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Arresting someone for having their feet on the seats is truly excessive. Racism almost certainly was a factor in every step of this process. The woman noticing the man, deciding to police his behavior in public, the MTA and police not just letting it go with a warning. All of it.
If feet were on a seat in violation of MTA rules they can ask you to leave. You don't get to refuse or argue your case. If that is the case here, a white person could ostensibly go through the same process. There's plenty of videos of white people doing just that and not acknowledging their own attitude and behavior and getting arrested.
That's not to say racism didn't play a role. Just that there could be a plausible explanation given the facts seemingly available for the outcome.
Edit: How many of you downvoters immediately jumped to Jussie Smollet's defense? I understand racism is a thing.
Part of racism's power is the unequal application of rules. Plausibility is often on the side of racism. While the rules may prohibit feet on the seat (were his feet on the seat here?), it is unlikely this rule is enforced against white people as often as it is for minorities. I'm sure it happens, but the point isn't "sometimes the rules are applied to white people too". The point is "the rules are more often and more extremely applied to black people".
Tangentially related, "the new jim crow" is worth reading.
I also haven't seen anything about how he was sitting "improperly", only the accusation that he was, somehow.
Which leads me to believe he wasn't, really. But even if he was, that doesn't mean race wasn't a factor. He could be sitting sprawled out, but if the conductor says "yeah I'm not dealing with this I'm calling the police" I'm very much inclined to believe the officer was likely racist, just by sheer historical precedent.
This
There's a lot of "if"s in there.
Someone posted the video above and they're sitting in a single row, typically putting your feet on the seats it's something you do in a double row with seats facing each other.
Just take your feet off the seats when the MTA worker tells you to.
If you look at the video, he was sitting in a single row, I don't see how he could've had his feet on a seat, that's something you do in a double row with seats facing you in front of you.
And a seat next to him.