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Kids today! A 17-year-old Catholic school student tells the Post she was beaten on the B82 bus for looking "Chinese." Marie Stefanie Martinez, who is from the Philippines, says that when she boarded a bus last Friday, a group of black teenagers laughed at her and refused to let her pass - and then they pulled her hair, opened her book bag, and punched her in the mouth.
The Post has a picture of Martinez wearing the coat she wore during the fight, blood and all. Another passenger intervened and helped her, but the bus driver did nothing, simply telling her to go to a priest. Martinez filed a report with the police and a lawyer, who says Martinez will sue the MTA, said, "How did the bus driver let this happen? You have 13 kids making a commotion. This guy just turned a blind eye to it. He shirked his responsibility to this child."
Our question: Where does City Councilman - and chair of the council's transportation committee - John Liu stand?
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Counting the minutes until a John Liu press release....
Counting the minutes until a John Liu press release....
This is wrong on so many levels.
Forget John Liu....where is Al Sharpton?
of course, councilman Liu will comment, it's transportation related.
Who else would? the Mayor, Al Sharpton?
You have your tribe, why can't others?
Never mind John Liu (or not, whatever), every New Yorker should be outraged by this.
Not holding my breath until Al Sharpton speaks out against black people being racist.
Not holding my breath until Al Sharpton speaks out against black people being racist.
Buses filled with school children are hell.
should've had her friend take a pic of the bus driver and the thugs and sent it in to liu, keith olbermann, and sharpton...he's an EOS sensationlist
If what is alleged is true, that is one Fired Bus Driver...
He won't get fired. That MTA employee that watched a woman get raped still has a job, no?
I think these kids should be punished by getting their heads dunked into the deep fryer of a chinese restaurant
Michael Hunt:
There's a difference between "racism" and "prejudice." Obviously, black people are just as prejudiced as anyone else. The ideology of racism, however, has nothing to do with bullying school kids, unless of course they're Hitler youth.
"He won't get fired. That MTA employee that watched a woman get raped still has a job, no?"
Nope, a bit different in scope. That guy called the police rather than endanger himself, it seems this one didn't even call the police.
Of Course, I've no doubt "THe Empire" was there, Justice would be done...
Wow ! Well I've been on the bus during the afternoon when the kids get out . It's hell to deal with all those kids making all that noise . Secondly, The bus driver is in a difficult position here . If he intervenes he going to lose his job . (Read up on the MTA's policy with regards to assaulting others) With that in mind I think everybody posting comments here can relate to the predicament at hand ! Although He should have done something like flag down police, divert the bus to the nearest precinct . Something would have been better then nothing at all .
Forget fired. The bus driver deserves criminal charges.
that's true, what about that LED light sign on the back of buses where they flash "call police" or something?
matukonyc:
how is a group beating up someone solely based on their race not racism?
Racists aren't required to be political groups to be racists.
I don't really understand why you are trying to find a semantic difference here.
Either way, it's a screwed up situation. I hope those kids learn their lesson somehow.
I've come to expect atrocious behavior from the blacks.
New Yorkers don't care about Chinese or Asian.
If you are White or Black,
then it is okay to step in or help.
That's what I learned growing up as Chinese
in New York.
What would happen if the girl
got raped on a bus ?
Would the bus driver care ?
I bet he will watch and enjoy it.
And NOT stop it immediately.
Did the MTA change its policy on violence
observed by its agents ? The last news I remember was a lady getting raped in front
of the subway clerk booth, and the clerk did nothing. The news said he called the cops.
What's the MTA's policy and procedure on
violence observed by its agents ? Bus Drivers ?
No. 4 said: "Forget John Liu....where is Al Sharpton?"
Waiting for Filipinos to attack a black kid. Then you bet there'll be hell to pay.
*If the city’s black advocates paid even a tiny fraction of the attention they pay to shootings by criminals as they pay to shootings by police, they could change the face of the city. If demonstrators gathered outside the jail cell of every rapist and teen stick-up thug, cameras in tow, to shame them for their attacks on law-abiding minority residents, they could deglamorize the gangsta life. Think you’ll find Sharpton or Barron patrolling with the police in dark housing project stairways, trying to protect residents from predators? Not a chance.*
–Heather MacDonald
Wait, what?:
I happen to believe that using words regardless of their meaning dilutes their power to describe. If everything that anyone does that's connected to ethnicity is "racist," then that word becomes meaningless.
As a kid, I was constantly threatened by black kids for being light-skinned, "talking white," and what have you... since I'm also black, is that "racism?" Or is it just prejudice, or perhaps ignorance?
How is it that it took 4 days for Gothamist to report on this story?
Black people and spanish people are the most racist of all people in the world!!!! try being chinese and go to a bronx public school.
To clarify, I mean 4 days from the Post article that they link to. The attack actually happened almost a week ago.
Heather macdonald is one ugly white woman,
and why don't white people do what she suggested?
Will they demostrate at the trial of the three white people who killed that six year old boy in GA?
The poor child who was repeatedly raped while the mother of one of the rapists masturbated her vag.
if you know of a story go to the contribute page a link it up...
does your have to be held for everything?
Jeez edEx, sorry to offend you. I asked that mostly because I was surprised considering Gothamist is usually very on top of these kinds of stories. You really didn't have to be an ass about it. Is it my job to inform news agencies about news? I didn't know about this story until I read about it here, I couldn't have linked to it. It's the reason I come to Gothamist. You know, to see some of the local news...
People who annoy you. Revenge is like serving cold cuts. All those black girls will be on Maury trying to figure out who their baby's father is, while us Asians will be going to college and making something of ourselves. Stupid naggers.
i have never experienced more racism--yes, RACISM--than i have since moving up here from the south five years ago. i'm asian, and no one back home ever tried to holler at me in chinese like they do up here.
if there was a white person involved in this whole debacle, the media would have jumped on it when it ACTUALLY happened.
yo a bus driver is not a cop!! when will people understand this....if the driver can call a cop, great. otherwise, it's not their domain
Reading this made me feel sick... NYC seems to be experiencing a big escalation of hate crimes against APIs.
Fishtale --
Like previously stated, the bus driver did not even CALL the cops. He could have yelled at them (and with them being kids they probably would have stopped), or even just called the cops. Neither option requires physical interaction.
That's the difference.
That's because the Bus Driver was Black.
tis a shame, he could of done something.
Please sign and disseminate to your networks. Act against anti-Asian hate crime!
www.petitiononline.com/mtahate1/petition.html
Condemn anti-Asian hate crimes and hold MTA accountable!
oh great.. a petition.
I certainly hope these guys get charged with a hate crime like the white guys who beat up the Asian guy after calling out slurs.
And 90% of the people here who are saying the bus driver should have done something are hypocrites. You wouldn't have done anything either. The bus driver's responsibility is to drive the bus. Not get stabbed.
Every single race is racist... white people are the only ones who (have to) pretend not to be.
exactly tom. on both points.
a driver should have a way to contact police, but a bus driver is not trained in law enforcement nor is it in their job description. heroism is simply not found in everyone. that's why we all love mr autry so much.
hate crime laws are themselves pointless and racist. they don't cover people beat up because they're nerdy, small or fat. assault should carry a stiff penalty no matter what the criminal says while committing it.
She should move to the Bay Area. Filipino people are happy and respected there. I had a lot of cool Pinay friends growing up. I remember the SF Zoo even had audio tours in Tagalog. The county south of San Francisco is like 10% Filipino.
Still no John Liu press release?
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.
It seems like school kids can't stay out of the news lately.
This poor, innocent girl gets pummeled on a city bus by a
pack of young thugs for 30 blocks and the driver does nothing?
Shame on these kids.
Shame on the driver.
He should have done something.
Perhaps a lot of the blame falls squarely on the parents
who have failed to teach and instill proper values to their children.
Get well soon Marie.
What I've noticed is that inner city blacks tend to be the most blatantly and openly racist. They seem to have the attitude that because blacks have been the target of racism in the past, they're free to target others.
And you know what's really sad, black teens are following in the foot steps of the adults. They're just making it worse for themselves, young blacks who are trying to be productive in society and the rest of us.
It's amazing that there are people still saying that black people can't be racist. They'll come up with fraudulent definitions of racism, saying it can only stem from people who are the majority race blah blah blah. How many violent attacks will it take for you to wake up?
The MTA should hopefully institute mandatory Bus Driver response policy like they have on the Subways -
Whenever there is violence, the Conductor radio signals for a police officer.
Understandably, under some circumstances, one Driver and unarmed or elderly passengers might be afraid to physically intervene .... but at least the Driver could radio a report, or if a Police Officer or car passes by - blow the horn or signal for help. Jeeezz!
#31:
believe me, it's gonna take a lot more than that to offend me. and perhaps i was an ass, but rightfully so. gothamist, from what i gather, is a blog, just like the rest of em. they can't report every race-related incident in the city, nevermind all the news day-in-and-day-out.
If you do hear of something of interest, perhaps you should email jen or jake or contribute it here: www[dot]gothamist.com/labs/contribute and get the word out... how do you think most news gets to the listener or reader... usually, it's a tip-off.
Oh STOP with the "SEE!?! SEE?!?! BLACK PEOPLE ARE RACISTS TOO!?!" Crap. What? So does this invalidate racism by whites? Is it all equal? Are we all just racist pricks and therefore black people should accept racism towards them? I don't understand the argument that angry whites always make when Blacks are involved in a hate crime.
Look, the punks that beat this girl should be punished no doubt, they are stupid punk kids who obviously have negative essentialized notions of Asians. But PLEASE, PLEASE stop trying to use the actions of a couple thugs to make an argument that racism is all relative. Those thugs didn't redline property, they don't prevent people from getting jobs or housing. So STOP, please, please STOP. You're not as smart as you think you are.
I don't think any intelligent person would suggest that prejudice is a trait only found in white people. It is found everywhere and in everyone and can be expressed in violent and horrific ways, like it was on this bus. Point is there is aHUGE difference between prejudice and STRUCTURAL RACISM which can be defined as, prejudice coupled with economic/political power. This is what created the ghetto in the first place, and what helps to maintain it today. All these postings only demonstrate that racism against blacks still exists, if only closeted behind your skinny, tatooed, emo-facades.
Where's my #1 fan and his thinly veiled pseudo-racist insults?
Or does a cop have to be involved in the story?
qq
If a girl got raped at my home,
and I don't do anything about it to stop it,
I am an accomplice to the crime.
Is the girl or her family going to sue
both the bus driver and the MTA
for taking part in the assult?
No John Liu press release this time.
He saw the name "Marie Stefanie Martinez" and thought the girl was a Colombian or Dominican. Someone in his race taskforce apparently didn't read the full police report.
So that gets a big John Liu ignore.
Goodbye!
This is called Wasting Time (enjoy):
I'm really less interested in semantics of whether something is "racism" or prejudice" and more interested in material conditions produced by social actions. So, yes, if you want to call the kids who beat the poor girl on the bus "racist" then fine, I really couldn't care less, call it racism. Whatever it is it is bad and should be punished. And regardless of what you want to call it, it is different from a form of prejudice that is linked to structures of power (though no less horrific if you are the individual targeted by this form of violence). Again-I'm not apologizing for these kid's actions, my problem is with the response these episodes get from closeted bigots.
The POINT I'm making is that people always want to use these examples to construct some relativist notion that all prejudice is equal. 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? Does you're argument go any further? Now you can call black people racist! Congrats! You now have a new vehicle for your obviously seething resentment of African Americans.
Even if the world was an equal playing field, that argument stands on precarious logical and (dare I say?) moral foundations. And notwithstanding your fantasies of a perfectly functioning liberal society, there ARE structural inequalities built into the US. Otherwise the majority of Black/Native American/Latino people must be REALLY f'ing lazy. If that's the argument you want to make, be my guest, but something tells me you wouldn't have a problem making it.
Oh and one more thing, Marxism has no way of talking about race, it conceives of social conflict only in terms of class, so your claim that "structural racism" is a "Marxist construction" is pretty off base, no? And, if Marxism or Capitalism are the only two idioms by which you can speak of political/intellectual positions, the you really need to read a few more books.
All the handwringing aside, you want to do something constructive, contact the following people and demand that they hold the parties involved accountable.
Mayor Bloomberg
www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.bd08ee7c7c1ffec87c4b36d501c789a0/index.jsp?doc_name=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nyc.gov%2Fhtml%2Fmail%2Fhtml%2Fmayor.html
MTA Bus President Thomas Savage
mta-nyc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/mta_nyc.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php
HATE CRIMES TASK FORCE -Commanding Officer Inspector Michael J. Osgood
www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mailnypd.html
so getting the crap beat out of you for your race is not nearly so bad as being denied a job because of race? i beg to differ on which of those HUGEly different instances is worse and more corrosive to society.
oh, please do go on about that structural racism, rtd. tell me why minorities making double our family income got grants and scholarships i couldn't qualify for based solely on race. no merit or need considered. why there was a student lounge for black kids to walk into immediate social structures but the awkward, nerdy, poor ones.... who cares. perhaps it's necessary, but that is pure institutionalized racism. yes, rtd, from an individual perspective it IS all equal. racism all around. it's just socially acceptable for some to broadcast it on tv & radio. and i'm not skinny, tattooed or emo, so in your words PLEASE PLEASE STOP with your idiotic stereotypes.
dear retarded,
teach your kids the right way and your race will be better presented and taken more seriously in the future.
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!
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?
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
This is why firearms laws need to be less restrictive.
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.
I won't be surprised if a black kid is beaten by Filipino kids here in NY very soon.
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.
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.
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.
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.
pacificcitizen.org/content/2007/national/apr6-stom-mta.htm
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.
www.falloutcentral.com/news/2007/04/17/podcast-episode-interview-with-john-leo-directory-of-community-relations-for-the-chinatown-partnership-new-york-city/
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.
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.
*************************************************
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
*************************************************
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
*************************************************
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/complnts.html
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!