Ballou STAY High School student Diamond Rust, pictured above, was assaulted by metro police in front of her two small children; police justified the attack because she did not pay the fare. Like all DC students, Diamond is entitled to access public transit for free.

At CASS, we believe everyone deserves access to public transit, which means that everyone should be able to navigate our neighborhoods free from police harassment and assault. Empowered by our commitment to community-based solutions that end harassment and create safety, we insist that the DC Council should pass the Fare Evasion Decriminalization Act of 2017 as written with no additional amendments. Decriminalizing fare evasion will help advance racial and gender justice and is one first step towards investing in safer communities for everyone.

Right now, the criminalization of people who do not — and often cannot — pay their fare means that police routinely harass people, the vast majority of them Black. In fact, 91 percent of people targeted for fare evasion stops are Black. The current law criminalizing fare evasion perpetuates daily harm against poor, Black residents of DC. In just a few of the most troubling cases, police have chased a Black parent carrying his 1-year-old child, assaulted and exposed a young, Black woman and then charged her for the assault, and assaulted and arrested another young, Black woman in front of her 1-year-old and 2-year-old children, breaking her teeth and fracturing her knee.

Fare decriminalization will make DC safer for all people, especially poor people who are Black, women, and/or LGBTQIA—people who face both gendered and racist violence at the hands of transit police. Safe, reliable public transportation, free from all forms of harassment and assault is central to our ability to access resources like housing, employment, childcare, and other city services. These services have become more and more out of reach as the most marginalized DC residents experience displacement, push-out, and disparate policing. Our communities need more resources, not more criminalization.

We hope the DC Council and WMATA will continue to work alongside the community to address the real problem at play: thousands of DC residents can’t afford to pay a $3 metro fare. DC has a higher rate of income inequality than any state in the country and the average white family is 81 times richer than the average Black family. As the cost of living rises and lifelong DC residents are pushed out of the city, causing them to commute further for resources, we must ameliorate inequality by investing in public resources and create a city where everyone can thrive. In recent days, WMATA has referenced debunked theories that claim that aggressive policing of fare evasion will prevent theft or assault on the Metro. In fact, evidence shows that reducing ‘broken windows’-style policing can make everyone safer.

To make DC safer for everyone, DC Council should invest in our community, including expanding programs that offer free or low-cost options to access Metro and funding jobs programs. Like our roads, schools, and hospitals, Metro is a public service that should create a safer, more accessible community than would be possible without our collective investment in public services. The cost of an accessible public transit system must not continue to be forced upon our poorest, most disenfranchised residents. Our progressive taxation system means that people who can afford to pay do. And it’s just what’s fair: those who are reaping the most benefits from infrastructure and most often benefited from the unequal distribution of wealth in our society can and should cover the costs so that the whole community can survive and thrive.

We implore our community, our Council and WMATA to ask: Why has the city invested in undercover cops to arrest and even assault people who cannot pay the fare, when we could instead invest those funds in making sure everyone can ride the bus? #ItsNotFare to spend our tax dollars on criminalization of fare evasion. Making a safer city for everyone means investing instead in community-based solutions to public safety.