Sunday, June 12, 2022

Inequitable transportation can kill

It's mind-blowing not only how much America's passenger transportation system has declined but also how little you hear about it.

In just the past few months, I've learned more and more about how deep the conspiracy runs, and how much our schools, legal establishment, and others have connived to worsen the inequity that plagues not just schools but also transportation. In most of America, there used to be better access to local and intercity mass transit. But while this access has declined, the financial and other investments needed for personal vehicles has soared. It's not just the skyrocketing gas prices (which the government won't do shit about) but other factors too.

With personal cars out of reach for more and more, our rulers should at least do more to serve people who use mass transit. And it should be done so in a way that is equitable.

This is underscored by a story from suburban Buffalo some years back. A Buffalo area mall did not allow buses from predominantly Black neighborhoods to drop off passengers there. Because of this, a woman who worked at the mall couldn't take a bus, and ended up being struck and killed by a dump truck on her way to work. This resulted in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the mall – and the mall rightly lost. The woman's 4-year-old son received that money.

Believe it or not, the accident occurred not in the Jim Crow era, but in 1995. And access to transportation has declined even more since then.

We knew before then that America's overlords are experienced at classism and credentialism. But this story proved they're guilty of racism as well. Next time someone accuses you of being a "class reductionist" who doesn't care about racism, sexism, or any form of discrimination other than classism, notice how little they've done to fight racism. In 1995, I tried hard to alert readers to stories of injustice of all forms, and it got me expelled from college and later arrested. What were shitlibs doing in 1995?

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