Terri Kay of Workers World writes: The Bay Area Rapid Transit police have achieved notoriety once again, this time with the brutalization of Nubia Bowe, a diminutive 19-year-old Black woman. The brutality continued at the hands of Alameda County sheriff deputies once Bowe arrived at the Santa Rita, Calif., jail. Workers World interviewed Bowe and her godmother, Carroll Fife, about Bowe’s ordeal at the hands of police.

Workers World: What happened the night you got arrested?

Nubia Bowe: After work at Job Corps, I was coming home on March 21.... We were stopped at Lake Merritt BART by three BART police saying we had to step off the train. They said we were dancing on BART, soliciting money and causing a disturbance. Several people approached the cops saying we didn’t do anything and why did we need to get off the train.... I was pulled off the train by a different officer. He slammed me against the wall, busting my lip, and then he slammed me on the ground. I was taken to the Lake Merritt [holding cell] waiting to be transferred and held there about three hours, separated from my friends. [Then] I was taken to Santa Rita jail.... They started beating me up — all four of the cops, while I was on the ground. They put me in arm locks, joint locks, stepped on my feet and my face.

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