Are you a survivor of sexual assault or sexual harassment while traveling on NYC’s mass transit system? Have you witnessed indecent exposure, name calling, or groping?  Have you been the victim of a hate crime?

NYFST is looking for leaders like you to be apart of our Transit Justice Collective Advisory Board. As a member of the Transit Justice Collective, you will use your personal experiences to help educate other riders about staying safe while using mass transit. Membership to the Advisory Board is open to all types of individuals.

Our first meeting is August 17, 2011. Check back for more details.

Email us at info.nyfst.org for more information.

Last night on the subway, I watched a woman get her purse stolen.

I’m actually surprised I had not previously witnessed something like this, or experienced it myself, as I’ve lived in the city on and off for years.

What surprised me was how other people, as well as myself, reacted. It was around 9:30 p.m., and hoards of tired, tipsy, people coming from dinner or a long happy hour were shuffling into the train. Suddenly, the conductor’s perfunctory, “Stand clear of the closing doors, please” was pierced by a woman’s scream. Four black men ran off the train, bursting through turnstiles, with one cradling an expensive-looking (read: real) Louis Vuitton bag.

The victim, although shocked, was able to get off the train before the doors closed, and she hopelessly chased after the bandits while screaming, “You won’t get away with this!!!”. Ugh, my heart hurt watching this happen.

Except nobody on the train flinched. Nobody tried to run after and help her. Had I known what to do or thought I could have helped, I would have been right behind her. But the doors closed, and like everyone else, I remained still in my seat. I sincerely hope she was able to retrieve her bag and its contents, and that nothing vitally important to her was lost, but we all know how these things end up.

Re-posted from A Foreplay On Words . Click to finish the story.

The morning of April 14, 2010, on a Jamaica-bound F train, a man got on at Roosevelt Ave and sat down next to a woman who had been sleeping since Midtown. He was trying to lay his arm to touch hers, and when he realized I was watching him, he started staring at me. Then he put his hands down his pants for about 15 seconds.

I called the NYPD’s Sex Crimes Report Line (212-267-RAPE) when I exited the train to report what happened, and the operator who answered the call told me that if the woman was an adult she had to report it herself. I added that the man had put his hands down his pants in front of everyone, and she repeated the same thing again in a cold tone. Then she said that if I really wanted to report the man, I should go to an office at the Union Turnpike station.

The bottom line is that I was exposed to sexual misconduct. The next time I’m in Queens, I’ll go look for the place the operator told me about, but the way that woman handled my call was harmful. I feel more traumatized now than I did before knowing that when I sought help from the proper authorities, I received none.