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BART Poster: Stand Up Against Hate!

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BART Poster Campaign: Stand Up Against Hate

Help fund a public education poster campaign on BART to counter hate attacks on public transit!

WHO WE ARE

We are four friends living in the Bay Area who believe our community should feel safe for everybody - walking our streets, taking public transit, and going about daily business.  We are deeply concerned by the increase in incidents of hate speech and harassment happening in public spaces since Donald Trump’s election last November.  We want to do something to send a message to victims of harassment and to the broader community saying: “Everyone is safe and welcome here!”

WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?

A week after the election, we learned about an Islamaphobic incident on BART that motivated us to take action. In this incident, an acquaintance of ours, who is Muslim, was the target of hate-speech. Unprovoked, a woman yelled at her: “Go back to where you are from!” and “You are the cause of what’s wrong with this country!” 

Unfortunately, our friend's experience is not unique. The Southern Poverty Law Center documented that a shocking number of similar incidents occurred in the month following the election -- 1,094 incidents to be exact!

Bringing this closer to home, “Trump 2016 White Power” graffiti showed up on the Ohlone Greenway (directly below the BART tracks) near the Albany-El Cerrito border days after the election, just blocks from where many of us live. And the recent daylighting of racist and anti-Semitic acts at the Albany High School reminds us that we have an obligation to stand up against hate and speak up when we see, hear or learn about acts of aggression directed at others.


WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?

Our belief is that many people who witness acts of harassment or hate speech want to STAND UP & SPEAK UP to help the victim and stop aggressive behavior, but they don’t necessarily know what to do or what to say. 

ONE PART OF THE SOLUTION

In order to address this problem, we are running a public service announcement (PSA) that provides easy-to-read, easy-to-follow “1-2-3 steps” that explains what to do in this kind of situation. We knew we wanted to run this PSA on Bay Area public transit, so we focused on BART, since this is where the incident with our friend occurred! Ultimately, we would like to see the poster below displayed system-wide on BART trains and in BART stations.

The cartoonist Marie-Shirine Yener (pseudonym Maeril), a young French Muslim graphic designer, created the instructions in the cartoon below. She has approved our use of her words and art for use in our PSA free of charge.


WANT TO HELP?

1. Donate to our campaign.   We aimed to raise $2,100 by February 15th -- and we exceeded this goal!  We raised $2,700 which allowed us to post 40 posters on BART. People have continued to donate to our campaign, so we've decided to raise additional money in order to add more posters to the BART system (BART has a lot of trains!!). Our new goal is $5,400 for an additional 80 posters.

2.     Express your support of our PSA campaign to BART Board of Director members.  Email your elected BART Board member directly expressing your support for a wider public service campaign.  Find your BART Board member here .

3.      Spread our message by posting a link to this  campaign on Facebook.

4. Talk to your employer about giving matching funds to this campaign

THANK YOU for your support in making our communities safe  and welcoming for everyone!

Hanako Asakura - Lea Grundy - Alene Pearson - Kathleen Wilson

Organizer

Hanako Asakura
Organizer
Albany, CA

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