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Showing Original Post only (View all)Author faces backlash for reporting black Metro employee for eating on train; book deal halted [View all]
A D.C. author shamed a Metro worker for eating on the train. Now her book deal is in jeopardy.
The backlash was swift, with many accusing the woman, Natasha Tynes, of trying to get the employee fired.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2019/05/11/dc-pundit-shamed-metro-worker-eating-train-now-her-book-deal-is-jeopardy/?utm_term=.7b885876401e
Author Natasha Tynes has ignited a firestorm on social media, where she criticized a black Metro employee for eating on the train and reported the woman to transit officials.
Tynes, a Jordanian-American writer and World Bank employee in Washington, tweeted a photo of the woman Friday, showing the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority employee in uniform, eating on the Red Line. Tynes tagged the WMATA account, reporting that when she confronted the woman for breaking Metro rules, the woman told her to worry about yourself.
When youre on your morning commute & see @wmata employee in UNIFORM eating on the train, Tynes tweeted. I thought we were not allowed to eat on the train. This is unacceptable. Hope @wmata responds."
The backlash was swift on Twitter, where people have been calling out the self-described minority writer for shaming a black woman and attempting to get her into trouble. Amid the uproar, Tynes apologized, saying she was truly sorry for the tweet, which she acknowledged had been deleted. By early Saturday morning, she had also set her account to private.
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Barry Hobson, the chief of staff for the Metro workers union Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 said in a statement the Metro employee was taking her meal break while in transit from one assignment to another. The statement notes operators have "an average of 20 minutes to consume a meal and get to their next access point to ensure all buses and trains are on time, safe, and ready to serve the riding public.
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Rare Birds Books, a publishing house that was set to distribute Tyness upcoming novel, They Called Me Wyatt, has since decided not to do so.
The company said in a statement Friday that it had learned that the author did something truly horrible today in tweeting a picture of a metro worker eating her breakfast on the train this morning and drawing attention to her employer. Black women face a constant barrage of this kind of inappropriate behavior directed toward them and a constant policing of their bodies.