In Dialogue with the Community, we talk on this occasion about an issue of great concern for parents and society in general, and which registers alarming figures.
We are referring to subway surfing, a dangerous practice that consists of climbing on top of the cars of a moving train and which has unfortunately claimed the lives of several teenagers in our city.
We are accompanied by Norma Nazario, mother of Zackery Nazario, the young man who lost his life in February of last year while traveling on a J line train while crossing the Williamsburg Bridge.
1. Norma, this week it has been one year since the death of your son in that difficult circumstance. We are very sorry. A vigil was held Tuesday to remember Zackery with a moving event. Tell us how you experienced this moment and what this year has been like for you after the departure of your son.
It was horrible, going up to the bridge where it happened, my legs were shaking, explains Nazario. “I thank all the people who accompanied me,” he says.
2. Norma, since the incident on the Williamsburg Bridge, five other teenagers have died from climbing on top of trains.
In 2023 alone, the police recorded about 130 people arrested for to surf in the wagons. More than 95 percent of them were 17 years old or younger.
And so far in 2024, police report that 27 people have carried out this activity. 25 of them are minors. We are talking about a pretty serious problem. What’s going on? What is this about?
“This is because of social media and the MTA,” he says. According to Nazario, they are just children, and when they see something on video, they want to do it too.
3. We know that this week you filed a lawsuit against the social media companies TikTok and Meta. What do you hope to achieve?
I put it so that more mothers don’t go through what I’m going through, so that children stop losing their lives. They not only lose it to Subway surfing, but to more things like suicide.
4. How do social networks encourage young people to take these types of risks?
Nazario believes that suway surfing videos send messages like how to dress to hide, for example.
5. And the lawsuit is also against the MTA. Because?
6. Norma, what else can be done to stop this matter?
She believes that by stopping social media.
7. What advice do you give to parents?
“Put the phone away, spend time with them, travel, do something that takes them away from being there”…(referring to social networks).
To listen to the full interview by presenter Burma Ríos with Norma Nazario, click on the video.
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