Fascism on the B Line
MY MORNING
I live about two and a half miles from campus, but I typically leave about forty minutes early because I ride the B line. For those not familiar with this fair city, the B line is the rectum of Boston’s transportation system. You wait in the wind and rain at an unsheltered stop then you squeeze onto the train with several hundred of your closest friends. Sometimes the doors open only to show the people on the platform that there is no room, then close again. On the B line you aren’t lucky if you can get a seat, you’re lucky if you can get something to grab on to. One morning I counted 20 people surfing in the space between rear doors. Because of all the stops and red lights, it takes me an average of 15 minutes to get to campus. This means the train moves at about 10 miles/hour. I could run certainly two and half miles in fifteen minutes, but it would be tiring. A dispatcher somewhere randomly orders the B line to go “express” skipping ahead anywhere from three to ten stops. This is wonderful if your stop isn’t skipped. If it is, you have to get out and decide whether to walk to your destination or wait for another train. If you are riding with cash or have a cash card, well, MBTA just doubled the cost of your trip.
Only a few years ago, the B line was free above ground––probably because civic planners didn’t think anyone would actually pay for such wretched service. I say all of this so that non-Bostonians can understand why someone might not want to pay to ride the B line.
I get to the stop and already a dozen people are lined up. The train could be around the corner or it could be another twenty minutes. I wait ten minutes and another dozen people show up to stand on this little island of filth and garbage in the middle of Commonwealth Avenue. A train comes. We all watch as it careens through the stop, slowing down just enough to show us the hundreds of passengers packed in like cattle. The B line often reminds of me of Shindler’s List. We continue to wait. When a train finally comes, we’re like pirates boarding a merchant vessel. I’m serious—watch an old pirate movie where a crew of angry corsairs has to get onto another ship as fast as they can using only two little boarding planks. The driver has no time for people to swipe cards: if you board in the front they wave you back as soon as you hold your card up. If you board in the back, you usually just hold your card so the driver could conceivably see it if he bothered to look in the rear-view mirror. Those who have cash are sort of like the Wildebeast with three legs you see on Animal Planet.
When the train starts to roll, this blond woman and an Asian man walk to the center of the train and whip out shiny badges on chains. Now having worked at a high school where we had several unconstitutional drug stings, I know what those badges mean. “Gosh,” I thought, “A drug bust on the B line. What an exciting way to start my morning. It’s a good thing I can’t be hurt by bullets.”
“EVERYBODY SHOW US YOUR PASSES!”
Are you fucking kidding me? I watch as they harass several people who didn’t hold their passes high enough when they boarded, before they issue tickets for “fare evasion” to two people. Fare evasion results in a $15 ticket and the offender’s name is put in a registry. A second offense is $100. Fortunately I purchase monthly passes, but I have evaded fares on the B line. Everyone in this city who rides the B line has ridden without paying––probably including these two undercover officers.
WHY THIS IS WRONG
Now I do not hate police officers. I’ve trained with many of them, even shared a beer with them. But what I saw today is morally wrong and damaging to a free society. I don’t believe that undercover officers should be used for any reason. The uniform symbolizes an open and honest relationship with the community. It is cowards, predators, criminals, and terrorists that try to blend in with the population. I think the war on drugs is fundamentally racist and a step down the road to fascism. In fact, in Naomi Wolf’s 10 steps to fascism, that’s step 4: create a network of police spies. Mussolini did it. Hitler did it. Now the MBTA is doing it.
But even if you think narcs are warranted to catch drug dealers, how can anyone defend using undercover officers to catch fare evaders? I didn’t break any laws today but now I will forever be paranoid that a fellow passenger might be a cop. A uniformed cop on the B line wouldn’t bother me––but a fascist spy definitely does. This creates a feeling of alienation from other Bostonians. I have to ride the B line everyday and now I will have a vague feeling of uneasiness. If I had more time, I could sue the city for emotional damages. I might not win, but I think there are serious grounds for a case and it would change the level of discourse about undercover police. Read: If you are unemployed and ride the B line, why not find a lawyer who works on commission and sue? Don’t you think sitting next to narcs everyday is stressful?
I also found a copy of one of these citations here. I don’t see a court date here. I find this extremely troubling. Even in a traffic ticket, you are given a day in court and the arresting officer has to show up. If anyone knows the legal apparatus surrounding these tickets please post it here.
Finally, let’s be clear: this is using police for the sole purpose of revenue collection. Traffic tickets are about revenue collection too, but there is at least the excuse that speeders cause traffic accidents (which they do.) But no one can claim that a public interest is served in stopping fare evasion or that fare evaders represent a threat to the populace. If MBTA wants more money, they should hire someone to collect fares in the back of the car. Lord knows there is no shortage of unemployed people in Boston. The job of the police is to protect the public, and they can’t do that if they are riding the B line looking for “fare evaders.”
WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT THIS
Historically, using increasingly violent methods to extract revenue from the populace has not played well in Boston. This is a moral issue and it will get worse unless moral citizens take steps to fight it. Here are some ideas I’ve had:
In the long run, Boston badly needs a strong citizen police-review board. Efforts to create such an entity began in 2004 when police SHOT VICTORIA SNELGROVE IN THE EYE with a pepper-spray pellet, killing her (Remember that?) The board was created but I couldn’t find any news about it after 2007. At that time, the BPDs Internal Affairs Department was required to turn over dismissed cases of police misconduct to a panel of citizens––but had refused to turn over a single case. Someone needs to find out what happened to that board and get it going again.
Here are some short-term solutions:
1) Write letters. Probably the most effective place to send letters is the Boston Globe. Writing mayor Menino probably won’t help, since he’s been mayor since 1993 and now seems comfortable doing whatever he feels like. Writing city council might be more productive.
2) Use Copwatch.com. This is the most active entity for reporting cases of police abuse. An undercover officer giving you a ticket is not abuse, but they resources for protestors.
3) Don’t carry ID on the B line. It is not a crime not to carry ID and it’s not like you need your driver’s license on the B line. Obviously lying about your identity is illegal. But if all fare evaders had to be trusted to give truthful information, MBTA might rethink their sting operations. Remember Gandhi burned registration cards in Africa.
4) Narc on the narcs. I think it would be really interesting to take a picture of arresting officers using camera phones and upload them onto a website. This is a gray area legally. My prediction is that a court would decide such a website violates officer safety. However, this could lead to a high profile case that would embarrass advocates of undercover police. Alternatively, you could just ask for the name and badge number of the arresting officer and put that up on a website. They should sign their name on the ticket anyway.
5) Chalk is a great tool for protest. Legally, chalk is not vandalism because it just washes away. What if every stop on the B line contained messages that MBTA is destroying civic polity by using fascist tactics to collect revenue? I have only recently moved back to Boston, but my experience today made me want to get involved in local politics.
I would love to hear other people’s thoughts on this. Maybe there are already campaigns underway that I don’t know about?
