The BRU's campaign to defeat MTA's racist fare increase reached a fever pitch on Thursday, May 27, when 150 BRU members and allies shut down the MTA Board. Since February, MTA has denied our basic rights by refusing our two reasonable demands: a legitimate public hearing and a Board vote on the proposed increase. This budget includes a 20% fare increase and 388,000 hours in bus service cuts.

In spite and because of this pattern of subterfuge and disrespect, we went determined to be heard. We once again confronted a Board equally determined to keep us silent. We brought the MTA Board meeting to a halt for 4 hours. In the process, two of our organizers, Sunyoung Yang and Gabriel Strachota, were arrested in an act of civil disobedience.