The text of a letter I received from MTA yesterday. Here's the question, if this is the case and MTA did "thoroughly investigate" the incident and "appropriate action will be taken" then why in response to requests for source documentation via MTA's Freedom of Information Law request form does MTA deny having ANY source documentation regarding the anti-Asian hate crime committed against Ms. Martinez?

Specifically, here is the text of the email I received from MTA in response to the FOIL request.

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Re: FOIL request - Marie Stefanie Martinez

Response (Gail Rogers) - 04/05/2007 08:56 AM

Dear Mr. Zuniga:

This is in response to your Freedom of Information Law request, wherein you requested various information relating to a bus assault, on the B82 bus, involving Marie Stefanie Martinez.

A search for records relating to the incident described in your letter, based on the details, date, bus route and name, has been conducted. However, we have been unable to find any report, and/or records that respond to your request.

It is possible that, in a crimianal investigation, the Transit Police and/or the NYC Police might have records responsive to your request. However, the transit police are part of the NYC Police Department and, therefore, you will have to make your request directly to the NYC Police Department for its report.

Accordingly, we consider this request to be closed.

Sincerely,

Gail Rogers

Deputy Foil Officer

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April 23, 2007

Re: Complaint – B82 Bus Operator

This is in response to the above-captioned complaint that you filed with the Office of the MTA Inspector General concerning a March 16 New York Post article reporting the assault of a 17-year old high school student. The New York Post article reported that the bus operator witnessed the assault but failed to take appropriate action.

NYC Transit does not tolerate the type of behavior described in the article. I want to assure you that this incident was thoroughly investigated and appropriate action will be taken.

Thank you for taking the time to inquire about this incident.

Sincerely,

Millard L. Seay

Senior Vice President

Department of Buses

Cc: H.H. Roberts, Jr (041601)

B.L. Kluger (21862)

M.J. Fucilli

M.S. Neadel

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Here's what I'm asking folks to do to assist with follow up on this anti-Asian hate crime, no one is going to do it for us, we're going to have to do it ourselves.

1) File an online complaint with the State of New York - Office of the Inspector General -MTA. Tell them you are concerned about how the discipline and investigation of the anti-Asian hate crime committed against Marie Stefanie Martinez is being handled. Request a response.

mtaig.state.ny.us/html/complnt...

2) Submit a FOIL request to both MTA Headquarters and to the MTA police. Specifiy you are seeking any source documentation regarding the MTA's investigation of the anti-Asian hate crime incident involving Marie Stefanie Martinez and any notation of any discipline meted out to the bus operator.

www.mta.info/foil.htm

*************************************************

Today is the first day of Asian American Heritage month, helping ensure accountability for all Asian Americans and striking a blow for justice would be a great way to celebrate and show solidarity for Asian America!

www.falloutcentral.com/news/20...

On this week’s show, Fallout Central discusses:

*The future of New York City’s Chinatown with John K. Leo, Director of Outreach and Community Relations for the Chinatown Partnership.

*A recent racist skit (”Are You Smarter than an Asian?”) that aired on New York radio station Power 105.1 with Vicki Shu Smolin. President of the Organization of Chinese Americans - New York,

*An update on the the bias attack of Marie Martinez from Jun Zuniga dialing in from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

*A protest against racist Chinese restaurant ads in Tucson, AZ with Victor Wong of the TCA dialing in from Tucson, Arizona

Denny’s Incident: 10 Years Later with Jennifer Zhao, Education Chair of the Syracuse “Denny’s 10 Year Remembrance Committee,” dialing in from Syracuse, New York.

pacificcitizen.org/content/200...

AA Community Rallies Around 17-Year-Old Teen Beaten on New York MTA Bus

By Caroline Aoyagi-Stom, Executive Editor

Published April 6, 2007

Members of the New York Asian American community are rallying behind a Filipino American teen who was attacked by a group of youths for looking "Chinese" while riding an MTA bus on her way home from school, all while the bus driver allegedly stood by doing nothing.

Local AA groups are demanding that the New York Police Department look into the beating of Marie Stefanie Martinez, 17, on March 16 as a possible hate crime and are seeking accountability from the MTA, especially since the victim claims the driver did not come to her aid.

"Ms. Martinez could be your mother, your daughter, your sister, your cousin. If Asians or Asian Americans are being assaulted on the basis of someone's perception that we 'look Chinese' then racism and hatred isn't making the distinction between whether or not someone is Filipino American, Hmong American, Chinese American, Vietnamese American," said Jun Zuniga, a Filipino American, who has started an online petition condemning the recent assault on Martinez.

"Our political leaders need to be held accountable when hate crimes against our community occur. We have to help steer public policy."

On March 20 two teens - a 14-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy - were arrested for the beating of Martinez by the NYPD's hate crime task force and taken into custody. The girl is currently being detained in juvenile detention while the investigation continues. The 17-year-old boy allegedly hit Martinez in the face.

Martinez was riding the MTA B82 bus after finishing school and was heading to her Brooklyn home on March 16 when the beating occurred. According to local media reports, Martinez was confronted by a group of about nine to ten hostile teens who taunted her for looking "Chinese" even though she is of Filipino descent.

Suffering cuts and bruises from the assault, Martinez was finally rescued by a good Samaritan. As she got off the bus, Martinez says the driver told her to "go talk to a priest" likely because she was wearing her Catholic school uniform at the time.

Martinez has now filed a civil lawsuit against the MTA seeking monetary damages and changes to the current MTA policies.

Charles Seaton, a spokesperson for the MTA, said he could not comment on any pending lawsuits but said the incident is "under investigation."

"Marie is devastated. She is afraid to ride the bus and she wants to go back to the Philippines," said Martinez' attorney Rosemarie Arnold, who noted that volunteers are driving the teen to and from school since she no longer feels safe riding the MTA bus.

Arnold says she has received a letter from the MTA admitting fault in the incident and promising to "investigate the incident." She also noted the police have been "helpful" in investigating the attack on her client.

The beating of Martinez has rallied members of the New York AA community and they are demanding accountability from the MTA and that the NYPD look into the incident as a hate crime.

"We want to let [Marie Martinez] know she's not alone," said Jian Feng Xu, board member of the United Chinese Association of Brooklyn, who noted the group is currently working on a press conference with the student and her attorney. "We want to publicize this to motivate the MTA and the police to do the right thing. We want to let other people out there know that we won't tolerate this."

So far the "Condemn anti-Asian hate crimes and hold MTA accountable!" petition started by Zuniga has already garnered more than 2,400 signatures of support.

"I want to encourage Asian Americans to report when these bias crimes occur so that American society at large starts to realize that Asians or Asian Americans will not sit idly by and tolerate hate crimes committed against us on the basis of our race and or ethnicity," said Zuniga.

I am filipino. I am always told I look chinese and everything else but Filipino. To get beaten up on a bus for looking a certain way is disgusting. It's a hate crime. The bus driver is an a--hole. What if it was his child who was beaten on the bus? How would he feel if the bus driver didn't do anything for his child? Luckily the girl was not killed on the bus. imagine if that happened? I should go protest on the B82 bus stop and look that bus driver in the face. It's just so disgusting for this bus driver to do nothing but say "go talk to a priest" what goes around comes around.

MTA asserts in response to a FOIL request that they don't have any documentation regarding this incident, though NYPD Transit police may. Sounds like they probably didn't discipline the driver.

thinkaboutit..."Asian girl gets harassed on a bus"? Way to minimize a hate crime. She only got assaulted on the basis of her perceived ethnicity, what's the big deal? Wake up.

Dear Angry, thank you for your comments, but I suggest you pay a little more attention in History class. The Enlightenment refers to the 18th century, not the 17th. You might be thinking of the Age of Reason which succeeded the Renaissance and preceded the Age of Enlightenment. I challenge you to find a racial or ethnic slur that predates 1600.

I won't be surprised if a black kid is beaten by Filipino kids here in NY very soon.

I think it's pretty funny that a lot of people expect Liu to put out a press release when any Asian girl gets harassed on a bus.

First of all, in this case the girl was of Filipino heritage. Liu's Chinese. If you want to say that Liu has given up his racial crusader gig, look again -- the violence didn't happen to someone from his ethnic group anyhow.

I don't think Liu's silence is a racial thing though.

The MTA is a state entity and Liu is just a NYC councilman. Liu had pull with DOH and with local media, but trying to go at the the MTA -- or even the TWU -- would be a waste of his time.

Race is nothing more than a poorly thought out 17th century social construct.

With the Human Genome Project now complete, we need to realise that the genetic differences between people are VASTLY outnumbered by the similarities, and the old labels of race no longer apply.

This is why firearms laws need to be less restrictive.

l0b0t, again, if someone mugged your Anglo-Irish mother while yelling, "You fucking mick!" it WOULD be a hate crime. It's easy to dismiss race as being a false construct, but the sad reality is that it is a very real social construct that has large scale social implications. I'm not here to debate the existence of race and whether or not it's a big deal, unfortunately it is a big deal whether or not I personally want it to be. I am here to say that people, if they care about what happened to Marie Stefanie Martinez, should contact the people referenced in the petition, should contact organizations they know of (Organization of Chinese Americans, etc.) to urge them to take a public position on this issue, to take a public stand on this type of incident, because if the Asian-American community does not, we will see more Fermin Tobera, Vincent Chin, Thong H. Huynh, An Pech, Ly Yung Cheung, Navroze Mody, Raphanor Or, Ram Chun, Sokhim An, Thuy Tran, Oeun Lim, Ming Hai "Jim" Loo, Heng Lim, Hung Truong, the Nakashima Family, Luyen Phan Nguyen, Sam Nhang Nhem, Thanh Mai, Eddy Wu, Thien Minh Ly, Kanu Patel, Mukesh Patek, Naoki Kamijima, Won-Joon Yoon, Joseph Ileto, Sandip Patel, Theo Pham, Ji-ye Sun, Anil Thakur, Thung Phetakoune, Kenny Chiu, Balbir Singh Sodhi, Waqar Hasan, Mijanaur Rahman, Mohammed Sakawat, Vasudev Patel, Lili Wang, Bang Mai, Charlotte Colton, Ze Fairchild, Maleka Higgins, Nicola Grant, Guadalupe Swartz, Dexter Shannon, Beverly Graham, Song Sun Lee, Stephen Kam Yan Li, and the countless other individuals assaulted and killed on the basis of a faulty social construct. To that, I say no.

Andres, first I want to thank you for your reply, I was heretofore unfamiliar with the V. Chin case. I would posit however, that the whole notion of "hate crime" is ridiculous and demeaning to all human beings. A crime has been committed, and all parties should have equal standing under law. The accused is presumed innocent until their guilt is demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt. The victim is free to seek remedy under the law (criminal and civil) against anyone that has wronged them without regard to either party's ethnicity, religion...etc. When we (society) codify separatism into law we are saying that some people are entitled to better protection under law than others. For example if someone mugs my Anglo-Irish mother it's a mugging, if someone mugs my Trini mother-in-law it's a hate crime. What about my hometown of New Orleans where the population is about 80% black and 14% white? Should it be a hate crime for a majority member to attack a minority member based on demographics? Sorry for the long post, but I get irrate that race is such a big deal to Americans. Race is nothing more than a poorly thought out 17th century social construct. With the Human Genome Project now complete, we need to realise that the genetic differences between people are VASTLY outnumbered by the similarities, and the old labels of race no longer apply. Cheers.

I think this is ridiculous! How can a bus driver not do anything about a fight on his bus? A bus driver shouldn't even allow that kind of commotion on a bus, let alone a fight! I would sue the MTA too!

What is it with all of you Al Sharpton hating people (of the corn.) Go back to the corn fields with your stupid transplanted I'm a New Yorker attitude. A crime was committed and the bus driver should have intervened or at least called the dispatcher.

l0b0t, the attention paid to ethinicity in this case is because of shit like Vincent Chin...because hate crimes perpetrated against people who are Asian/Asian American don't seem to be accorded the same amount of seriousness as hate crimes perpetrated against other ethnicities. It is an important factor in this case due to the fact that the racial animus aspect of this assault will likely be swept under the rug.

I don't really understand all the attention paid to ethnicity in this case. The point is that a fellow human (a child no less) was attacked on public transportation. It was incumbent upon EVERYONE on that bus to intervene and help that little girl, and the fact that no one did, shames us all. In my hometown of New Orleans, I have been happily late to work several times; the city bus drivers will pull over and wait for the police, or more often stop and throw the delinquent hooligans out the door. Is it that hard to be decent to your fellow citizens?

That just cause black kids beat an Asian kid it means that blacks need to stop complaining about racism. Where on earth is the logic in that?

Why, he came out the next day for Ari Kraft, the vandal killed by the LIRR, and was lightning-quick to speak up for the deep fried mouse incident. Its an outrage.

All I see is racism traveling like some sort of liquid in search for the weaker.

That just cause black kids beat an Asian kid it means that blacks need to stop complaining about racism. Where on earth is the logic in that? So if I grant you the point that the beating was "racist" where do you take it from there?

That's appalling! How could people turn their backs on this violence - especially when it's motivated by such racism!? I'm so ashamed that this happened right here in my hometown of NYC!