The “Benefits” of Diversity in the New York Subway System

A Change.org petition is asking the City of New York to built safety barriers to protect people from being shoved into oncoming trains:

Everyone deserves to be safe when riding the subways.

At least 4 Asians have been shoved towards the tracks in about 6 months.

At least 4 people have lost their lives having been pushed onto the tracks and others have narrowly escaped death. 

Other cities with less resources than New York  have barriers that prevent people from being pushed onto the tracks. Why not New York too!

Sign this petition to call upon Mayor Adams, Governor Hochul, our Federal, State and City elected officials and the MTA to put in barriers, first in heavily traveled stations such as Times Square, where Michelle Go tragically lost her life.

Yes, it would be nice if nobody had to worry about meeting such a grisly death, but let’s examine the four deaths cited in this petition:

The most recent one is the one that’s highlighted in the petition, that of Michelle Go. She was pushed to her death by this man:

Here’s the suspect in a 2016 fatal New York subway pushing:

Here’s the man who killed an Asian man by pushing him in front of a subway train in 2012:

A woman who pushed an Indian man to his death on the New York subway in 2012 is described as:

Hispanic, in her 20s, heavyset and about 5-foot-5, wearing a blue, white and gray ski jacket and Nike sneakers with gray on top and red on the bottom.

Here’s a man who shoved a woman onto an approaching subway train in 2019:

As a matter of fact, of all the suspects who pushed people onto subway tracks in New York, over the past few years, practically none were white, with one possible exception. Almost all of the suspects are black or Latino.

How much would it cost to install these barriers? According to a Spectrum News article it would cost around 7 billion dollars, and even then, it would not include all tracks.

At this point, it appears that the City of New York is seriously considering this step; public pressure is mounting. If New York City were all white and Asian, there would be no need for such an expense, and there would be no pressure to take this step.

The City of New York is estimated to lose between $215 and $300 million per year due to turnstile jumping. According to governing.org, 89% of turnstile prosecutions were of blacks and Latinos. This means that in New York, blacks and Latinos are responsible for annual losses of about $223 million a year.

The odds of getting shoved into the path of a subway train are slim, but the odds of having to pay more in taxes (if you live in New York) are very high.

These are the costs of Diversity as it relates to the New York subway – death, injury, fear and astronomical costs. It’s hard to see a benefit in any of this.