The CEO of the Baton Rouge Capital Areas Transit System (CATS) got himself into some very hot water with comments he recently made saying the bus system didn’t have more white riders because there were so few white bus drivers on payroll.
Bob Mirabito, the CEO of CATS, was asked how he dealt with the “racial divide” he encountered when he took over the job. Mirabito’s answer is virtually guaranteed to leave you shaking your head:
?CATS is actually 95 percent African-American.?And unfortunately our demographics don’t match Baton Rouge.?I would love to have a workforce that matches the demographics of Baton Rouge because I think there are some people out there who may not ride CATS buses because they don’t like the color of an operator’s skin.?
Metro Councilman John Delgado said Mirabito should either apologize for the comments or face dismissal:
?If that’s his assessment of the potential ridership of Baton Rouge, then he’s an idiot and needs to be fired. It’s obscene. I find it offensive.?
But Councilwoman?C. Denise Marcelle said an apology would not be enough for Mirabito to stay on the job:
“If the board and my colleague who chairs the board sits there and allows that, we’ve got a real problem.”
When given a chance to apologize for his comments, Mirabito stood his ground and replied:
?Whether the staff is made up of 95 percent African-American or white or Asian, it should be a goal to try to match the demographics of the community that we’re providing service for.”
The seat Mirabito was sitting in must have suddenly gotten very warm, because he did finally offer a mea culpa:
?I apologize. It was never my intention to offend anyone, and I am sorry that my comments on a recent podcast have distracted our community from our continued push to move our transit system forward. My comment, heard in its entirety, was not racially motivated, and I apologize that is the impression it has given people.?
It remains to be seen if the apology will be adequate in light of what Mr. Mirabito originally said.
