Thursday, April 25, 2013

Do you give up your seats? Picking up the question again in 2013

I've written about this at least twice.  But as I ride BART each day, I see things, and it really makes me question who truly deserves a seat in the designated section.  Obviously, those who have any physical handicap, senior citizens and in my book, any pregnant women who look like they are past 2nd trimester.  I happily and willingly stand up for any of them.

Is that too little? Am I not being thoughtful enough?  I must not be since I've been increasingly asked to get out of my seat for someone middle aged with a few gray hairs, or someone who looks overweight.  Hey dude, I'm tired too, just because I don't have gray hairs and I happen to be slender, doesn't mean I didn't have a pain somewhere that day or have some illness that requires me to stay low!

And why am I being picked on?  The man next to me, and the women across from me, look even younger and are just listening to music!  Why am I, being on Facebook and Twitter, the one picked out of the bunch??

Also, when did female passengers immediately demand seats from male passengers??  We can't stand??  I don't think men need to always get up for women-- not like our society expects chivalry these days, so why demand it on BART?

One last thing, when will all the BART trains be updated with new flooring and seats??  The year is half over!


Monday, April 22, 2013

Over Sensitivity on BART due to Boston Marathon Bombing

Let me first make this clear!  Everyone has the right to be over-sensitive, especially given what had happened last week.  A friend of mine, who uses a black backpack (unfortunately), was detained by station agent to speak with BART Police because someone had reported him!  He is Caucasian, but what he did that triggered suspicion was he placed his heavy backpack on one of the circular "seats" on the BART platform, to give himself a break, as he walked 3 feet away to stretch.

An elderly man immediately reporter him!  I don't blame him-- he was doing his due diligence especially given last week's horrific events.  But are we all under scrutiny??

Separately, I've surfed Twitter for other complaints of over-sensitivity on #SFBART and found a couple incidences where racial profiling allegedly occurred.

This is the Bay Area.  We are the shining example of multi-ethnicity, tolerance and melting pot.  If it's happening here, I can only imagine how awful it is everywhere else in the US.  I believe there have been at least 6 racially charged beatings reported by news outlets, and that's just me counting by how many I actually read.  I'm sure there are much more reported and unreported!!

I pray for our safety, and our country's safety but for me at least, the increased racial profiling is a concern.  I do my part by learning and reciting facts to dispel ignorance and stereotyping when I hear it.  I was, after all, an Ethnic Studies and Political Science major at UC Berkeley...racial politics is of personal interest to me!

Have you heard or seen any racially-charged incidents lately due to the Boston events?