Race runs through it

I was skeptical at first, reading Jimmy Breslin's take on the New York transit strike, Race underlies transit strike.

But, as usual, Jimmy was right.

A day later, we read in the Times: Race Bubbles to the Surface in Standoff

The standoff between the Transport Workers Union and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, tense and perilous, was already taking a harsh physical and economic toll on New Yorkers.

But now, as representatives of a mostly nonwhite work force trade recriminations publicly with white leaders in government and at the transportation authority, the potentially volatile issue of race, with all its emotional consequences, is bubbling to the surface.

The examples are both blatant and subtle, some open to interpretation, some openly hostile. Regarding the latter sort, the union - representing workers who are largely minority - shut down a Web log where the public could comment on the strike after it became so clogged with messages comparing the workers to monkeys and calling them "you people." (Seventy percent of the employees of New York City Transit are black, Latino or Asian-American.)

And what may have begun inadvertently, when Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on Tuesday that union leaders had "thuggishly turned their backs on New York City," took on a life of its own yesterday as minority leaders and union members attacked the mayor's conduct as objectionable, or worse. "There has been some offensive and insulting language used," said Roger Toussaint, the union leader. "This is regrettable and it is certainly unbecoming for the mayor of the city of New York to be using this type of language."

But others were more extreme in their response. Leroy Bright, 56, a black bus operator who is also a union organizer, saw racial coding in Mr. Bloomberg's choice of words. "The word thug is usually attributed to people of color whenever something negative takes place," he said, adding that the language was "unnecessarily hostile."

...

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who called an evening news conference to blast Mr. Bloomberg, said in an interview: "How did we become thugs? Because we strike over a pension?"

...

Ed Skyler, a spokesman for Mr. Bloomberg, dismissed those comments, saying, "It's despicable for anyone to inject race into this situation.".

Inject race into the situation? It's already there, Ed. Like most white Americans, Ed seems to think racism only exists when a white guy says it does.

It's bad enough the MTA and Mayor Bloomberg are using the kind of language that usually precedes the Bush administration sending troops to take out some foreign leader. But to then turn around and tell us it's just rain you're feeling?

Come on--people feel what they feel, you can say that's not what was meant, but you can't say you aren't allowed to feel that way.

Unfortunately, I think it's indicative of the way the city is treating the Transit Workers Union, almost as chattel. Listen carefully to the language that's being used--there's a tone of how dare you, if you know what's good for you boy, you'll take what we give you, say thank you, and go back to work.

But the people of New York--a city that is rapidly approaching majority minority status--feel through it and still support the workers. Those who can afford the strike least, those who don't have the money for cab rides and trade hours waiting in the cold for the chance to get to work, are the ones who are telling the workers to fight the fight, brother.

Tell the MTA that when they announce a $1 billion surplus and blow it all on 'holiday farecards' to try and buy the public's support right before they sit down at the table and tell the union to tighten their belts, it's insulting at best, downright despicable at worst.

Tell blue-stockinged MTA Chair Peter Kalikow when he deigns to come down from their Park Avenue offices only an hour before the deadline to negotiate, they shouldn't be surprised if talks go nowhere.

And keep up the fight for benefits that allow blue collar workers to live a middle class existence in New York City.

Photo of Transit Workers Union president Roger Touissant by Stephen Chernin/ Getty Images.