UPDATE: Statement by Transit Police.
Jamie Davenport reports on an incident Thursday night on a Red Line train ordered held at South Station until the police could clear a group of rowdy black teens off her car. She watched silently - until a cop ordered a black kid who wasn't part of the group off the train as well:
The boy says,
"I don't know them."
The police say,
"It's an order. Everyone in the group has to get off."
I collect my bags. The police looks at me and says,
"Not you. You're not in the group."
The police places his hand on the boys shoulder and guides him off the train. In a moment of temporary rage blindness I stand up and scream,
"He doesn't fucking know those kids."
The police looks at me and says,
"Is that true?"
To which I say,
"Yes, and it was true when he said it too."
The police release the boy and he sits down across from me again. We share a moment of blankness and then tears well in both of our eyes. He waves me over to the seat next to him. He says,
"That was because I am black. Wasn't it?"
I nod. He looks down sheepishly at his shirt and says quietly,
"I'm just happy they didn't hurt me. That would kill my mom. And she is not someone you want to mess with."
I say the only thing I can think,
"I'm so sorry."
He says,
"With all that's going on in the world I am so scared all the time."
Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!
Ad:
Comments
A bit too dramatic
By matt
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 10:58am
A train conductor tells a group of very rowdy teens to settle down, teens get "mouthy" with the train conductor.
Conductor calls MBTA security.
MBTA security arrives and tells the teens to leave for essentially verbally harassing a conductor, if not the police will be summoned to deal with it further.
Teens don't leave, so the cops arrive.
Cops broom them off the train with zero physical force, though one teen remains.
Cop asks remaining teen to leave, zero physical force used.
Teen says he wasn't part of the group. This despite they all arrived together in the same group and, despite being very uncomfortable, decided to stand next to the obnoxious teens.
Cop doesn’t believe him, because you know, all teenagers are always very honest when in trouble.
So what does the kids color have to do with this exactly? Nothing except the author decided to make it about race.
Do you really think a cop would initially believe a white kid from Charlestown that he wasn't part of an obnoxious group of teens who got booted from a train, even though that kid arrived with them in the same group and was standing right next to them the whole time?
Good story, though a bit too dramatic for my tastes.
You forgot the part where....
By bosguy22
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 12:08pm
A random spectator stood up and screamed at the MBTA cop, and where the 12 year old shared a cry with said spectator.
i am wondering if
By SatansFist
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 12:22pm
we google search a few of the lines, would we find someone telling a similar tale somewhere else? Has this been lifted from somewhere else, revised to make it local, and then posted?
also, was this train practically empty? or was everyone's cell phone batteries dead? i am surprised there is not a video or picture or similar comment or tweet
well let's see what happens next
By SatansFist
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 1:35pm
https://twitter.com/MBTA/status/756437391439605760
I mean if this did happen as the author claimed, there would be something in the police log.
meanwhile, 15K likes, 37K shares on FB, and 1,500 comments...
Yes, black lives matter.
By CopleyScott17
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 3:03pm
And this incident, or non-incident, had nothing to do with threatening black lives. Apparently, this woman's narrative is, at best, an exaggerated, over-dramatic piece of click-bait yellow "journalism" perfectly crafted to go viral and attract zillions of page views, likes, followers, advertiser dollars, freelance assignments, and/or just plain attention for the author. Meanwhile, it needlessly stokes passions, exacerbating social divisions while trivializing the very real issue of police-on-civilian violence.
What to do?
By Roslindaler
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 9:42am
This is an amazing post. Thanks for sharing. What can we do about how people, in this case the cop, see things. I doubt he was trying to intentionally group all of the black people on the train together, but he did so instinctively. We can provide training to police on when and when not to use deadly force, as evidenced by the difference between how BPD and other, poorly trained, police forces around the country react to similar circumstances. But getting someone to change their instinctive perception when grouping people together? That is a huge challenge if it is something that can even be changed at all.
Remember the cop has done this exact scnerio 100 times before.
By Pete Nice
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 10:07am
And 50 of those times all of the black kids will scatter and sit down pretending they don't know each other, and won't even acknowledge the driver/cop/other riders/etc.
In all seriousness, what should the cop do then? Honest question for everyone.
Are you $@&#ing kidding me?
By TommyJeff
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 10:16am
He should do his job and not herd people based on skin color after they 'scatter'.
And if hes unable to properly assess a situation involving kids on a train then he should turn in his badge and gun.
Ao no answer tommyjeff
By Pete Nice
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 11:56am
Just a tantrum. Productive, thanks.
In This Case No One Scattered
By Bostonmaggie
Mon, 07/25/2016 - 12:28am
The group got on at the same station as Jelani. Jelani was seated near them. When police arrived no one was being rowdy. I don't think it was a stretch to believe that a 16 year old black child in close proximity to the group was with the group. All parties agree cops were calm & polite. Jelani was returned to the train car in less than a minute.
Jelani and the group & an adult bystander told "T" police Jelani was not in the group.
Well, it depends.
By whyaduck
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 10:32am
If the kids were truly rowdy (disruptive to the point of causing harm and/or damage), then, yes they should be removed. However, according to this women's story, the one black kid who said, "I'm not with them", was ignored by the cop and the situation needed her intervention so the cop would believe the black kid. That is a problem.
If they were just kids being kids, being loud and obnoxious but with no threat to others, than no, I do not think they should be removed. However, mouthing off to the conductor is not cool and it would be a cause for removal. It depends on which battles one wants to pick.
The driver already determined that the kids were rowdy.
By Pete Nice
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 10:41am
But my question is what do you do when the kids scatter or just ignore you?
This does not mean what the police or T employee did was right, but people should speak up, and that is part of the problem, is that people never do. Good for the woman for actually saying something.
I also bet not every kid in that group was being disruptive, just a few of them. But all of them get lumped into one category (even by the original writer) as "rowdy black kids". I'd bet my life that some of those kids were just going home and were also not a problem.
Err on the side of not being a jerk
By anon
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 10:50am
So what if they scatter and you only kick off two kids? Odds are, the rest will STFU for the rest of the trip, lest they be identified and have to put up with something between being inconvenienced for 10 minutes and getting roughed up by a cop/quasi-cop.
Be a jerk or do your job?
By Pete Nice
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 11:58am
When the cops get off and the kids start to intimidate everyone again, then what do you do?
And odds are they kids won't stfu when the cops leave, that much I've seen first hand.
intimidate?
By anon
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 1:57pm
Who the hell were they intimidating? According to the story, they were being rowdy - this is something white teenagers do. Also according to the story, it was that group, her, and the 12 year old kid on the train so who were they intimidating. As to the comments about how the 12 year was seen entering with that group, the only witness to that was the person relaying the incident. She was by the conductor's door, who was facing forward - DRIVING THE TRAIN. If you saw a group of loud white teenagers talking to each other, would you call the cops? I ride the B line all the time and can say the answer to that is no because it describes BU, BC, and NE students, as well as Emerson, Berklee, etc. Loud and obnoxious but no one is going on about "intimidating". This was kind of the whole point of her post, if you actually read it.
How about riding the train the rest of the way?
By Dan Farnkoff
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 1:00pm
T cops usually aren't too busy for that, I imagine.
Not a bad idea Dan
By Pete Nice
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 1:03pm
But what happens when someone complains that you (the cop) only ride the train when black kids act up, and not when white kids act up.
Because you know that complaint is coming.
Valid Question
By Manny
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 10:43am
This is a valid question. I would think that if the cop were able to get all the other kids off of the train and one kid remained and when that kid said he didn't know them the cop could have believed him and let him stay thinking why would one kid not go with the group?. The cop also could have thought, ok maybe he does know them but now he is only one kid on the train and what bother could he be to the remaining people on the car ? I am sure the cop has done this many many times and maybe he/she is a bit jaded by being lied to,but for this kid this is a real incident and not the 4th time this week he has had to kick kids off a train. I can honestly see how a cop in that situation can maybe make the what I think is the incorrect choice but that does not change the fact that it is still the wrong. I would like to think that this was a learning experience for that officer and maybe the next time it isn't just kicking the kids off the train and he/she realizes that these encounters, how ever small they may seem, matter.
Maybe take his word for it?
By Neal
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 10:44am
He had no evidence that that one kid was with the others. He made a judgment call and apparently based it on the fact that he looked like the other kids. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume there was no malice behind it, but it was sloppy police work. If they were a bunch of white kids, do you think he'd make the same assessment? I don't know, but I was once in a very similar situation. About 20 plus years ago while on the Red Line heading inbound from Alewife, there were five or six guys (all about my age, white, similar dress as me, etc) sitting next to and across from me being rowdy on an inbound train. The train was held at Central or Kendall and an MBTA police officer got on and told them to get off the train. He looked at me and asked if I was with them, and I said no, and that I didn't know them. He didn't question me about it at all and let me go on my way. He had the option to not believe me and could have kicked me off as well, but he did believe me without question and let me be. I do remember that the cop was exceedingly calm, polite, and respectful to everyone, including the kids he kicked off, so maybe it was an example of a different policing philosophy by him.
He would
By anon
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 11:19am
Assuming the kid in question dressed and acted like the other kids in the group.
If I were the cop and the
By dorchester megan
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 11:13am
If I were the cop and the kids scattered I would just take a seat and ride a few stops. That would cool things down and help everyone get home safely.
Happened to me
By In The Know
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 11:52am
I'm not black but the same thing happened to me when I was a kid. A rowdy group of WHITE kids was causing a ruckus in a local neighborhood and the police were called.
I happened to walk down the street about the same time and the police went right into my face and pointed a Mace pistol at me and told me if I didn't get out of the neighborhood I'd be next.
I said, "I'm not with them, I live right here." Didn't matter. It was get outta Dodge or get Maced. So I turned around and walked a couple of blocks and stayed at a local store where I knew the owner for about an hour then walked home.
So in the heat of the moment, these things can happen. The whole post about kids scattering is also accurate. I've seen that. I've even seen them split up and get on different cars as well.
For what it's worth a relative of mine recently rode home on the Blue line at night only to be confronted by a group of WHITE kids that were acting out in the car and using the straps like monkey bars and doing all kinds of other gymnastics.
So it is a serious shame, given current national issues that this happened, but this is not confined to any one color or ethnic group. To automatically assume this from an internet post is dubious.
But then again... everything we read on the Internet is true, now isn't it.
Personally I was not there.
Thank you
By CP
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 9:51am
Thank you so much for posting this.
BLACK LIVES MATTER
alternative headline
By anon
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 9:56am
White Guilt on an increasingly crappy blog.
You're part of the problem
By Bob Leponge
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 10:06am
n/m
I'm surprised you have the energy to type after
By bulgingbuick
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 10:40am
the last 4 nights of slapping the Trump salami.
You win...
By lbb
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 11:36am
...the internet.
funny how the trash
By kernelPanic
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 10:31am
... always has to post as "anon"
What are you afraid of? People accurately judging you based on your awesome hot takes on the issues of the day?
Wow
By relaxyapsycho
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 11:43am
Your parents named you kernelPanic?
log off
By Sock_Puppet
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 11:57am
His mom was Unix and his dad was Ubuntu
i bet you're the type of
By mikex617x
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 10:31am
i bet you're the type of person who says "the irish were slaves, to [sic]"
I bet you are the type of
By Republican
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 1:01pm
I bet you are the type of person that profiles and spreads slander
nah, i'm not a republican.
By mikex617x
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 2:26pm
nah, i'm not a republican.
also, i bet that this individual was a moron who tries to equate white indentured servitude to actual slavery - which would be conjecture and is not slander.
Slavery?
By Anon
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 7:07pm
Remind us, oh wise one, who sold blacks into slavery?
you know
By Malcolm Tucker
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 10:44am
Alex Jones is all done at the RNC. He should be updating again soon. Refresh InfoWars and have a nice day.
Says the white male (yes,
By anon
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 10:49am
Says the white male (yes, that is an assumption from your response) who has had privilege his whole life. So much so that he can't even admit that yes, this happens every day to people with skin color different from his.
The most shocking thing about this story...
By CopleyScott17
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 11:12am
...is that the conductor actually reported, and police actually responded to, that disruptive, rowdy, rude behavior. Good for them. I wish they would do the same on the B Line. I don't care about their race. The kids who get on at Babcock after the nearby charter school gets out are loud, crude, and disrespectful. They are disturbing the peace. And don't give me the "kids will be kids" crap. We were all kids once. That behavior wasn't tolerated on the school bus. It shouldn't be condoned on public transportation either.
That behavior wasn't
By mikex617x
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 12:05pm
did you grow up in Mayberry? between grades 6 and 10, i don't believe i ever sat on a school bus that wasn't a disaster of yelling, fighting and juvenile hijinx.
Medium-sized town in Southeastern Massachusetts.
By CopleyScott17
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 1:10pm
And when the yelling and juvenile hijinx -- I don't remember any out-and-out fighting -- would get out of hand, the driver would put an end to it. And if it escalated beyond the driver's ability to control, the kids would be disciplined by the school (detention, etc.).
But really, what difference should it make where I grew up? Are you saying that standards of behavior should be lower in an urban environment? Talk about defining deviancy down.
i'm saying you grew up in
By mikex617x
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 3:21pm
i'm saying you grew up in either a totalitarian regime or in a fantasy land. fwiw, i grew up in a very affluent suburb. my point is this: kids are shitheads no matter what their stripes are.
Not so!
By JPMom
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 6:40pm
I grew up in Boston and have been taking the T all my life. Disruptive behavior would not have been tolerated on the T when I was a kid in the 60's. Times have changed and, at least as far as public behavior and discourse goes, not for the better.
I was gonna say...
By Sally
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 9:52pm
we certainly had shit-stirrers on our school bus in 5-6th grade but after that we took the Green line to school and dealt with the same crap that everyone else deals with on the T every day.
That behavior wasn't tolerated on the school bus.
By anon
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 12:31pm
Right.
Not buying it.
Another story or two
By Freddy Benson
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 11:40am
I've ridden the T since I was a high school kid. A group of kids (12, 14, 20) can be loud and rude and crude regardless of color and are. Sometimes they are drunk, sometimes they are just loud. I have seen, in 30 years, cops brought in maybe twice and honestly, just because it is public transit do we need to hear other people shouting and blasting a song from their iphone speaker at a high volume?
Two stories:
-Several weeks ago, my daughter and I were on the green line and it stopped at Kenmore. There was a white family with four kids, aged 6-10, who, when the train cleared and the conducter said it would stand by for 3 mins, began jumping on the seats and bars swinging their legs like it was the playground. One came close to hitting another rider, and the parents were all 'be careful!' the rider also white, walked out, and came back with a cop from the platform who shouted at the kids to knock it off and it wasn't a playground and asked where their parents were and told them tell the kids to act right and sit down. The parents rolled their eyes and told the kids to sit. They got off the next stop. Should people have just accepted it?
Several years ago on the red line going towards Ashmont, group of black teens (12-16 I'd guess) were being loud, cursing, trying to grab some other girl's purse, and a T worker came on and told them to ease up, and they cursed at him (he was also black) and told him to go work at McDonalds or some nonsense, so they stopped the train at JFK and two cops come on, and a similar scene unfolded where they were told to get off the train, and two of the group did the 'whole I don't know these n-words!!" even though they were the instigators. So...either you can have kids being kids, or you use your judgement based on what you know. A few folks shouted out 'yes they are!' and they were all taken off the train, cursing and calling the cops pigs and eff you all, etc.
I truly believe that there is an issue with the cops and blacks, but anyone who is surprised by this is either stupid or never listened to rap songs from 25 years ago. That doesn't mean all blacks are criminals, and that doesn't mean all cops are going to shoot a black person. Does shouting 'black lives matter!' every time a black person acts badly or has an encounter with police give them a pass? Suddenly a bunch of douchey kids are victims?
People want to talk about how divided America is. Why don't you go to Europe and see how blacks are treated? How about tribal warefare and poverty in Africa, do you cry for every person of color murdered because of a tribal feud when the government falls? What about southeast asia when the governments murder criminals with no trial.
BLM has turned into an anti-policre rant - and as a person who isn't black, a loud black person acting like a thug on the subway, is the same as a loud white person, or a loud asian person, acting like a thug on the subway - a possible danger.
If you don't want to be labelled, stop acting like a stereotype. Its the subway, sit your ass down, and keep the convo free of curses and at a reasonable volume.
I liked your post but would
By Patricia - not ...
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 1:15pm
I liked your post but would like to add an incident I had on the T. Very crowded train and my friend and I got separated. There were a large group of young men all wearing similar colored hats and such. They were a bit rambunctious and I just kept to myself kinda hoping they wouldn't notice me. Well they did. I heard a "Ma'am, would you like my seat?:" It made my day and reminded me to not judge a book by its cover.
Screw (not literally) Europe
By DorchesterGuy
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 1:50pm
Screw (not literally) Europe and Africa, right now we need to fix home. This country has been focusing on every other contries issues. While our Land is going to shits.
Is there anyone who can verify this?
By Roger Goodell
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 11:42am
I'd like to believe this story is true, but I don't, although I notice it has been shared 36,000 times from her FB page. Was there anyone else on the train or a police log?
The is no one who can variety
By Republican
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 2:14pm
The is no one who can variety this because it was exaggerated if not entirely made up. No teen and grown adult sat side by site in tears of emotion over this alleged incident. Sorry.
serious question
By SatansFist
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 11:56am
I am not saying the story is made up. But has there been any independent verification of this incident? I mean this is Mike Barnicle level story telling that perfectly fits a narrative. This reminds of the other famous MBTA story that was on here months ago with the middle eastern woman, that, if i recall correctly, also was never truly verified by anyone.
So you're saying
By Sock_Puppet
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 11:58am
She's abusing her write privilege?
i am saying
By SatansFist
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 12:04pm
This incident, is just too perfect, and people seem to cling to narratives that they would like to believe.
remember this one?
Same kind of deal. Someone composing a story that they think people would believe and mirrors things they believe happen, and that they know will get retweeted, shared and spread without question.
Thought the same thing...
By bosguy22
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 12:09pm
Doesn't pass the smell test.
I thought it was nice
By Sock_Puppet
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 12:40pm
How they formed, through pain, a common bond.
Just aren't enough stories like that.
Thanks for the link. Its
By Patricia - not ...
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 12:23pm
Thanks for the link. Its interesting reading the comments on that past incident. Many posters were wrong then.
Fact checking
By Lunchbox
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 1:48pm
Once upon a time we had journalists who would fact check things before reporting them. Professionals for whom skepticism was always the first instinct.
Now we have bloggers that cut and paste from Facebook feeds.
there has been too much of that lately
By SatansFist
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 2:30pm
seriously. I know people want to believe this story because it matches their perception of the world. But there are just so many fishy parts to it. It would be crazy to believe this story on face value. The bigger problem about blasting this tale out without even looking for verification is that you are essentially calling a few Transit PD officers racist. What happens if this turns out to be fake? will every person who read and shared it become aware of the fake that this writer completely lied?
it also seems kinda shady this person, is a writer, and has this post right above a post about her blog with her writings... and is now on her blog with her writings....
Here's the article on boston.com
By karenz
Sat, 07/23/2016 - 12:36am
http://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2016/07/22/mbta-rider-details-experience-in-facebook-post-racism-is-alive-and-thriving-in-this-country
"Mike Barnicle level..."
By Sally
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 3:00pm
HA!! Boy, that Charles-Stuart-believing fabulist phony got HIS comeuppance though. He...wait a minute... :-/
HA!
By CopleyScott17
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 3:08pm
Love to see the well-deserved Barnicle-bashing. When is karma ever going to catch up with that man? I mean, yeah, it IS only "Morning Joe," which no one would mistake for valuable news and commentary. But seeing him treated as a respected pundit and invited to pontificate anywhere, about anything, is insulting.
I'm curious -- did he have the balls to opine at all about Melania's plagiarism scandal?
White privilege? Do all
By anon
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 12:12pm
White privilege? Do all white people experience this phenomenon called "white privilege" ?? Or was it an attempt to attract and increase the number of racist comments to this post? I am white and in no way do I experience so-called white privilege. Especially on the Orange Line!! LOL Go ahead. Block me.
It's a click and bait post.
By Republican
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 1:05pm
It's a click and bait post. There is not even proof this "witness" is credible
If you are white, then yes
By ZachAndTired
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 9:45pm
If you are white, then yes you do experience white privilege. I can't believe the amount of people in these comments that don't think racism exists.
White priviledge
By DorchesterGuy
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 12:20pm
Failure to acknowledge white privilege is in it self racist!
I call bullshit
By Felicity
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 12:43pm
The authors tone sounds like attention-seeking. The writing is long-winded (embellished?), and terrible.
did you notice that
By SatansFist
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 1:04pm
the day before this all happened. She posts the announcement of her new writing blog... and that she is a writer?
What are the odds?
A good shareable story that people want to believe, and resonates with her audience, and it is placed right above the post about her new blog.
That is most certainly a coincidence right?
Me thinks she is going to get a good lesson about about how gullible people are.. and how forgiving they can be if they truly want to believe your tale
It's being picked up by other news outles as well as her blog
By anon
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 1:10pm
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/black-lives-ma...
I thought the same thing.
By Patricia - not ...
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 1:12pm
I thought the same thing.
inclined to agree with your literary analysis
By Malcolm Tucker
Fri, 07/22/2016 - 4:25pm
It is really, really badly written. If her aim was to show how a group of black kids fears for their lives any time the police show up - even if the police end up just telling them to knock it off and board the next train - she failed, because all she did was write about how Woke and Bae she is for talking to a black kid on the train. Whether this is a true story or one she made up, she really botched the telling.
The story is confirmed
By karenz
Sat, 07/23/2016 - 12:37am
Here is the link on boston.com:
http://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2016/07/22/mbta-rider-details-experience-in-facebook-post-racism-is-alive-and-thriving-in-this-country
The story isn't confirmed.
By nathans
Sat, 07/23/2016 - 7:43pm
The story isn't confirmed. The incident is. If anything the articles addressing the situation and the Transit Police report actually don't support her narrative. They state that the kid was off the train when he told them he wasn't a part of the group. This was verified by the group and an independent passenger.
Ms Davenport claims that she yelled at the police while the boy was on the train and that's why he was able to remain and sit back in his seat.
Pages
Add comment