One day last week, while a passenger on a PVTA bus between Amherst and Northampton, I witnessed an event which was shocking and frightening.
The bus was very crowded, with standing-room only, except one seat next to an African-American student. As the crowded bus left the malls on Route 9 it took me some time to comprehend what I was witnessing. Standing next to the empty seat were two white men, one with a young boy; in addition, there were several white people standing feet away from the empty seat.
At one stop on Route 9 a passenger got off, leaving an empty seat in the back of the bus. The young boy went to this seat, not the seat only inches away from him; he appeared to be modeling the behavior of the surrounding adults.
The bus continued down Route 9 with standing-room only, except for the seat next to the well-dressed African-American student.
When the bus stopped at a red light I took the time to get up and seat myself next to the student.
I never said a word, and with several packages to care for, I did not have the ability to read my book or check messages on my iPhone.
What I did see was the look of one passenger who had been standing nearby but now had a seat across and in front of me. This man would not stop looking over at me with a look of hatred I have only seen in pictures or in movies.
When the bus finally made its first stop in the center of Northampton, the student and I got off the bus, leaving behind a bus full of white college students and adults who did not sit next to the African-American young man.
All the signs of Black Lives Matter in the Five Colleges area appear to have lost all their letters on a bus from Amherst to Northampton.
PEGGY BESHT
Northampton