Asians are offended by a recent decision by MARTA — Atlanta’s rail system — to name its line from Atlanta’s Airport to Doraville “the Yellow Line.” And by “Asians are offended,” I mean, “some Asians are offended, and the rest are looking for people to be offended so we can blog about how offended they are.”
A quick trip to Wikipedia reveals that MARTA had lines called the Northeast-South Line, the North-South Line, the Proctor Creek line. But what’s easier to say, the Northeast-South Line, or the Yellow line? Exactly. And there’s plenty of other municipal transit systems that use colors: Chicago has a yellow line. San Francisco’s Millbrae to Bay Point line is yellow. The groups seeking to have a conversation with a mayor practically acknowledges this and how the Director didn’t mean to offend, but counters with an race issues more troubling: “If a line going to the south side of the city was named the black line, I think you’d have a different outcome. The sensitivity to Asian issues is not there yet.” That’s going to require a lot more mediation meetings than what you name a transportation line, if you ask me.
UPDATE: MARTA has now renamed the Yellow Line to the Gold Line.
