Photos: Subway Rider Alleges Racial Discrimination

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Anthony Sutherland, 33, who is white, says the workers, who were black, refused to serve him. He says he was standing at the token booth at the Nereid station on the 1 and 2 subway lines for nearly ten minutes.

Sutherland says he approached the booth at 8am Friday morning and noticed “Black Power!” written on a dry-erase board behind the ticket agents.

After he asked them to erase the sign because — he says — it offended him, they mocked and mimicked him and laughed.

After several minutes, Sutherland says they did finally issue him a MetroCard.

After he began walking away, Sutherland decided to snap some pictures of the sign with his cell phone camera. It was then, he says, the agents turned off the booth lights, and yelled “no pictures. But he managed to get some clear shots.

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Sutherland says the supervisor only started to take him seriously after learning about the photos. He sent them to the supervisor and was told immediate action would be taken.

Sutherland says, considering that he’s white and the two agents are black, there is no doubt in his mind that this was a case of racial discrimination.

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