As Twitchy reported, former MSNBC host Touré recently tweeted that the black teens shown in that viral video behaved admirably and remained calm and polite as a white woman tried to steal their Citi Bike. Touré’s tweet notably came four days after attorney Benjamin Crump deleted his tweet accusing the woman of stealing the bike from them and weaponizing her tears.
The woman has said she’s looking into defamation lawsuits, and we’d hope she includes “storyteller” @TheJournalista, whose tweet was as incendiary as Crump’s and went viral.
The Journalista is back to defend those young black men from the racist bike thief. Nobody got their side of the story, until now, as one of their mothers has spoken out.
Warning: This is a very long thread, but stick with it to the end for the really hot takes.
The mother of the boy in the Sarah Jane Comrie video says no one bothered to seek out her son's side of the story.https://t.co/wG1UdQw4wN
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
She has seen the extremely racist rhetoric directed at her son online. She is afraid someone will try to harm him or another member of her family.https://t.co/wG1UdQw4wN
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
I got an exclusive interview with the teen, his mother, and his older sister.https://t.co/wG1UdQw4wN
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
He is only 17 years old, and he is an avid Citi Bike rider. He knows the system in and out.https://t.co/wG1UdQw4wN
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
He told me Citi Bike is like his "car." He uses it every day because it's cheaper than the subway.https://t.co/wG1UdQw4wN
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
He lives in the Bronx, and he uses Citi Bike to travel from borough to borough with his group of friends. All the boys in the video are teenagers from West African immigrant families.https://t.co/wG1UdQw4wN
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
Their families are poor and receive some public assistance. Because of this, the boys get reduced fares on Citi Bike.https://t.co/wG1UdQw4wN
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
Additionally, the boys are a part of the Citi Bike Angels program where they receive points, perks, and prizes for their frequent ridership.https://t.co/wG1UdQw4wN
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
“Citi Bike Angels.”
He explained to me that when they are out riding, they stop before the bikes hit 45 minutes because the cost of the fare increases at that point, even for riders with reduced fares.https://t.co/wG1UdQw4wN
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
He and his sister explained that it's common for Citi Bike riders to re-dock the bikes before 45 minutes is up so they can reset the timer and avoid the upcharge.https://t.co/wG1UdQw4wN
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
On that day, he found the highly coveted but hard to come by new e-bike after walking around the Bronx for 20 minutes. These are the newest bikes in the Citi Bike fleet, but they aren't easy to find.https://t.co/wG1UdQw4wN
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
The boys found their bikes and spent the rest of the evening riding them. They first went to Harlem where they stopped to re-dock. Then they continued on to the Lower East Side of Manhattan.https://t.co/wG1UdQw4wN
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
They stopped and got frozen yogurt, and then they went to the docking station on 1st and 30th to re-dock the bikes and reset the timers again.
This is where Sarah Jane Comrie found them, he says.https://t.co/wG1UdQw4wN
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
He says she saw them at the rack with their bikes. There were other bikes in the rack, but they weren't the motorized ones the boys were on; they were manual pedal bikes.https://t.co/wG1UdQw4wN
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
He says she asked two of his friends if she could take their bikes. They politely declined, telling her that they were still using them and would be leaving soon.
The other four boys were sitting on their bikes, but he was just standing next to his.https://t.co/wG1UdQw4wN
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
She approached him and asked if she could take his bike. He politely declined. She tried a different approach and told him that she was pregnant. "Can you help a pregnant lady out?"https://t.co/wG1UdQw4wN
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
He then informed her that he had used the bike to ride all the way from the Bronx, and he needed it to make his way back home.https://t.co/wG1UdQw4wN
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
It was then that she leaned over into his personal space and scanned the barcode into her app and attempted to take the bike from him.
The boys immediately began calling for someone to record her, and this is where we came in on the video.https://t.co/wG1UdQw4wN
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
During the course of the action in the video, the bike was pushed back into the dock again and reset.
At this point, he typed the number of the bike into the app and put it back on his account, and when he did that, SHE SNATCHED HIS PHONE.https://t.co/wG1UdQw4wN
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
I want everyone to remember that @AttorneyJMarino put out a narrative on behalf of his client that painted those boys as criminals. His carefully worded statement intimated that she had the bike first and they forcefully took it from her.https://t.co/wG1UdQw4wN
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
Don't bother arguing or trying to reason with all the racists who are contorting themselves to still make Citi Bike Carolyn aka Sarah Jane Comrie the victim.https://t.co/wG1UdQw4wN
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
White people will never see that video the same way that Black people do because their inherent racism doesn't negatively impact them the way it does us.https://t.co/wG1UdQw4wN
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
Every Black person who saw that video recognized the smug and self satisfied look on Sarah Jane Comrie's face when she began to scream. She knew exactly what she was doing.https://t.co/wG1UdQw4wN
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
"If he docked the bike, that means anyone could take it."
Yet, if the situation were reversed, they would be arguing that the boys should have accepted her saying "No."https://t.co/wG1UdQw4wN
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
But when it's 5 Black boys from immigrant West African families, the expectation is that they should give the entitled and privileged white woman whatever she wants.https://t.co/wG1UdQw4wN
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
A GoFundMe is being set up to help the family. I will share it as soon as it's live.
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
Yeah, we won’t be sharing it. But we will tell you it currently stands at $5,005, with a goal of … $120,000.
It disgusts me that we all saw this grown woman act this way to a group of teenagers and the rabid, racist mob is still defending her.
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
And I hope the GoFundMe exceeds the goal and everyone in the white fragility choir seethes.
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
Just remember, y'all are trying to reason with the same people who think Columbus "discovered" a place where an entire population of people already lived.
Of course they don't want to acknowledge that he had possession of the bike.
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
It goes against their belief that they can take whatever they want whenever they want to.
— first of all, bitch, … (@thejournalista) May 25, 2023
He didn't have "possession" of the bike. Having your hand touching it does not constitute "possession", and that's not how the system works.
It was DOCKED, and as such available for anyone else to rent. 1/
— Falcon Apoda (@DownFalcon) May 25, 2023
It's clear he didn't want enyone to take the "coveted" e-bike, so he and his buddies hovered around it so that he could claim it was still his to anyone who approached the dock to rent it.
Like, say, pregnant female nurses who can easily be intimidated. 2/2
— Falcon Apoda (@DownFalcon) May 25, 2023
"Just remember, y'all are trying to reason with the same people who think Columbus "discovered" a place where an entire population of people already lived…."
Oh, here we GO….
— Falcon Apoda (@DownFalcon) May 25, 2023
lol lol lol Columbus lol
I'm sure you live somewhere that is inhabited ONLY by the descendants of the first people to step foot on the land.
Right? And you yourself are also a descendant of those people?
What a …
— Harleqyn Heretic (@HarleqynHeretic) May 25, 2023
Are these the same calm and polite teens who said her baby was going to come out retarded?
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