Yesterday, Lisa Davis, a well known Newark freedom fighter
and activist, core member of Peoples Organization for Progress, NJ organizer
for Black is Black Coalition and seeker of justice for the unjustly
incarcerated was herself had cops called on her, always an implied threat of unjustified incarceration.
For what you ask? For
walkingTHROUGH the the waiting area in Newark Penn Station – while Black – and
when asked to show her passenger ticket, questioning the policy – and she had
transit cops called on her - AFTER presenting her monthly pass (which she pays $170 per month for.)"
She was there to document the signs now posted by NJ Transit
in Penn Station saying that you can be ARRESTED and criminally PROSECUTED and
removed from the station for sitting in their waiting area in one of their
“rinky” waiting rooms for over an hour.
Lisa Davis is a regular – daily – user of mass transit and
is in the train stations and port authority ALL THE TIME! In fact, on September 9, 2016, I joined Lisa
to purchase smoothies in one of the Newark Penn Station shops.
So yesterday, after being harassed in this way – Lisa Davis
pointed out the priorities of NJ Transit.
She takes us to a train station and shows us steps covered with snow a
full 24 hours after the Stella winter storm made its way through Newark. Lisa states that earlier today – the platform
itself – was covered with snow – creating a hazard in the dangerous setting
where high speed trains regularly pass through and where people in all stages
of life need to safely on board and depart from passenger train cars.
This kind of work – documenting these repressive stop and
frisk type policies in Penn Station Newark is decarcerating work and I salute
Lisa Davis in boldly standing up against these repressive policies.Arresting weary passengers who get to the station more than an hour before their train for trying to take a load off their wary bones is just one more measure of the system’s repressive war on impoverished and working class residents and travelers.
Hats off to Lisa!
Here is her Decarcerating Street Reporting – Real News – Exposing the carceral apparatus and the role of NJ Transit in the low intensity warfare against the impoverished and working people.
The decscriptions of these videos – which were originally Facebook Live videos are taken from Lisa description on her own Facebook wall:
Part 1
PART I. NJ Transit Abuses. The NJ Transit police were
called on me today (3/15/17) for attempting to walk through their waiting room
in Newark, Penn Station. I questioned why I had to show a ticket to just walk
across the waiting room. I couldn't believe it. But even after I showed the
ticket, the police were still called. But the irony of this is that NJ Transit
has mounds of snow and ice at their train platforms, at least in one Black
community and sees nothing wrong with that. They don't see that as dangerous.
Please see part II of this video called NJ Transit, Dangerous Steps.
Part 2
Part II, New Jersey Transit. Dangerous Steps 3/15/17. I recorded this video approximately two hours after the video of the police being called on me for simply attempting to walk across the NJ Transit waiting room in Newark, Penn Station. (Please see part I of this video where I was able to record the entire incident.) These steps are concrete. I had to walk up them earlier this morning to catch a train. They have ice and snow covered all around this train station. And they have loads of snow and ice on the train platform. The majority of the people who catch the train at this station are Black and Latino, so you know they don't rate for anything with NJ Transit.
Thank you Lisa Davis for this top notch expose on the decay of infrastructure including public transit. I am hoping that this blog can include much more of this kind of street reporting to bring the revolutionary side of the issues to the forefront. If you can gather this kind of information and write this kind of commentary – contact Decarc@DecarcerateNJ.org and we will set you up as a Decarca-Reporter.
Updaete from Lisa Davis, March 18:
NJ TRANSIT - RIDING THE TRAINS WHILE BLACK. Let's play a game. Can you guess which one is in the Black Community and which us in the White community. All these pictures were taken during the morning commute and the trains stop at both these stations. These stations are one stop away from each other, on the same line, and are just one minute away from each other. Really gives meaning to the wrong side of the tracks, doesn't it? These pictures are worth a thousand words, which means I'll be writing more.
