California’s Bay Area refuses to inform the public of how dangerous riding the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system is because it could perpetuate stereotypes of criminals and simultaneously counter progressive values.
These officials have sworn to uphold and enforce the law, but now consider political correctness superior to public safety.
Over the past year, assaults and robberies have risen 41 percent on the rail system, but leftist-strangled municipalities have continued to undercut law enforcement. These cuts have only emboldened criminal activity over the summer. There has been repeated instances where mobs of primarily black youths (in numbers of 4 to 60) board trains to assault and rob passengers.
Now, a victim has filed a lawsuit against the agency, which places pressure on BART after they failed to release security tapes of rampant muggings.
BART spokesman Taylor Huckabee has claimed that there is no “public interest” in releasing the tapes because some of the perpetrators may be minors and these crimes are “petty.” To suggest endangerment on public transportation serves no interest to the public is absurd and robbery and assault is hardly petty.
However, according to a memo distributed to BART directors, the tapes have been withheld to the public because they would “unfairly affect and characterize riders of color, leading to sweeping generalizations in media reports and a high level of racially insensitive commentary.”
When a director of BART Deborah Allen asked Assistant General Manager Kerry Hamill, “I don’t understand what role the color of one’s skin plays in this issue [of whether to divulge information]. Can you explain?” Hamill replied, “If we were to regularly feed the news media video of crimes on our system that involve minority suspects… we would certainly face questions as to why we were… perpetuating false stereotypes in the process.”
Unfortunately it is commonplace for municipalities to attempt to forward their partisan policy objectives, but sacrificing public safety for the sake of personal politics is selfish and negligent. In this situation, Allen is precisely correct. Refusal to inform the public of increasing, imminent dangers because the suspects’ appearances may undercut political correctness is a severe disservice to citizens. Criminals are the individuals that breach the contract of civility and promulgate tensions between ethnic demographics and between law enforcement and communities. Prosecuting individuals of any skin color to the proper extent of the law ensures the betterment of social capital, and thus, better race relations within cities.
Sadly, in leftist controlled cities across America, ignorance is bliss. Democrats enact sanctuary policies that harbor criminal aliens and castrate the capabilities of municipal and federal law enforcement. Blind adherence to progressive values actually produces regressive outcomes because failure to enforce law allows anarchy to ensue; we’ve seen it in cities like Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, and New York.
In the Bay Area, it seems as though BART officials rather protect citizens from political commentary than actual criminal threats.
