1619 Project founder dismisses worried NYC mom's subway safety concerns

A New York City mom who complained about the squalid, unsettling conditions of her subway commute accused 1619 Project founder Nikole Hannah-Jones of “sending her followers” after her.

The critical race theory champion mocked education activist Yiatin Chu, who described in detail her foul, frightening subway ride on Twitter last week.

“Paid $2.75 to be in a subway car with a loud and aggressive man threatening to hit his female partner. Switched cars at next stop to be in a public toilet / urine-odor, crowded car for the rest of my ride. This is Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adam’s NYC,” she wrote.

“Hochul and Adams own it. They said so themselves,” Chu added, linking an October press release from the pair on how they will increase law enforcement presence in the subway system to address rising crime.

Hannah-Jones, who was born and went to college in the Midwest, retweeted the post and added dismissively: “Yes, yes. This was absolutely unheard of on subways until two years ago.”

Yes, yes. This was absolutely unheard on subways until two years ago. https://t.co/9j82epEbl4

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) November 17, 2022

Users followed the Pulitzer Prize winner’s lead, accusing Chu of being a tourist, a “child,” and a “very recent immigrant.”

“They were purposefully being unkind,” Chu told the New York Post.

She added that Hannah-Jones “wanted to send her followers after me,” pointing to the New York Times writers “huge platform” of 697,000 Twitter followers. “She makes these snarky comments and she’s inviting them to pile on.”

Chu had her defenders as well.

Manhattan parent activist Maud Maron pointed out that Hannah-Jones had grown up in Iowa while Chu grew up in Queens.

“Yiatin went to public school in Queens as an English language learner and commuted to Bronx Science as a teenager in the 80’s…some of us have decades of NYC living to draw on, not just the last two (admittedly garbage) years,” Mauron added.

“Why are you denying Yiatin's lived experience?” replied Natalya Murakhver, an anti-school lockdown crusader. “She didn't say it was unheard of 2 years ago but anyone who rides the subway knows that these incidents have increased & no amount of gaslighting will erase them.”

The 1619 Project, which reframes the founding of the United States around protecting the right to own slaves, has been controversial since it was first published in The New York Times Magazine in Aug. 2019. Historians have criticized Hannah-Jones, who is not a historian, have criticized the premise as an “unbalanced, one-sided account” that lacks important “context and perspective.”

Hannah-Jones was recently under fire for charging a Virginia public library $40,000 for a 45 minute speech and threatening a $100,000 penalty if it was recorded.