By accident, I wound up on the Red Line train this morning coming back from a late (early???) downtown Loyola party I went to with some friends. I was on the first wagon – the CTA people call it the “head car.”
The tradition is the head car must be clean and sprayed and ready for the (Black) southside residents who are on their way (mostly) to downtown to work early in the morning. There is always at least one homeless person in the car – sometimes asleep and taking up 3 seats or loaded with their baggage and belongings and taking up 4 seats…
Often half the people on the car are homeless – some sitting up asleep, some sitting up awake, some halfway sitting up listening to the people insult them or talk about them.
Sometimes the (Black) workers “who actually contribute to society by working” as they will say will spray bathroom deodorant or Lysol or room deodorizer on the homeless. Sometimes the CTA driver has already done this. Sometimes almost every old lady getting on the train to go to work sprays more sh*t on people—or so near them that they will wake up, sneezing, coughing, sometimes almost puking from the strength of the spray*.
Spraying people with a variety of items – none of which are meant for people or safe for them… man’s inhumanity to man…
This morning, as a couple of us heading back to Evanston tried to relax (but not fall asleep!) were jarred awake by a guy screaming at the top of his lungs at a homeless man (using about 3 seats for his clothing and bags) and telling him he should not disrespect the woman who the unhoused man had supposedly insulted or threatened.
The random man screaming and making fun of the (Black) homeless man insisted he himself was Puerto Rican (PR) and not Black… this in response to the unhoused guy asking why he was harassing his Black brother…
…This was interesting, because as my friend Claire said, “He was more African looking than anyone else in the car.” Claire is in charge of determining race. If you argue with her, be ready for a huge discussion in which you realize you should have shut up and never said a word about her opinion on race.
Claire whispered to me in Portuguese, “Let’s try hard not to say anything and try to get along with these crazy people.”
The woman being defended was a (heavy) Black woman, we assumed. Supposedly, the unhoused man had said something the young PR did not like, and the PR was there to “protect her from the crazy homeless people in the car.”
The PR went on to tell off the unhoused man, making fun of him, telling him he needed to get a job, etc., etc. He kept laughing… he kept speaking very loudly and saying how the homeless were all drug addicts and lazy and criminals.
In short, he said every assinine and ignorant thing a person could say—all stereotypes and b*llshit. Things got louder, as more “workers making the world go ‘round” were laughing and yelling. The unroofed man responded by telling a little bit about his situation and how he got into trouble—for something he had not done—and the judge spoke against him, fining him, and making him do community service.
At this, the PR started laughing…and said, “Obviously you did something illegal and you are to blame for whatever trouble you got into.
Next, the homeless man started screaming back.
More and more homeless people started waking up and sharing their opinions. So the train stopped, and the driver came out of his little room to tell people to behave and try to get along.
He went right to the homeless man next and told him, “You need to calm down or I’m gonna have to throw you and your sh*t off my train.”
As you might guess, all the homeless people started screaming it was the PR’s fault… and it got louder and louder.
I was so proud of them! There were half a dozen unroofed people sticking up for their brother.
But the CTA guy repeated, “I don’t care who is saying what. If that guy does not calm down, I’m gonna have to throw you and your sh*t off my train.”
Claire stood up in the driver’s face and said, “I have your badge number. Shame on you for blaming this problem on the homeless guy!”
The other unroofed people started applauding. The driver went back into his little safehouse and jolted the train forward.
I was surprised at this part of the evening—what with Claire mentioning we were trying to get along with people and all…
When the doors opened at the next stop, the PR yelled at the man “Don’t ever let me catch you disrespecting a woman on the train again! Or I will shoot you! I have a full f*cking gun and I will shoot your smelly f*cking ass!”
The PR got off the train and the woman who had been “protected” by the PR finally sat down – next to another Black woman. The protected one –over weight and all—started into a huge review of what had happened, etc…
Claire sent me the signal for us to get off (“time for coffee;” that was the sign she sent me).
As I got off the train, I pointed at the big Black woman, and I yelled, “Shame on you–you rich people—for making fun of and telling off your Black homeless brother!”
Claire grabbed me and pulled me off the train. A little Black dude took his jacket off, holding the door open, and throwing his jacket onto a seat. He yelled at me, “Come back here, you little White f*ggot! I will beat the sh*t out of you and then I will f*ck your ass good and hard.”
I thought that was pretty crazy, and even though Claire was pulling on me and begging me to get away from the train, I yelled at him, “No thanks, girl! I do not have sex with animals.”
At that the little Black dude started to chase me, screaming he would use me good and hard (paraphrasing what he really said, and it was not polite).
As the doors started to close and the bell started to ring, he jumped back onto the head car and almost got cut in half by the slamming door…
As he struggled to get his leg out of the door, Claire decided to yell, “Shame on you! You make me embarrassed to be Black!”
Now, I am paraphrasing what she said, also.
She looked at me and said, “What are you staring at, Barbie?”
I said, “Well, I am just listening to what you are yelling into a train full of Black people!
Claire rolled her eyes…
I continued, “Somebody mentioned to me we should try to get along with people tonight.”
Claire yelled at me, “That was last night. It is a new day and that agenda no longer applies.”
“Obrigado!” I responded. Thank you for letting me know to check for today’s memo…”
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Note: These kinds of arguments are common in the morning when unroofed people are trying to sleep and some random ass is yelling, making fun of them, waking them up, and just generally being aggravating. Nice people.
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*One time we heard on the train from the CTA driver talking to another CTA employee that his coworkers on the north side at the Howard station made up this concoction out of toilet cleaner, dollar-store perfume, and other items and that drivers on the Red Line kept it in their bag to spray on people that “smell like p*ss or sh*t and that includes their bags and suitcases. That particular driver mentioned quietly that “the goal is to spray people and then get back to work so the homeless will not know they are being sprayed and don’t wake up and attack the CTA employee.” One of the problems is that “You never know which of the assh*les on the train are homeless and will back up the person you sprayed if you have to call the police.” The driver warned that although the CTA supervisors, the K-9 guys, and the security guards will back you up and lie that the homeless person is making up the story, the police are harder to convince to lie about all this. The police are recording the events if called, and they do not like to lie since there are so many records and cameras involved now.