Demand BART Take Down Anti H-1B Visa Posters

  • van: Kathleen M.
  • ontvanger: Bay Area Rapid Transit leadership
San Francisco's Bay Area Transportation System recently accepted and placed $80,000 worth of subway and interior train ads purchased by "Progressives for Immigration Reform", whose Executive Director is Kevin Lynn. The ads cruelly and disparagingly attack legally present H-1B holders of U.S. "tech worker" visas. The ads are placed to take up the majority of ad space in BART stations and trains thru at least April. They foment disrespect for any legally present [holder of H-B1 visa] skilled tech worker who is not American born.

H-B1 visa holder workers pay the same price for their BART train fare as everyone else. Taxes paid by legally present and gainfully employed H-B1 visa holders go towards supplying needed revenue for BART''s operating costs, the same as taxes paid by American workers and other commuters.

The phrase "Expensive, Undeserving, and Expendable" is prominently displayed in capital red letters on the ads, much larger in size and prominent than the remaining poster lettering.

Though the phrase above refers to how U.S. tech companies supposedly "view" American tech workers, the letters' size, color, and prominence were clearly designed to leave rushed commuters with the impression that this is how legally present H-1B tech workers should be viewed, instead. The total effect is to disparage and marginalize American and foreign born tech workers alike.

BART claims that freedom of speech laws give them no choice but to put up PFIR''s purchased posters. That assertion is questionable, at best. I am concerned that other racist and xenophobic organizations, besides the PFIR, will now feel empowered to place similar ads in public places, not founded on facts, which encourage disrespect for, and violence against, immigrants.

History has shown that such defamatory, racially motivated signs and slogans, freely placed in public places, are NOT designed to be an exercise in "free speech". If allowed to remain, the ads will assuredly encourage more violence against ANY person who is not "native born", whatever his/her legal immigration status, and whether employed or not.

I do not believe that BART has "no option" but to place PFIR's ads, just because PFIR offered them $80,000 to do so. As a partially public taxpayer funded agency responsible for civil and respectful content of ads designed to be read by millions of commuters daily, BART could have turned down PFIR's original proposal to purchase the placement of these offensive ads. This would have been a far sounder marketing decision, designed to keep existing ticket paying commuters and to attract more passengers, thus legitimately increasing BART's operating income.

This would still be the right and ethical thing for BART to do. BART has many choices of ads to accept from paying advertisers and other organizations to display in its public, partially tax supported facilities. There is no obligation to accept ads which are offensive to or which denigrate any classification of workers or commuters, American or foreign born.

Add your name today, to hold BART accountable for a really bad choice of ad campaign, which will be viewed by millions of commuters daily as a "captive audience" to their xenophobic content. Demand that BART do the right thing, by immediately returning the ad purchase cost to PFIR, and by removing all PFIR ads, as a sign of respect to ALL workers and commuters.
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