Metro Transit continues hiring despite driver assault concerns

By H. Jiahong Pan

Contributing Writer

In the bright and airy break room of Metro Transit’s new North Loop garage one Saturday morning, about 150 people gathered, some sitting in chairs, some munching on cookies while others waited to be interviewed for a chance to drive a bus for the agency.

Tangie Alanwoko, who relocated to the Twin Cities and once drove buses for the Toronto Transit Commission, was one of those people.

“Interacting with people is my cup of tea,” said Alanwoko. “I don’t like to be stuffy and sit in offices all the time with just walls and walls, or windows that you can look out [of] without any interaction with people.”

For years, Metro Transit, like other agencies across the nation, has desperately sought drivers for their buses. The pandemic made the problem worse as riders retreated to their homes and worked remotely in the early days. Its drivers were idle, and some quit or retired. Currently, the agency is short about 300 drivers compared to 2019.

In the last two years, the agency organized monthly hiring events and worked with the union that represents Metro Transit drivers to increase their wages. It appears the hiring efforts may be paying off, and there might not be service cuts in March. However, the agency continues to struggle with difficult working conditions that have attracted federal scrutiny and threaten to drive away their drivers new and old.

In October, the Federal Transit

Remembering the Montford Point Marines Black WWII servicemen ultimately recognized with Congressional Gold Medal

By Julie Gordon

Contributing

Writer

On June 25, 1941, more than 160 years after the United States Marine Corps was established, President Franklin Roosevelt—at the urging of civil rights activist A. Phillips Randolph and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt—issued Executive Order 8802 prohibiting discrimination in the defense industry. Though this decree removed barriers based on race, creed, color, or national origin, it did not completely lift segregation across the U.S. armed forces. That would come seven years later under President Truman.

In the summer of 1942, the first Black Marines arrived at Montford Point Camp, a 1,600-acre wooded swamp near Jacksonville, North Carolina. The first recruits not only were tasked with clearing the land and build- ing their own barracks, but they also had to train in the harsh conditions while their White counterparts benefited from considerably better accommodations at nearby Camp Lejeune.

Several accounts suggest the U.S. Marines, the last branch of the military to allow people of color to enlist, were initially unwelcoming to the Montford Point Marines.

In fact, the commandant of the Marine Corps at the time, Maj. Gen. Thomas Holcomb, when asked whether he would want a Marine Corps of 5,000 Whites or 250,000 Negroes, he responded “I would rather have the Whites.”

During the 1940s, nearly 20,000 Montford Point Marines trained at the camp, with many of them deployed overseas, including the historic Battle of Okinawa. While history books, movies and news articles feature heroic stories about the Tuskegee Airmen and the Buffalo soldiers, it seems that the thousands of men who trained at Montford Point and literally changed the face of the Marines are oft-forgotten.

One man, Retired Marine Master Gunnery Sgt. Joseph H. Geeter, is dedicated to changing this narrative. The MSR recently had the opportunity to sit down with Geeter (JG) to hear what the Montford Point Marine Association is doing to honor the lives and legacy of the men who served.

MSR: When did the Montford Point Marine Association start, and what is its mission?

JG: We got started 20 years after WWII in September 1965, when many Montford ‘Pointers’ wanted to get together for a reunion and renew old friendships. Four hundred people showed up at the Adelphia hotel in Philadelphia—professionals, teachers and business owners.

Administration asked Metro Transit, along with eight other transit agencies in the U.S. serving large metropolitan areas, to describe how they are mitigating assaults after learning those agencies comprised close to 80 percent of reported operator assaults nationwide.

Manny Butler was one of those drivers who were assaulted. “[It was

■ See TRANSIT on page 5