2 Black riders say driver ordered them to sit in back of bus; company is investigating

For Black people, being told to ride in the back of the bus is a reminder of an era when they couldn’t sit at the front because of legal restrictions.

Two Black passengers claim a bus driver in North Dakota ordered them to sit in the back of an empty bus, prompting an investigation.

Xavier Davis of Crookston, Minnesota, and Jarvis Greenhill of Grand Forks, North Dakota, met for the first time in the early morning of July 13 as they boarded a Jefferson Lines bus in downtown Fargo, North Dakota, The Dickinson Press reported.

Davis and Greenhill said once they presented their e-tickets, the driver — identified by Jefferson Lines management as Koby McFarlane — insisted they choose seats in the back.

“Two Black guys just so happened to be getting on the bus together,” Davis said, according to The Dickinson Press. “This is a true story in 2023. 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, who has since filed a complaint with the transportation line, began filming the incident inside the bus shortly after the driver instructed him and Greenhill to head to rear seats.

McFarlane, who has been working with Jefferson Lines since the summer of 2022, told Davis and Greenhill he loads passengers from the back to the front – a method Greenhill had never heard of before, according to the footage. The two men are frequent Jefferson Lines travelers.

Soon after the first video ends, Davis records another, in which McFarlane informs him he boards from the rear because “one guy turned like this to put his bag in and brushed another dude, and that guy had a chip on his shoulder about it. So in an effort to try to avoid that, it’s easier to load back to forward so the last person getting on doesn’t …”

After that, the bus driver yelled at Davis, who was moving toward the front, “Sit down, or get off.” He complied.

“I have never been on a Greyhound or Jefferson Lines where we had the driver say …” Greenhill expressed.

McFarlane interjected, saying, “Take your seat before I have you arrested.”

“We have done nothing wrong,” Greenhill said to the driver. “Call the police.”

Davis said he complied because he had other things to do and was worried that if the situation escalated into a criminal matter, he would be arrested for “something I didn’t do” if the police arrived.

Greenhill worried the driver might force them off “in the middle of nowhere,” so he also followed instructions.

Both men said they felt disrespected and questioned the driver’s intentions.

“I want that man to shake my hand publicly. I want him to write his feelings on how he felt at that moment in time and tell the truth,” Davis said. “He has to apologize to me as a man, face to face. He was wrong.”

Kevin Pursey, director of sales for Jefferson Lines, said there is no assigned seating on any company bus. Sometimes a driver will ask a passenger to move to make room for an elderly or disabled individual or to assist them in finding a more convenient seat.

Pursey, who had not seen footage from the bus cameras, stated that McFarlane had never been the subject of any prior complaints. He added that he was unaware of any unusual events before Davis and Greenhill boarded the bus.

For Black people, being told to ride in the back of the bus is a reminder of an era when by law they couldn’t sit at the front. The segregation policy came under fire after Rosa Parks, as an African American bus passenger in Alabama, was arrested and fined for refusing to give up her seat for a white man.

Parks’ arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which began on Dec. 5, 1955, and lasted until Dec. 20, 1956. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ruled that Montgomery, Alabama, had to integrate its bus system.

“I don’t want to get wrapped up in that Black Lives Matter deal,” Greenhill told The Dickinson Press. “This is just human decency. I am just dumbfounded.”

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