The Bus Riders Union Asks you to Join Us

Call on Mayor Bass and LA Metro to Stop their Police State

Against Black and Latinx MTA Riders

Vote No Item 45 “Improving Safety”

This Thursday, at the MTA Board Meeting Mayor Karen Bass and the MTA board will vote on a motion to intensify the anti-Black, anti-Latinx police state against MTA passengers. This motion follows Mayor Bass’ press conference where she called for a crackdown on Black and Latinx passengers, a police surge, and the expansion of the already nefarious MTA Police State.

It’s a disgrace and terrifying. We urge you to sign on to our letter and call on Mayor Bass and the MTA to drop their motion. And instead, to support the Bus Riders Union’s Demands for Racial and Climate Justice.

Support the BRU Demands for Racial and Climate Justice

Free Public Transportation Public Transit is a human right— “mass transportation belongs to the masses.” The MTA steals $ 5 billion a year of our sales taxes. Metro has no moral right to charge anything for its Terrible Transit.

Stop Any Fare Enforcement—fare enforcement on MTA buses and trains is an excuse to racially profile Black passengers and criminalize low-income, houseless people and to expand its police state. The MTA only collects $174 Million a year on fares and but has spent more than $1 billion for police over the last 7 years. Why, because “fares” are their excuse to attack their riders with police. The MTA is a police agency not a transit agency.

1 Million New Hours of bus service—MTA buses do not come on time because the MTA is building a rail empire to serve contractors and raiding bus funds to finance their malfeasance.

No Police on the Buses and Trains—Police brutality and abuse is the crime we have to stop—MTA treats its passengers as criminals when in fact it’s Metro’s actions that are criminal

500 trained Community Organizers coming out of community organizations trained in non-violent, respectful conflict resolution with community encouragement and supervision

Stop MTA Racial Profiling of Black Passengers—MTA’s conscious, willful, and genocidal policies towards Black passengers are reflected in 40 percent to 50 percent or more citations, tickets, arrests of Black passengers who are 20 percent of all MTA riders.

No Cars in L.A.  In 2002, Strategy Center delegates attended the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. Our response to Third World demands for Climate Reparations led us to call for No Cars in L.A.—to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The centerpiece of this plan would begin with a first-class, 10 million service hours per year/free/24/7 bus system with zero emission buses. This would operate in cooperation with bicycles, e-Bikes, and pedestrian priorities. The MTA currently operates as a rail construction company that is destroying public transportation in Los Angeles.

We urge you to support the Bus Riders Union Program.

Stop the MTA Police and Military Coup against bus and rail riders

Mayor Karen Bass, new Metro chair Janice Hahn, and the MTA board plan to pass a motion that is a civil and human rights abuse!
Metro’s Program to Militarize the Buses and Trains is reflected in these proposals.

Making the Inability to Pay a Crime—creating the racially coded “fare evasion” as a basis for police arrests, fines, attacks, brutality, and imprisonment

Tap in and Tap Out Fare Enforcement to make sure no low-income person can escape the MTA’s criminalization of the poverty that the Democratic Party, gentrifying, LA ruling elites have created

Ceiling to Floor Fare Gates to block entrance to MTA trains by low-income people, houseless people, Black people who need transit but can’t afford it—this is the new architecture of the train stations as prisons making it into a maximum-security facility.

Creating an Anti-Black Security System using video cameras with face recognition and wave scanners, to track, record, spy on, harass, prevent from entering, and terrify the lives of bus and rail riders. This is modeled on the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System used by the F.B.I.

Creating the “MTA Police Army”—Metro has set up a massive police apparatus, reflected in its System Security and Law Enforcement Division, Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles County Sherriff’s Department, and Long Beach Police Department. The goal is to make the buses a prison on wheels. The long-term plan is for the MTA to create it own MTA Police State.

Going to the State Legislature to create new “crimes” and even worse sentences against MTA bus and train riders. Metro is advocating for AB2824 which would expand the additional penalties to include employees or contractors of public transportation providers. The Bill would also add an additional $200 fine or up to a year in county jail.

We urgently need your help. Please stand with the Bus Riders Union

• Call on Mayor Bass and all board members to Vote No on Item 45  on the MTA agenda at the MTA Board Meeting this Thursday, July 25 at 10 am at 1 Gateway Plaza. Call Mayor Bass (213) 978-0600
• If any board member refuses to oppose the motion, we demand a 90 day study period during which Black and Latinx community members civil and human rights organizers, scholars, attorneys, can fully examine this proposal. We want this discussed at a public hearing, in the evening, outside the intimidating and undemocratic MTA headquarters.
• Sign on to the Bus Riders Union Demands for Racial and Climate Justice. Send your organization’s logo to channing (AT) thestrategycenter (DOT) org
• The BRU leadership team—Eric Mann, Channing Martinez, Akunna Uka, and Barbara Lott-Holland would love to meet with your group to schedule presentations and discussions with your membership. Reach out to Eric (At) voicesfromthefrontlines (DOT) com Call us at 213-387-2800