The Community Hearing on Transit Equity: A National Conversation
Wednesday, February 3 and Thursday, February 4, 2021
For the past four years on February 4, a network of transit rider unions, community organizations, environmental groups and labor unions have organized Transit Equity Day–a national day of action to commemorate the birthday of Rosa Parks by declaring that public transit is a civil right. Rosa is an iconic figure of the civil rights era who chose the tactic of refusing to give up her seat on the bus to demand an end to segregation in the Montgomery, Alabama, transit system. We make the connection to this act of resistance to highlight the rights of all people to high-quality public transportation run on clean/renewable energy.
“Urban transit systems in most American cities have become a genuine civil rights issue because the layout of rapid-transit systems determines the accessibility of jobs.”
GET ON BOARD FOR TRANSIT EQUITY DAYS 2021!
The Labor Network for Sustainability and our allies are more excited than ever to host Transit Equity Days (yes “Days”) 2021.
If you’ve been a part of LNS since 2018, you may remember our first Transit Equity Day taking place on Monday, February 5, 2018, chosen in honor of Rosa Parks’ birthday the Sunday before, February 4. That year, LNS and Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), along with more than 10 sponsoring organizations, held town halls prior to Transit Equity Day 2018 to give community leaders, workers, and grassroots organizers a space to exchange ideas about actions they could host within their local communities. The goal was to demand that local, state and federal governments make public transit accessible, reliable, and affordable to all, to create good jobs by expanding our public transit systems, and to protect our health and climate by using renewable energy to power our buses and trains.
The result was a successful day of action that included participation by organizations in dozens of cities around the U.S.
To this day, our first Transit Equity Day continues to energize transit workers, riders, environmental activists and civil rights allies in our collective struggle to ensure affordable, accessible, renewable and equitable public transit by way of adequate (if not ample) federal and local funding.
With the two subsequent years of action, organizing has expanded to more than 40 cities throughout the U.S. with greater attention by local and federal officials to the desperate need for public transit’s survival and expansion. This coming year, thanks to the enthusiastic participation of a growing network of transit equity organizations, we aim to make an even greater impact over two-days of conversation and action–both online and safely on the ground.
HERE’S WHAT’S PLANNED:
The Community Hearing on Transit Equity: A National Conversation
Wednesday, February 3 and Thursday, February 4, 2021
Open for public participation, the Community Hearing will feature testimonies from workers and riders who depend on transit. Community and labor organizers will act as hearing facilitators. Our goals are 1) to develop a vision and platform for transportation rooted in the experience of those who are most dependent on public transit; and 2) to influence the hearts and minds of decision makers, who play an important role in the survival of robust public transportation systems. We need to guarantee workers and riders from all walks of life have safe, affordable and reliable means of transportation to get to where they need to be, when they need to be there, without struggle, financial stress or prejudice.
Transit Equity Day of Action
Thursday, February 4, 2021
We will continue to lift up the grassroots local and state-level actions that take place on February 4, Ms. Rosa Parks’ birthday, demanding that local officials address the need for fiscal support of safe, equitable and affordable public transit that supports a climate-safe economy. As with prior Transit Equity Days, we are choosing Rosa Parks’ birthday because she is an iconic figure among many of the civil rights era who chose the tactic of refusing to give up her seat on the bus. We want to make the connection between this act of resistance and the rights of all people to high-quality public transportation powered by clean/renewable energy.
