(Photo of SF Po'Lice Officer Carrasco issuing a citation for fare evasion after a sweep of MUNI at Geary & Van Ness)
(reprinted from 48hills.org)
Po'Lice and Fare Inspectors harass MUNI passengers on Mayors Orders
“People are evading their fares, we are only here because the Mayor wants to cut down on all the crime on MUNI.” SF Po'Lice Officer Carrasco barked at me, while issuing a citation for alleged fare evasion to a young African-Descendent student on his way to school. This young brother was one of over 25 people caught in a “sweep” read invasion of a MUNI bus, who were pulled off the bus so citations could be issued.
They were there like locusts, 15 deep between fare inspectors and Po’Lice officers swarming the MUNI bus stop at Van Ness & Geary. The bus was loaded to the gills as it often is and people were getting on the back like we always do if there is no room at the front. For this insane class-based “crime” we were cited. As the Po’ Lice were following orders from Mayor Lee and harassing us Po’ mamaz, youth, elders, working people and disabled houseless folks over an alleged two dollar crime, a monolithic, two story, steel-gray, Mercedes “bus” pulled up to the same stop, the door glided open softly like a digital chariot and three people, heads deep in-1phone-love, rushed in. On the giant bus was an LED sign stating its corporate affiliation, APPLE Shuttle.
At this point I turned to the army of Po’Lice and wanna be po’Lice aka Fare harassers and said, why do the rich get to ride for free? How is that not a crime? Why don’t you give them a citation for fare evasion? They looked at me blankly, deep in their hegemonic story of “crimes” and who does them.
Notwithstanding the mayors fallacious claims of so-called “crimes” by us Po and working folks on MUNI, the trillion dollar tech-based corporations, Google, Twitter, Apple, Genentech, EBAY and many more are stealing this City blind and the Mayor has enabled, signed off and/or crafted the giant theft in his attempt to continue the Manhattenization of this increasingly rich-wites-only city.
While at the same time launching an all out class war to evict, destroy, beat down and eventually incarcerate anyone who isn’t part of their Tech Colonizer kingdom. But please don’t be mistaken this did NOT begin with Rich-people-loving Mayor Lee. Us Po’ folks have been fighting the increases of MUNI for minute.
Since the increase in MUNI fares in 2011 to 2.00 which several activists fought against, the fare inspectors and Po’Lice started trolling the bus stops in poor communities of color like the Mission, Bayview and Tenderloin. They have been swarming the stops, getting on buses and incessantly harassing folks who are just trying to get to and fro.
All of these profiled so-called fare evasion crimes on us folks, especially youth of color, Po’ mamaz, houseless folks and disabled elders culminated in the brutal assassination by Po’Lice of Kenny Harding Jrover a 2.00 transfer on July 16, 2011.
Recently, like the gentriFUKation, Ellis Act evictions and Sit-lie citations of houseless folks the “fare –sweeps” po’lice harassment has increased and according to Officer Carrasco, the mayor has launched a new harassment/profiling campaign. Funny, I didn’t get that memo.
Tony Robles, co-editor of POOR Magazine reported a disabled elder being tackled to the ground last week by two Po’Lice officers for so-called fare evasion.Myself and Jewnbug of POOR Magazine have been harassed multiple times with all of the Family Project children and Queenandi, of POOR has witnessed multiple times the harassment, abuse, profiling and citing of recyclers and houseless elders
The Tech industry has earned more than 37 trillion dollars this year.. From the New Machine Age…
So as the trillion dollar tech industry rides on, in their shiny buses, completely for free, paying nothing, taking more and more real jobs away from real people, giving fewer and fewer people more and more dollars to hoard, while also giving our real, union-paid jobs to robots and technology, evicting more and more of us working folks to make way for the rich elite to live, the message is crystal clear, our poor bodies, our children’s bodies, our mama bodies, our elder bodies, our disabled bodies must pay, must leave, or we will all be incarcerated.
Change Won’t Come from a Savior , a Pimp or an Institution – Change will only come from a Poor People-led Revolution… tiny, Po Poets Project 2010
