It’s baffling how entitled some people feel about the public space around them. There have been one too many instances of racists accusing others of absolutely absurd things, just in an attempt to have them removed. One black man on the Metropolitan Transit Authority, best known as the MTA, in New York, was among those targeted by a racist, having allegedly been kicked off the train because of how he was sitting. Despite this being a horrible event as a whole, it also doesn’t help that the man in question is also an award-winning screenwriter, Alex O’Keefe, popular for shows such as The Bear on FX.
The above video is taken from Alex O’Keefe’s position, sitting in his seat on the MTA alongside other passengers doing the same. Unfortunately, the video begins after the train had already been stopped, and officers boarded to have O’Keefe removed. However, you can hear the screenwriter explain that the elderly woman seated in the row across from him was the one who had called the authorities. What’s even worse is that she had apparently only done so because she disapproved of how he was seated.
It is unclear how O’Keefe was seated, though it was definitely enough to anger at least one person around him. What I find interesting is how the elderly woman would have even been able to see Alex’s sitting position from her seated position. It’s also odd that the entire train was stopped to have one man who wasn’t acting aggressively move. As he was being removed from the train, he made sure everyone was aware of the injustice, trying to ascertain what he was even being detained for in the first place.
Various commentators shared their opinions, trying to make sense of what they were seeing. One person even commented, “What’s the official charge? Has the arrest report been release yet? I couldn’t find it online. I feel like they’re going to have a hard time charging him with just “Sitting Blackly.” This perfectly sums up how I feel about the situation, as it really doesn’t make any sense.
Other commentators focused on what it even means to sit correctly on the train, especially with there not being any real rules on that. One person said, “How can you actually sit wrong on a train?! The “trains” where I live are a complete free-for-all.” Hopefully, Alex O’Keefe is able to recover mentally from the situation and can use this video to raise awareness about the existence of modern racism.
