When will we allow common sense to prevail and not rules! I am ashamed to live in a country where we can't respect people, if for nothing else because of their age. Did the singing and tapping disturb passengers that much that the woman had to be pulled off the train, risking injury and possible death to the elderly passenger?
We need to teach common sense approaches to handling all situations. Perhaps the other passengers who were being disturbed could have gotten up and moved to other sections of the train. I hate to know that we have come to a day and age when a woman singing spirituals is considered a disturbance. The disturbance is the security guard who would have never handled anyone of his own ethnic group with such insensitivity, discourtesy and disrespect. It is just further proof that at no matter what age a person is, if the individual is black, he/she is not respected. Some people should be taken off of the train because they smell bad, but passengers have to deal with it until they get off of their stops. Sometimes groups of people talk loud, and passengers have to deal with it until the rowdy/loud passengers get off. Imagine if the train was crowded. Are you telling me that that one elderly lady was louder than 50 passengers during rush hour on the train? Come on, let's use some common sense. If the guard ultimately thought that the best decision was to remove the passenger, there is a much gentler way to remove someone rather than pulling her off of the train the way he did. It was certainly not an escort!
Ms. Emma’s tapping on the bottle was just one way to keep her own calm, peace and sanity traveling through this chaotic world of ours. Come on America, let's get our act together.
I recommend some type of mandatory training for all security personnel responsible for holding municipal positions that would teach common sense approaches to unusual situations and circumstances.
Sincerely,
Nefertitti Jackmon
Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2013 12:17:14 -0500
From: blackstar1000@ameritech.net
To: creatingartwlife@hotmail.com
Subject: Oh Hell Naw!!! 82-Year-Old Black Woman Dragged from Miami Train and Thrown to Ground by Security for Singing Spirituals !
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"Oh Hell Naw!!!"
82-Year-Old Black Woman Dragged from Miami Train and Thrown to Ground by Security for Singing Spirituals!
Miami Transit Agency says she needed permit to sing and she was breaking the rules!
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By Ashely Jennings
Mar 7, 2013
The family of an elderly Florida woman is furious that she was hauled off a commuter train because she was singing spirituals and are considering legal action.
The family of Emma Anderson, 82, claim she was injured by a Metro-Dade Transit security guard who they said roughly yanked her from a train seat and escorted her off the train on Feb. 20.
Anderson of Miami-Dade, was singing spiritual hymns from her train seat when a security guard asked her to stop. The security guard told Anderson that she was being disruptive.
"I was beating my little beads with the bottle and I was singing a song, and he came up to me and said, 'Ma'am, you're making too much noise,'" Anderson told ABC News affiliate WPLG.
A passenger started recording Anderson and the guard's interaction on his cell phone. The video shows Anderson being forcibly removed from the train.
"By what we saw on the footage, she was dragged off the train. She wasn't escorted," Anderson's son, Kenny Anderson, 42, told ABC News. "She was just singing to the Lord, preaching to the Lord, and he grabbed her bag and drug her off the train."
Kenny says the security guard pulled the bag his mother was holding so hard that she fell backwards and hurt herself.
"We took her to the hospital and they took X-rays. Doctors say she has a bruised hip and shoulder," Anderson said.
One of the witnesses is heard on tape demanding the name of the security guard.
A spokesperson for Miami-Dade Transit told WPLG in a statement, "The elderly passenger, Ms. Anderson, who was escorted from a Metrorail train, was initially asked by a security guard to refrain from singing loudly and playing an instrument while on the train. She refused to comply."
The spokesperson said singing, dancing or playing an instrument are prohibited without permit.
"Ms. Anderson's singing was causing a disturbance to other passengers and impeding important train announcements from being heard. We regret that Ms. Anderson had to eventually be escorted out, but regardless of age, all passengers need to abide by the rules associated with using transit," the statement said.
The Anderson family said they have hired an attorney and plan to pursue legal action for their mother's injuries.
Please email Miami Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez at Mayor@miamidade.gov or call him at 305-375-5071. Please email Miami-Dade County Board Chairwoman Rebeca Sosa at district6@miamidade.gov or call her at 305-375-5696.
Please tell them to fire Transit Director Ysela Llort, Chief of Safety and Security Eric Murtan, Miami Transit Spokesperson Karla Damian and the security contractor 50 State.
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