Like many rural Georgia residents, Melton Bennett is oddly terrified of MARTA. My fellow Atlantans know all about this phenomenon. Out-of-towners are known to sometimes clutch their belongings and stare worriedly at the other riders who are minding their own business.

Is it the noisy trains that scare him? Does he shriek wildly when he hears them roar through the tunnel?

Nope.

Is it the mice and pigeons that sneak into the stations?

Nope.

Those things, however, would make so much more sense.

Bennett is afraid of the African American Atlantans who ride MARTA.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution, perhaps inspired by a tense political climate, has developed a reporting project called RE: Race. The series is supposed to be a place for a real yet respectful discussion about race in the Atlanta area. The blurb above this particular article calls for a “respectful, constructive conversation about race and ethnicity in Georgia.” Melton Bennett was told to write about a time when he felt like an outsider and oh boy, did he ever stray from respectful and constructive dialogue!

Bennett very dramatically tells the story of his fateful MARTA ride. When he starts off at the Northern side of the city the passengers are mostly white. He does not say anything about their behavior or demeanor. When the train hits Five Points, however, he is shocked to see the train fill up with mostly African American passengers. Suddenly old Melton has a lot to say about the people on the train. HMMM.

“Mostly, it is then that I notice differences between the people who joined me at my embarkation and the people who have joined in the city. It’s not uncommon for me to watch an impromptu hip hop performance as the train treks south, a performance replete with phrases about violence, sex and race.

The language changes, with poor grammar and offensive profanity being expelled by these groups of passengers, speaking loudly to be heard by everyone, almost as if they must exhibit some cultural difference to a captive audience to make sure they are seen and heard. “

My blood boils reading this. I am appalled at the dehumanizing way Bennett writes about these people, some of whom I may have ridden with before. Let me interject here that I am a short, scrawny white and Latina woman who screams and runs from bugs and I am still not scared of anyone on MARTA. I cannot wrap my head around a man referring to African American Vernacular English as “poor grammar” when he comes from Cumming. I grew up in nearby Dahlonega, where “over yunder” and “git’r done” are common phrases so I know he has no reason to be trashing Atlanta grammar. Even if he were a freaking English teacher, Bennett should know that English has many dialects and is somewhat fluid.

Bennett proceeds to whine about feeling like an outsider and blame his fellow passengers for the racial divide, even though white people have usually been the ones voting to keep MARTA out of predominantly white suburbs for a long time. He has the nerve to invoke the name of Martin Luther king Jr., judgmentally wondering what the civil rights icon would think of his MARTA ride. The level of disrespect of Bennett throwing around the name of a remarkable man murdered for his activism to simply complain about his train ride is off the charts. It is even more disrespectful when you consider that Melton is riding through a city that contains such historic civil rights landmarks. Ebenezer Baptist Church and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference are a short walk away from Five Points station, and famous historically black colleges like Morehouse and Spelman are just a bit further south.

It is not my place to speculate on what Dr. King would say about all of this, but I am fairly certain that he would not appreciate Bennett’s article.

What infuriates me, even more, is how annoyed Bennett seems by the perceived display of cultural difference. He is centering himself, a white man, in the actions of the people on the train. He only focuses on the things he believes to be negative. Did he see the superhuman mother calmly entertaining two cranky toddlers on the long commute? What about all the tired people in work uniforms who still have the strength to laugh with each other, to give up seats for the elderly and disabled?

Melton Bennett, ride the red line again. Look harder, listen. Try and learn something about Atlanta and the diverse cultures that have shaped it since its founding. Do not look for reasons to hate and fear people who do not look and speak like you. Listen for the old man singing with a disarming mixture of joy and pain. Look at the awkward couple on their first date, trying to make conversation. Yes, Atlanta has a long history of racial tensions and the residents know that. The worst thing you can do is make snap judgments about a culture you know very little about. Examine your own thinly veiled racism before you preach about healing the divide.