In the caption of the Instagram post, he wrote, “An old white woman got on the train and immediately pointed at me and told me to correct how I was sitting. I refused, so she went to the conductor and complained. The conductor called the police and stopped the train,” he said.
O’Keefe also says in the caption that the friend of the woman who called the police had said to him, “You’re not the minority anymore.”
A separate video about the incident has been uploaded by the user, Nalae, on TikTok, where it has quickly gone viral, having been viewed over 160,000 times as of reporting.
They said I was disturbing the peace by not leaving the train. They pulled me off the train and arrested me without even talking to the Karen who reported the one black person on the train. On the platform, the police detained me and interrogated me. Only black folks stayed nearby and recorded the arrest. When I demanded a lawyer and reminded them they didn’t even take a statement from the woman who complained they eventually released me. This country is growing more psycho by the day. What will you do about it?"
I mean what the actual fuck?!? If this is only half as egregious as this is being portrayed I wish I had been there. I would have told that old white Karen to shut the fuck up. And I don’t even know who this dude is. And I’m an old white dude.
Us old white dudes have a responsibility to get involved in these events.
I know cops are scary, but white people need to realise their power in a situation like this. Being white gives you like a +80% modifier in interactions with the police. Even just getting in the space and being a clueless white dude asking questions spreads that modifier to allies in proximity, including those being arrested.
By getting involved you raise the expectation of civility, because our fucking society is racist.
It’s so fucked up that this is true
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“I was there and heard that Karen screaming (fill in a bunch of racist shit). She said no one would take his word for it. You see that trash on the ground? She threw it at him and missed. He was minding his own business and tried to walk away, but she wouldn’t let him be. Then she started going on about (aliens or jewish lasers or some real schizo shit). I think she’s having a breakdown or fit.”
There are clips online of crazy white people straight up attacking the cops, and the cops are just like “well shit, now what?”
Can confirm. I regularly cuss out and yell at cops that are harassing homeless people, not even violating their rights, other than their 14th amendment rights to freedom of movement.
Exactly…
The only thing better is some old white grandma getting involved. Pretty sure sweet old ladies outranks an old “Susan”.
I’m only 42 but I hope to be brave enough one day to be such a “sweet old lady” who kicks some ass.
Sounds like there’s a market for “Comfy Steel-toed Boots For Ass Kicking Old Ladies”. Let me find that 100k I put under my mattress…
Indeed and I do (60, 6’2" 100kg white guy) here in Australia, and it’s most often some old white entitled woman. (My 82 yr oldmother is one of these, she doesnt think our First Nations people should be allowed on the same sidewalk as her)
Problem is I then get called out for being a pedo/rapist , this has happened a couple times for calling out some racist bitch.
He literally says he refused to sit right on the MTAs seats. They decided how he was sitting was not appropriate conduct and HE refused to adjust for the MTA.
You don’t get to put your feet up on the seats just because you’re a “celebrity writer”, or black, or have a tiktok.
If you refuse their rules, they can refuse you service.
No he did not. This is what he said.
Yes, trains have rules… Like elections…
And if your sense of rules breaks down, your country might turn to shit.
I don’t know how to tell you this buddy…
Hehe, yeah… When even the Holocaust museum is self censoring, there might be err… Something wrong.
https://lemmy.world/post/36319688
Slippery slope. First people are putting their feet up and then we descend into chaos. That’s pretty unhinged theory.
Yeah, we get that. The thing is, there’s no rule that says how you should sit on a train, that’d be ridiculous (ofc you shouldn’t invade other seats or put your feet on them).
The article explains that an entitled white woman told a black man that she didn’t like the way he was sitting, and because the white is always right in America, that poor man got pulled out from the train and arrested: no questions asked whatsoever.
Imagine that someone tells you “I don’t like the way you word your comments” and then you get reported and banned for that without way to defend yourself; it’s the same here except that this involves racism.
Yes there are:
https://www.mta.info/document/17001
How often is that rule applied equally across all riders and by all conductors?
Was the specific rider caught doing this singled out for a specific reason? Was it a random selection?
Should riders enforce rules, or should that be left up to the conductors?
A rule only exists if it is enforced.
It’s probably applied whenever a conductor is told… And that is the conductor enforcing the rules.
I’m not asking when the rule is applied. Of course someone needs to make the call so the authority answers by enforcing.
I’m asking if this rule applies to black people as much as white people, people of color, Asian people, other old people, other young people, men, women, LGBTQIA+ people, military veterans, people in authority like cops and fire fighters, etc. Is this rule applied equally?
I’m also asking if this rule is applied by white people as much as black people, people of color, Asian people, other older people, other younger people, men, women, LGBTQIA+ people, military veterans who now work for the train district, etc. Is this rule applied equally
Because if not, and for instance, if by chance white people are known to kick their feet up on this specific train line or this specific train district, then it seems like the person in question of this story was singled out. The same goes for the conductor. If the conductor is white and only tends to enforce the rules of the train on non-white people, then again it seems like the person of this story was singled out.
How do you know you can make these calls one way or another without knowing the history of the train district, and the facts of this specific violation?
It’s not as easy as saying this is a black and white situation.
How was he sitting that was so improper?
https://www.mta.info/document/17001
Conveniently left out that it’s a $50 fine and not removal or arrest.
Yes, you’d have to escalate and be beligerent to have that happen. Happens everyday, with people who don’t believe themselves celebrities.
Oh no! He’s getting mad because he’s getting removed for no reason! Very stupid.
You’ve been told the reason Sir, and given the option of moving your feet off the seats. If you continue to refuse I’ll have to ask you to get off the train.
Oh my God! You’re her aren’t you? Damn.
Since you’re in here making claims, I’m positive you have a source that backs your started claim up? Something I’m sure you’d love to share with the rest of the class? Hmm? Got some proof…?
That the issue was how he was sitting, and that he refused to change that is not disputed by anyone in the story.
He states it himself:
The MTA isn’t a country club, they deal with people of every race everyday. They also deal with people who refuse the rules everyday.
“Correct how I was sitting” could literally mean ANYTHING. Maybe she wanted him to sit up straight, maybe he was “manspreading”, it’s really impossible to know from the description here.
If camera footage shows him taking up two seats or putting his feet up or something, fine, but stopping a train because someone “refuses to sit ‘properly’”? Seriously?
Yeah, we can conclude from the MTA workers actions that it probably wasn’t a posture or slouching issue - and that it was probably something much more common… Like having your feet up on the seats.
The MTA isn’t stopping a train because someone is slouching.
Still waiting on a source there, big shifter.
What I’m saying is, from this article, it’s really impossible to know. Could be a racist MTA worker, there’s no way to know with certainty from the reporting here.
Maybe he was being argumentative? We don’t know, his statement was “I refused” but there are multiple ways to refuse a request ranging from “No, I don’t think I will” up to “Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.”
We can’t know from this reporting, unfortunately.
TBH, I’d really LIKE to know! If it’s a racist MTA worker, go get him guys! If it’s an asshole rider abusing an innocent MTA worker, I’d like to know that too. Too bad we can’t know from this reporting.
Show me where he violated your holy rules. I’ll wait. “The old bag said so” doesn’t count as a source, young man, so, it won’t be accepted as one.
if the MTA worker also decides you’re in the wrong, then you’re in the wrong…
So this clearly isn’t just the old lady. It’s someone who works a low paid public facing job and doesn’t need this shit.
If old people AND customer service people are against you, you might be the problem.
Get help.
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Which of those things was he doing?
Why choose, they’re all against the rules. The MTA decided which one, and he says himself he refused to change his position.
His words, not mine.
So you’re saying we don’t know that he actually was doing any of them, then.
MTA workers deal with 1000s of people everyday. They’re not singling people out on any grounds but whether you’re following the rules or not.
Those two bitches had bags on the seats in front of him…fuck you!
He should have complained to the MTA officer then. But they can have bags on their seats when they’re not sitting on them. You can put bags on the seat you’re sitting on, just not on a separate seat.
It’s one seat per passager.
Yeah! I mean sitting incorrectly in the train?? He’s lucky they didn’t shoot him on the spot!
Apparently having rules and accepting when the conductor asks you to follow them is just a thing in public transport etiquette:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/former-bear-writer-handcuffed-train-after-allegedcomplaint-white/story?id=125829965
What you’re missing is that the response was out of proportion. If I park my car in a street sweeping zone, they don’t cart me off to jail, they write a ticket.
No one was carted off to jail. He was removed from the train, released and told to get the next one.
Where do you people get this misinformation?