Two Minnesota men say they were ordered to sit in the back of an empty bus by a driver last month.
According to Black Enterprise, Jarvis Greenhill and Xavier Davis, who are Black, were boarding the Jefferson Lines bus heading to Fargo, North Dakota on July 13 when they were asked to move to the back.
“I’ve seen it on TV. I’ve seen it in the history books, but I never actually had a white person tell me to go to the back,” Davis said. “Two Black guys just so happened to be getting on the bus together. This is a true story in 2023.”
In a video of the incident, the driver, identified as Koby McFarlane, can be heard shouting: “Take your seat before I have you arrested." The driver claimed that his instructions were based on his usual routine of loading passengers from the rear to the front.
Davis and Greenhill said they have frequently ridden the bus, but have never heard of such protocol.
“I don’t want to get wrapped up in that Black Lives Matter deal,” Greenhill said. “This is just human decency. I am just dumbfounded.”
The pair said they complied with the driver's instructions to sit in the back out of fear of police involvement.
“It is traumatizing to go to jail for things you didn’t do,” Davis said. “I didn’t want to go to jail for something I didn’t do because I was in the right,” Davis said.
Jefferson Lines Director of Sales Kevin Pursey said the company is investigating the incident. According to Pursey, drivers can ask a passenger to move to assist an elderly person or people with disabilities.
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