According to their observations, the co-authors frequently saw non-Black passengers avoid Black male passengers, including ignoring requests for directions, physically moving away, and averting eye contact. The co-authors also witnessed heightened surveillance of Black male passengers by authority figures. Additionally, the researchers observed repeated hostile behaviors directed towards Black male transit workers, such as challenges to their authority and criticism of their job performance.
“The effects of racism and segregation that continue to spill into everyday interactions and movement through public spaces is damaging for Black men and exposes them to a range of harms, such as stress, frustration, and depression, and can decrease their community engagement,” the authors write.
Thanks for sharing @Feminist_Lo as regular transit user I have witnessed these observations. Daniel Penny killed a mentally ill Black man Jordan Neely on the subway and he now walks free. There were witnesses and one passenger assisted Daniel in holding him down. MTA workers who are mostly Black and Brown these days, I remember a time when this was not the case. Have you seen the movie “Bronx Tale”? Anyhow MTA workers deal with unhoused, mentally ill daily and they don’t murder them.
Yes, I saw the Bronx Tale. I think of myself as a teacher dealing with some very challenge people in a lock down facility and yet I could deal with issues with zero weapon —- with people who outweighed me by 100 pounds or more!
My dad worked at Bronx State Psychiatric Hospital for 27 years and not once got into a physical altercation with a patient and my dad is a big 6’3" tall and weighed about 230lbs back in the day. He told me that he saw the humanity in every patient and therefore treated them as he would want to be treated. If a patient was having a psychotic break my dad would offer them a snack of their choosing or a cigarette, whatever so they would calm down. Sometimes they just wanted to talk and someone to listen.