White Man in a Black Transit System

I was always fascinated by movement and infrastructure — highways, waterways, sewers, railroads, etc. — and I was lucky enough to get a job with my local transit authority. I live in a big liberal city with a Democrat Mayor.

I am one of only a few white employees. I would say the workforce is 80 percent black and 10 percent Asian, with a sprinkling of whites and very few Hispanics. My system verified immigration status, so there are no illegals. Whites are so rare that a white woman once came up to me and said, “Wow, a white man working for the system.”

Most whites I know believe there is a kind of black conspiracy to keep people of other races out, and that any whites who actually work for the system face constant abuse. I can assure you that is not the case in this system. I have a great working relationship with co-workers and management. My race is not a factor, though we often joke about it.

For example, when a black lady passenger addressed me “n**gah,” I later asked a black co-worker if that meant my “street cred” had risen. “It sure did!” he said.

Blacks are very color conscious. They often use skin tone to distinguish between people with the same last name, as in “dark-skinned Johnson, with the dreads” or “light-skinned Jackson with the beard.” One co-worker said I was “Light- light- light-skinned,” which she meant as a compliment.

Why do so few whites work for the transit system? In my system, you start as a bus driver, and I think most white people think driving a bus is beneath them. Big transit systems are in big cities, and white people who live in such places want to work on Wall Street or Capitol Hill. Even if a white person wanted to drive a bus, would many want to be one of just a handful of whites? Probably not.

As for my black co-workers, about one quarter are stereotypically lazy, shiftless, ghetto creatures. The rest run the gamut to the most honorable, upstanding, hard working people I have ever met. Of course, when I tell off the lazy, useless blacks, they call me a no-good racist, but the competent ones defend me. This goes on behind my back but the word gets back to me.

Most of my co-workers loved Obama, and hate Donald Trump, but some blacks support Mr. Trump. They tell me that Mr. Obama did nothing for black people. They are sick of illegal aliens, and think Hillary Clinton would have given them plenty more. One co-worker is all for Trump ever since the tax cuts were passed.

All sorts of people use the transit system. Statistics show that most bus riders are poor minorities and train riders are mostly middle-class whites. You can imagine who causes problems: poor black people. They have every excuse for why they can’t pay the fare and need a free ride. They have no money; they’re going to get money from their mom or their job; the machine that dispenses trip cards took the money; they just got out of jail; they’re going to a job interview; they lost their trip card while they were on the train (but they have their phone, credit cards, ID, etc.).

The city issues free trip cards for students going to and from school, and reduced-fare cards for elderly people. Guess what? I see children using grandma’s trip card, and mom, dad, and grandma using the student trip card! And when these people are on the train, look out! Food everywhere, radios blaring, fights, muggings, running through the cars.

On the buses it’s worse. They throw eggs, bricks, or whatever at the bus. Unfortunately, the bus has an emergency cut-off switch the kids know about. The kids trip the switch, the bus driver has to exit the bus and reset the emergency switch. That is the perfect time to be assaulted. New buses have a partition separating the driver from the passengers.

In Washington, DC, the other day, a lady urinated into a cup on a moving bus. When the driver came to the stop and wished her a nice day, she threw her cup of urine on the driver.

My black co-workers do not fail to notice that virtually every problem passenger is black, and they can tell at a glance who is going to try to beat the fare: young blacks of both sexes. They look right at the station master and hop the turnstile, try to go through it piggy back to get two people on with one fare, or go through the service gate. Staff actually try to explain to offenders that because we operate and maintain trains, buses, stations, tracks, and so on, we need money to keep operating. They would be better off trying to teach Latin to these leeches.

Transit staff think of every fare-beater as loss of revenue. Loss of revenue means fewer raises, less overtime, and a larger employee contribution to benefits. My black co-workers talk about black low-lifes in ways that would make the Ku Klux Klan sound like the SPLC. They call them “broke-ass niggas,” “trifllin’-ass niggas,” “no money having mothafuckas” or just straight-up ni**er — with the critical -er ending, rather than the friendly -a. I, of course, say nothing.

I do not feel sorry for these louts. The ghetto seems to be the richest place in America. These kids are out with the latest cell phones, top-brand clothes, and the boys are wearing $200 Air Jordan’s. The females have their hair done (either natural or weave), fancy make up, nails, and wear the latest fashions. Don’t ask where the parents are: They are using their child’s trip card, or teaching their children how to beat the fare.

Why don’t the police crack down on blatant fare-beating? They can’t. Liberal, Democrat big-city mayors all want a kid-glove approach to “youths.” First, the police department doesn’t want officers to be too active. For any arrest — from fare beating to capital murder — there is always someone with a smart phone who will post a video and claim it was police brutality. But once the police decide to make an arrest, they are committed, and it’s not always easy. I have had to help the police more than once when thugs resist arrest.

Second, the people who run the transit authority don’t want arrest statistics to go up. That makes the system sound dangerous, which means fewer riders and less revenue. In fact, collaring fare beaters would be the best way to keep the system safe. They are the ones carrying weapons or drugs, have warrants for their arrest, and who cause all the problems. Finally, the courts have a “cut ’em loose” mentality, so the cops don’t have much incentive to enforce the law.

Transit work is a good, middle-class job with a respectable pension, and at least in my city, you won’t be bullied for being white. And you get a ring-side seat to the human circus.