Nationwide Movement To Decriminalize Fare-Beating — Because It’s Blacks Who Get Arrested Most

By Paul Kersey

11/20/2017

A glimpse of the hellish future is found in Washington D.C., where we learn a massive budgetary shortfall for the Metro (public transportation) falls squarely on fare evasions. Only problem: those getting a free ride vying fare evasion are almost all people of color — black — which means the state must look the other way.

Here’s why some lawmakers are pushing back against fare evasion crackdowns, Washington Post, November 20, 2017

Allen’s conclusion — that a ­business-suit-wearing white man would be an unlikely target of a fare-evasion sting — is part of the perspective propelling proposed legislation in the District that would decriminalize fare evasion, lowering the maximum possible fine to $100 from $300 and eliminating the possibility of jail time.

Public transportation can not work in a multiracial society

The D.C. Council’s move mirrors a trend in cities across the country based on a growing awareness among lawmakers of how issues such as legacy policing practices, unconscious bias and systemic racism can unfairly target communities based on race or age — even in the seemingly mundane case of fare jumping.

Some legislators are questioning whether fare evasion should be a crime at all, arguing that targeted enforcement campaigns are bound to ensnare poor and low-income people who don’t have the money to pay their fares — let alone fines.

“Absolutely there’s been a raised consciousness on this that did not exist 20 or 30 years ago,” said Nassim Moshiree, policy director at the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia. “Activism like the Movement for Black Lives has had a positive impact on raising awareness that policing — and the explicit and implicit bias in policing — means that certain communities are impacted in unfair ways. Even when it comes to something like fare evasion.”

Metro does not get any of the money raised through the fines; those dollars are funneled to the corresponding jurisdictions where the tickets were issued. But the cash-strapped agency is worried about lost fare revenue. Metro Transit Police Chief Ronald A. Pavlik Jr. estimated that the agency loses up to $25 million a year in unpaid fares — a hefty sum for an agency that just announced that it will seek a $29 million increase in the operating subsidies from the jurisdictions that fund it.

Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld said he understands concerns about unfair targeting, but he also thinks that people across demographic boundaries feel a sense of injustice that some people flout the rules and ride free, while others dig deep to pay their fares.

“It’s a fairness issue, across the entire community,” Wiedefeld said. “You have people in those same communities that they’re concerned about being targeted, who are paying their fares. And I think it’s right that everybody pay their fare.”

Earlier this year, in Oregon, prosecutors vowed to quit pursuing charges against the majority of fare evaders on Portland’s TriMet light-rail system, after a Portland State University study concluded that black riders were significantly more likely to be suspended from the system for repeat violations.

You read it correctly, the almost 73 percent white city of Portland has abandoned prosecuting fare evaders to protect black people from public displays of perpetuating racial stereotypes. All based on an academic study finding no racial systemic disparity, but just enough of the smell of racism was present to denote something foul going on (even though the study noted blacks were more than likely repeat offenders … ).

We've dismantled our civilization under the auspices of equality and the belief only perverse inherent white racism keeps a racial utopia from spontaneously erupting euphorically nationwide.

Wherever blacks fail, racism must be blamed as the reason why.

Prosecutors will stop pursuing charges against most TriMet fare evaders, Oregon Live, January 6, 2017

The district attorneys for Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties announced Tuesday that they will drastically cut back prosecutions of people who evade paying TriMet fares.

The prosecutors said the move is in response to a Portland State University study in December and their own research that found African American riders caught riding MAX trains without paying faced bans from TriMet at a noticeably higher rate than white riders.

Fare evaders who are criminally prosecuted have frequently been charged with interfering with public transportation, which is classified as a misdemeanor under state law. Prosecutors say they plan to stop pursuing criminal charges against hundreds of fare evaders caught annually — except in extreme cases or cases of chronic offenders.

They don’t want the public to take this as a sign that they're going easy on evaders, the prosecutors said, and stressed that people who don’t pay to ride will still face consequences.

Fare evaders could be ticketed and fined administratively by TriMet, they said. Riders who threaten or assault operators or other passengers will still face criminal charges in state court.

"All people who ride TriMet need to feel safe," said Rod Underhill, Multnomah County’s district attorney.

Defense attorneys cheered the change.

"I've already sent them a congratulatory email," said Lane Borg, executive director of Metropolitan Public Defender Services. "It’s a great thing that they've done this. … We need to call out racism in the system."

Borg said he also agreed that the charge of interfering with public transportation didn’t fit the act of fare evasion. Those who have been prosecuted repeatedly find themselves in a hole of fines and court obligations that keeps getting deeper — and often is difficult to escape, he said.

Our civilization was sacrificed to the EWO, and wherever racial differences flare up (mother nature returning with a vengeance), the only logical reaction is to scream "racism" and find a white person/people to blame.

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