residents, and he has the nerve to say that? Perhaps he would live here if the police in DC did a better job? Would he like to hear that in return. I think you should bring that to someone's attention, bigger than this forum, if you haven't already.
It sounds like an onion article, "DC cop advises residents, if you want to be safe, move out of DC" Except it is not funny when one actually said it!
Please send that to someone. That a-hole should do his job.
stmove,
Not that I don't agree with your frustration, but it's worth noting that the cop in question was a Metro cop. They don't work for Washington any more than they work for Maryland or Virginia.
I'd rather not have Metro employees ragging on DC, but it's not quite as bad as it would be if it were a DC cop.
The undercurrent of rage in this city seems real enough to me. How deep? I dunno, but last weekend I had a couple of (minor) encounters in different parts of the city about completely unrelated (minor) things that aren't exactly a scientific sample, but seemed more than coincidental and put a point on a number of general vibes I'd been getting.
1) I'm taking the X2 bus on H St. NE back to Gallery Place. Bus is packed, I'm the only white person on it. As always on public transportation, I go out of my way to be polite to everyone. At one point someone needs to get off and (apparently) I'm supposed to move back, but I didn't hear right and end up staying put. This guy pushes past me and basically lets me have it verbally about "how mr. man can't move out of the way" and "he used to want us to sit in the back of the bus and now he won't move to let us get back there" and on and on and on with unrelenting and increasing vehemence for the 5-10 minutes it took me to reach my stop. I originally intended to apologize for my mistake, but then realized engaging with him was probably not in my best interest.
2) 14th and U, my wife and I cross 14th street and are about to cross paths with a guy coming across U st. As I generally do when I'm about to cross paths with someone, or navigate around them in close quarters, I said "sorry - excuse me". What I get back is "Oh EXCUSE ME, Mr. Important Man. Got to get out of your way." And some other stuff as I walked away. Um, okay.
These things are admittedly pretty minor, and only two people out of literally thousands I see every day, but stood apart from the usual weirdness and potentially threatening street incidents and whatever of living in a big city. And apart from the usual eye-fucking and spitting in my general vicinity by teenagers in certain neighborhoods. These encounters don't rise anywhere near the level of the violence (or threats) in the story or in other posts, but that's just it - people in these incidents weren't criminals looking to stick me up or hurt me, or mentally-ill street people ranting at everybody - they were just (presumably) normal everyday people severely pissed off and looking to rant at a white person who happened to be in their vicinity.
Now, I'm not saying I'm special, or that I shouldn't chalk it up to Life In The Big City, but racial hostility? Yeah. Different from NY and Chicago, where I've also lived? Yeah. Just my two cents, but take of it what you will.
Omaha, go here: http://www.wmata.com/about/mtpd/cc_form.cfm
(The head of wmata police is indeed called the Chief of Police fyi)
This thread has legs.
About 8 months ago, my girlfriend and I were involved in a mess on the green line - taking the train home late at night, 2 young women decided we were worth harassing (one spontaneously challenged me to a boxing match) - my mistake was telling them (forcefully) to leave us alone.. They were either drunk or crazy or both... I shouldn't have engaged them at all. I'm not a saint and I'm not prone to playing the victim card, but it was the most helpless I've ever felt.
My girlfriend was left with scars on her arms after she was scratched and sat on by one of the women -- I had a bloody scrape on my neck after the other woman reached out to choke me. What can a man do in a situation like that? I won't lower myself to vilence against a woman...The train conductor heard yelling and came into the car and instantly assumed I was to blame, despite the fact that an intoxicated male passenger had taken sides with the 2 women and was now in my face. The conductor pushed me and when I asked him to call the Metro police he made a joke of it and literally laughed in my face (I am not making this up). The 2 officers who finally showed up said they had seen nothing but asked the 2 women to get off the train and catch the next one. They refused,loudly and repeatedly. The Metro police said they couldn't arrest anyone because they had seen nothing. My girlfriend and I were bleeding, but I guess in fairness that doesn't prove who the assailants were.
We got off the train and I found another officer on the street who said it wasn't DCPD's job, it was a matter for the Metro police. He called a Metro officer - 15 to 20 mins later a Metro officer showed up, saw my girlfriend's arms, seemed unimpressed, and said the injuries were minor (she still has scars), and said that other than calling an ambulance there was nothing at all he could do.
I truly feel like the system failed me completely. But I won't take a coffee on the train because I might get a citation.
The whole thing felt racially motivated, but in truth that's secondary to the frustration I felt with DCPD and Metro PD.
If you would like simulate how a metro employee will handle that complaint form, try the following:
Step 1: Look at form (or don't)
Step 2: Laugh
Step 3: Lunch/naptime
Step 4: Lose form
Step 5: Print out another one
Step 6: see step 2 (or 3)
Step 7: Flush form down the toilet
If a customer dares to interrupt you at any point of this process, you can shoot them a blank stare, or you can wordlessly direct them (preferably in the wrong direction)
Seriously, the transit police are a little better than the station managers, but thats not saying much. After I complained about lack of protocol when I tried to report harassment on the metro, they told me that had I reported "real" crime like a robbery, the station manager would've hopped into action. I sincerely doubt that.
"And yet they will run you down for eating a french fry or a Snickers bar..."
Highly publicized, but statistically rare, incidents.
The fact that WMATA is more concerned about ladies eating a candy bar on the metro than ladies getting assaulted shows how fucked their priorities are. But what can we do? Not use their services? Riiight... they're going to have to get on the ball lest someone takes the law into their own hands. Then shit will get real ugly.
On Thanksgiving (of all days), I was minding my own business and walking to a friend's house when somebody yelled "I'M TIRED OF MOTHER-F'ING WHITE PEOPLE!"
nice... maybe it is time to move outta dc?
I've been harrassed all over the city. I've been told to "go back to where i came from" up on 14th st. by a carload of guys with maryland plates (even 'tho I live in anacostia).
I've been yelled at and harassed by folks waiting for a bus with me (this was in my neighborhood)
I've been passive-aggressively talked about on the bus going to my neighborhood...
there are definitely more good days/situations than bad, but when they're bad, they really overshadow everything else.
I'd like some undercurrent of rage. Sounds sortof fun. Sortof sexalicious, until it all goes too far and I forget the safe word.
I've had mixed interactions with Metro station managers. When I first moved to DC I had one yell at me at the Eastern Market metro when I complained to them because a panhandler was literally living in the Metro station, blocking access to turnstiles and demanding 'toll' before you could go through. I ignored it for days but finally just had enough after watching the Metro personnel just laughing at the guy (he was pretty big and threatened violence against quite a few of the women that refused to pay his 'toll'). The Metro station manager told me that the guy had a right to demand 'toll' on Metro property and block people from using the turnstiles because he was down on his luck and that I should be more understanding of his rights. Not only did he literally yell at me like a madman, he also told me if I didn't like it I could 'move out of DC'.
But then I also had a great interaction with a Metro station manager at Metro Center, when I witnessed what was probably a pickpocket in action. That guy was very professional in his reaction.
Sara:
I think when you hear blatantly racist crap like that in DC you are expected to smile politely and pretend that it doesn't exist. That is, as long as it's coming from black people. That's the double standard we've all lived for decades now. We wouldn't want to actually acknowledge the problem. That'd be downright impolite.
What I find depressing? That today a massive report showing that 1 in 20 in DC is HIV positive, and that it's growing very fast in the black community, including, sadly, amongst black babies (apparently this transmission to babies is almost completey preventable?). Yet we continue to think it's ok that black churches and community leaders still demonize AIDS as a 'white gay disease'. Apparently the capacity to hate is still stronger than compassion even for those amongst your own circle.
There are plenty of people who have stared me down, fronted, or threatened violence to me because of my skin color (despite the fact I'm not actually white). It's not rational by any means but you can't expect people who act that way to logically think things through to begin with.
This applies to the metro employees just the same. There's an extreme disconnect with people in this city sometimes. People see "race" instead of "human."
Does the DCist community think that it's an issue with....
Poor vs. Affluent?
Black vs. White?
or both? Do you think African Americans in DC are disgusted by Caucasians because of slavery, or because they are an emotional scape goat for their anger?
Chimay:
I think it's a mix of race and class, but it happens that class in DC tends to break down along racial lines. It's of course not a one-to-one correlation, but I think it's safe to say that the upper class in DC is disproportionately white and the lower class in DC is disproportionately black. So, poor people angry at rich people often (in DC) equates to black people angry at white people.
That said, while I think it's largely a class issue, it's not solely a class issue, because in many (not necessarily most, certainly not all) interactions I've had with black DC residents of varying socioeconomic status in varying situations - personal, professional, what have you - there is a pervasive (again, not necessarily a majority) feeling that any dissatisfaction they have with their situation (whatever it happens to be), despite a majority in population and among the city government and bureaucracy, is someone else's (read: white people's) fault. And if you walk into that situation, despite your best efforts at treating everyone you encounter with respect as individuals, your respect will often not be returned because of who or what you are perceived to be. And those are the polite situations.
I think we can all agree that metro has some serious service issues. The angry people who showed up at the fare increase hearings were a testament to that. People are sick of delays, maintenance problems, and crime. This one of quite a few disturbing incidents about metro safety that have been in the news lately. Why do we have to turn it in to yet another, waaaa black people suck discussion? Maybe yet another waaaa metro sucks discussion would be just as boring and unproductive, but at least it would relevant.
I think we can all agree that metro has some serious service issues. The angry people who showed up at the fare increase hearings were a testament to that. People are sick of delays, maintenance problems, and crime. This one of quite a few disturbing incidents about metro safety that have been in the news lately. Why do we have to turn it in to yet another, waaaa black people suck discussion? Maybe yet another waaaa metro sucks discussion would be just as boring and unproductive, but at least it would relevant.
Anybody who says the racial tension in DC is no worse than most other big US cities either hasn't lived in one or wasn't paying attention. New York, Boston, Chicago, San Fran, Seattle -- all cities I've spent at least a few months in -- do not compare. Even in big majority black cities like Detroit or Oakland that I've visited I didn't feel the tension I sense in DC.
L.A., Philly -- two big cities I'm not familiar with -- maybe they have similar issues as DC, but not a chance with the others I mentioned above.
It's not just a black-vs-white issue. Over the years I've noticed a great deal of hostility (xenophobia?) not just to white "newcomers" in DC, but just about anyone who is successful and wasn't born here. Asian store clerks, Latino bodega cashiers, African gas station operators...there's this resentment between some African-American residents and these people who "need to go back where they came from." Instead of welcoming this economic development, they take it personally; it's as if their success is making locals look bad. Witness the s**tstorm longtime Shaw residents stirred up when the Ethiopian and Eritrean community tried to get a stretch of road renamed "Little Ethiopia."
It's a lot easier to externalize your anger and hopelessness, or internalize it in risky behavior or substance abuse, than it is to try and improve your lot in life or your community.
More fun, too.
Dixie:
Saying this is a 'waaa black people suck' thread is overly simplistic. I don't think anyone here is generalizing to the point that they are saying all black people suck.
The bad interaction I had with a Metro manager definitely had a racial tinge to it. He just happened to work for Metro. Yes, some of it is because Metro as an organization sortof sucks, but the issue of race is often the deeper issue.
What's sad is that the achievements many blacks in the DC area have made is overshadowed by the much more confrontational but probably statistically more rare attitudes that we've seen reported in this thread. We often forget that an entire black middle class has sprung up in DC. This would have been unimaginable only a few decades ago.
I recall our conversations with Hillrat some months ago. He was a smart and witty guy, but he absolutely refused to admit that blacks could be just as racist as whites and he constantly downplayed it as insignificant whining on the part of non-blacks. I think that's a big part of the problem here - that for some reason in parts of black society there is a refusal to admit that hating on white people is wrong or that it even exists.
Monkey points out something quite significant. It's not just black and white. It extends to basically all groups that are not African-American and haven't been in DC for a long time. And, sadly, it also extends to gay African-Americans.
I'd chalk some of it up to just outright stupidity, just like white racism is often a manifestation of abject stupidity. But it goes beyond that. It's a cultural norm in some aspects of the black community in DC, whether we like to admit it or not.
Perhaps it comes as such an eye-opener to some of us because living in DC is the first time we've been an ethnic or cultural minority (except us gay folks.... we usually live our lives as a minority no matter where we are).
And perhaps some of us take it extra personal because so many of us are such liberals - having wholeheartedly supported civil rights for blacks for as long as we can remember. My own father was blacklisted from his chosen profession because he actively supported civil rights in the 60s. My family suffered considerably because of that. So it's especially ironic when I see the children of those very people my father sacrificed for being such dicks toward whites because they are white.
And some of it is a gut reaction to the fact that some of us feel we've been hoodwinked by partisan politics - that the social welfare policies advanced mostly by the Democratic party have been shown to be a massive failure for decades yet for political reasons no one could actually come out and say that without being branded mean and racist.
It's been doubly frustrating to see DC run into the ground by a local government that got away with being worse than useless for decades primarily because they would scream racism at the drop of a hat. Confusing that issue was the very real fact that DC has been abused for generations by Congress because of the large black population, so you always had to think twice before criticizing local black politicans even when they were blatantly racist, inept, etc.
Ironically, this same worse than useless government actually enabled all of us - black and white - to live a lot cheaper in the nation's capital than we had any logical expectation of doing...... of course the down side was the city sucked, we were at pretty much constant risk of getting whacked over the head for pocket change, etc.
What's especially sad is seeing what this race hatred does to a portion of the black community. So many of the gains of the civil rights movement are being wasted on a new generation that not only isn't appreciative of the sacrifices that came before them - they seem to actually despise the whole idea of racial harmony and they revel in a thug culture and self-defeating selfish behaviors that would have horrified Martin Luther King and the rest of the civil rights leaders.
And it's not because of a lack of opportunity. Even the poorest of the poor in America is far better off than most of the world's population, and has far more opportunity presented to them. And even if you are dirt poor that simply is not an excuse for hating other people and treating them like crap for no good reason.
And we should remember that by definition blogging is usually negative. No one reads a happy-talk blog. So it's worth pointing out again that there are a great many people of different races in DC that get along great, on an equal basis, without rancor.
Early on I expressed some rage at how a DC cop acted towards Omaha007, I had thought based on her story that was a DC cop who came to the scene, but of course it was a WMATA cop, who I understand does not work for the city directly. Ok so that is about 5 degrees different. Still he was way out of line, had no right to say that, and negligent.
I also want to second JohnS. It would be dishonest to say that DC does not have a serious, serious racial tension problem. I have lived in other big cities, such as NYC, Philly (and short stints in PDX and Seattle), and in none of them did I encounter the direct, frequent, racial confrontation I have here, just walking around my neighborhood and taking the train. The only other place I've encountered it in a similar way was when I lived for 2 years in a small town by the reservation in New Mexico, there the mexican-national and Navajo population would regularly scream racial slurs my way (there is some understandable rage on the reservation).
DC seems unique in this area, and there are many, many reasons. But now I think two of the largest are the complete lack of honesty about it, and the fact that DC has never been forced to deal with different cultural immersions the way other places have, most big cities have too many groups for things to be between just two. Here it has been "us against them" for a long time in one direction or another.
And yes, I do think it affects my city services, I would be liar if I did not think that the city service in this city is segregated and race is a huge part of how people deal with eachother here on every level.
It needs to be talked about- and not like it is now, it seems the only people who talk about this are the racists in the suburbs who give us the crazy looks when we tell them where we live (I can't be the only one who notices this).
I love this city, born here and resident off and on for over 20 years, but this is one of the few things that make me look at other cities with envy. Bad service sucks, bad service with a side of racially motivated hate, really sucks.
I wonder how much of the Metro incident was racially-motivated and how much was just the usual alpha-male monkey jackass behavior? Any woman who's had to run the gauntlet of wolf-whistling on Columbia Road will tell you it aint' just a black thing. How different is this from the Lawn Guyland guidos who descend on the Meatpacking District or the Hamptons and act like the tall-talking, preening, horsecock jerks that they are? Add a little racism, some misogyny, or a sprinkling of homophobia and you have a spicy blog stew. And they do it because they know there's no Bernard Goetz to shoot them in the face, not that that would actually change their behavior or anything.
I wonder how much of the Metro incident was racially-motivated and how much was just the usual alpha-male monkey jackass behavior?
Don Imus wonders the same thing...
Ok, I keep getting an error when I post, so sorry if I double post again:
I've felt that this place is more racially tense than anywhere else I've lived. The point I was trying to make was the article was about indifferent metro employees, and the discussion devolved into yet another black people suck session. Stmove makes a perfectly fair point that he feels racial tension affects his city services. However, it seems that too often people here take any issue that is even tangentially related to race as an opportunity to air all of their grievances with black people. I think that the poor services in this city impact all of us. I wish I could address all of the other points here, but I can't at the moment. Maybe I'll try later. Sometimes I really do wish we had a spokesperson...
"And they do it because they know there's no Bernard Goetz to shoot them in the face,"
It's probably just a matter of time before some white person flips out and does something crazy, Bernie Goetz-style.
It's probably just a matter of time before some white person flips out and does something crazy, Bernie Goetz-style.
Problem with that theory is that Metro has a fairly low button-down psycho white folk population. Most of them are on the road talking on their cellphones. C'mon, commuting from Front Royal to Rockville? In an SUV? That's what passes for sanity?
Monkey was spot on a few posts ago: this is not just black-vs-white tension... it's directed at many different races and groups, even within the black community.
Seriously though, try listening to African American call-in shows on local radio or hear people talk at neighborhood meetings. There's a lot of paranoia out there that someone, eg The Man With The Plan, the government, The Gays, Uncle Toms, Uppity Ethiopians, etc are out to get long time black residents of the city. And those are the opinions of people not pre-disposed to violence... It's my guess that those fears are passed on down to the scum that do take it another step and hassle or assault people on the street based on their ethnicity, social status or perceived sexual oreintation.
I don't know if I'd say my experiences in other cities are as pronounced as DC, but I will say I've experienced similar racial tensions in other *southern* cities like Atlanta, Birmingham, and Charlotte. Conversely, I have not experienced anywhere near as much hostility (if any) in Philly, NYC, or Chicago.
Is there a geographical component to all of this? I've always thought of DC as the most northern southern city in the US.
Despite what some people would have you believe, D.C. is very much a southern city, historically.