violence
saw the news this morning when i was checking the weather. bombs in london. i was gripped with the same paralyzing fear i had felt when i learned bombs had destroyed commuter trains in madrid. i've been to both of those cities, used public transit, have people i care about who are living there. i visited the atocha train station in madrid to see the memorial that was built there after the bombings. it was unreal, literally unfathomable that someone can purposely seek to end so many innocent lives in the name of ideology. i heard from kat that jen, who is studying in london, is alright. thank god. my heart goes out to all londoners and their friends and family.
in an unrelated act of violence, efe and i witnessed a brutal beating on train home from the taste of chicago this past july 3rd. the train stopped at fullerton. it was around 11:00 pm. we were sitting sideways, facing the platform. we watched as two hispanic girls attacked a shrieking blond girl on the platform. one of them grabbed the blond girl by the back of the head and slammed her face into the glass-enclosed waiting area on the platform, and then smashed her head into the metal side of the train, directly across from where we sitting. again, a feeling of disbelief and panic -- i shrieked as if i were reacting to a violent episode in a movie. noone moved to help the blond girl, who crumpled to the floor of the platform crying and moaning. someone dragged one of the hispanic girls onto the train, with the intent not to prevent her from hurting the blond girl, but to prevent the hispanic girl from being caught by CTA authorities or the police. she obviously wanted to pummel the blond girl some more, but someone blocked the exit. a few moments later the hispanic girls fled, the preppie boys helped the blond girl up. she wasn't bleeding, just bruised and understandably shaken. i was amazed that none of the men on the train did anything to stop the hispanic girls. i too, did nothing. i was scared the hispanic girls would turn on me. such a sickening display of violence on the girls part and cowardice and apathy on everyone elses.
in an unrelated act of violence, efe and i witnessed a brutal beating on train home from the taste of chicago this past july 3rd. the train stopped at fullerton. it was around 11:00 pm. we were sitting sideways, facing the platform. we watched as two hispanic girls attacked a shrieking blond girl on the platform. one of them grabbed the blond girl by the back of the head and slammed her face into the glass-enclosed waiting area on the platform, and then smashed her head into the metal side of the train, directly across from where we sitting. again, a feeling of disbelief and panic -- i shrieked as if i were reacting to a violent episode in a movie. noone moved to help the blond girl, who crumpled to the floor of the platform crying and moaning. someone dragged one of the hispanic girls onto the train, with the intent not to prevent her from hurting the blond girl, but to prevent the hispanic girl from being caught by CTA authorities or the police. she obviously wanted to pummel the blond girl some more, but someone blocked the exit. a few moments later the hispanic girls fled, the preppie boys helped the blond girl up. she wasn't bleeding, just bruised and understandably shaken. i was amazed that none of the men on the train did anything to stop the hispanic girls. i too, did nothing. i was scared the hispanic girls would turn on me. such a sickening display of violence on the girls part and cowardice and apathy on everyone elses.
posted by M at 2:14 PM
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