March 14, 2011 | 3:01 PM | By

Guardian Angel, Woman Assaulted in Racially-Motivated Metro Fight

FILED UNDER: Public Transportation, Metro, Race and Class, Racial Divide, WMATA

Twitpic: @dcguardianangel

Guardian Angels handcuffing five assailants who attacked one of their members on an Anacostia-bound train, Saturday night.

Earlier today, I storified tweets about the Guardian Angels voluntarily patrolling D.C.’s Metro system. This weekend, one Angel on an Anacostia-bound train tried to break up a fight between a black youth and a white woman; that man was violently assaulted by five people (including the youth from the original altercation) for trying to intervene. Other nearby Angels rushed to the train and detained all five assailants until police could arrive and arrest them. That’s the bare outline of what went down. But there’s more:

Alex Kaufer, an Angel in training, stepped in when a black male youth allegedly assaulted a white woman on a train as it pulled into the Anacostia Station on the Green Line about 11 p.m. Saturday. The youth and his friends apparently were making racial comments to the woman and her friend.

“The youths were harassing the girls. They were making fun of them because they were white and because of the way they were dressed,” John Ayala, East Coast director of the Guardian Angels, tells WTOP. “The girl got up and told the youths, ‘We are not afraid of you.’”

That’s when the fight started…

Racially-motivated verbal abuse? Getting assaulted for standing up to harassers? Getting assaulted for being a good Samaritan who tries to intervene? No wonder the woman (who suffered a “busted lip” according to WTOP) declined to press charges.

A few weeks ago, WAMU’s Jessica Jordan reported that violence on Metro had “hit a five-year high in the number of rapes, robberies and assaults” that were recorded. The Guardian Angels were created in New York City by Curtis Sliwa in 1979, to counteract violence and crime on that city’s subways. Now, they are voluntarily patrolling D.C.’s trains, because of that uptick in crime and assaults– and in this case, they are encountering violent opposition for their efforts.

About the author

DCentric was created to examine the ways race and class interact in Washington, D.C., a city with a vibrant mix of cultures and neighborhoods. Your guides to the changing district are reporters Anna John and Elahe Izadi. View all posts by Anna →

  • Email

    just sad. When are they going to start holding the parents responsible for these youths?

  • MH

    Um, according to DC’s hate crime legislation, it sounds like the woman doesn’t have to press charges

  • fencr

    It sounds like you are only considering the case under hate crimes rules as opposed to a normal assault.

  • fencr

    Amen..
    Parents aren’t doing their job. They are expecting society to raise their kids.

  • http://www.susanaraab.com Jaleo2000

    I don’t understand “No wonder the woman declined to press charges?” Please clarify.

  • Keith

    What a bunch of animals.

  • Golden Silence

    I’m sick of people yelling “HATE CRIME!” when a person who happens to be white gets attacked by kids who happen to be black. White people are not the only victims of these kids! No one seemed to bat an eyelash when Robert Joy, a black man, was attacked at Suitland Metro by a group of troublemaking kids. I go to sites like Unsuck DC Metro and it’s as if they get happy when stories come out about these kids attacking white people. It’s a way to justify their snide, racist views. I’ve had it!

  • Agog

    You’re not seriously suggesting this was NOT a hate crime, are you?  

    One wonders what would happen, in your mind and in the media, if white teens ever attacked a black person in Metro.  Gee, has that happened in the past 30 years?