‘Get out of here’: Indian-origin woman racially abused in NY
NEW YORK: An Indian-origin woman in the US was allegedly racially abused by an African-American man who called her inappropriate names and yelled “get out of here” when she was travelling in a commuter train.
Ekta Desai, who lives in New York, took a video of the incident that occurred on February 23.
The video was then shared by a website The Voice Raiser and has since then gone viral and been viewed by hundreds of thousands of people.
In the video, the African-American man is seen abusing the woman, saying words like “Freedom of speech” and “Black Power.” Using expletives, he tells her to “get out of here.”
As the woman is recording the video, the man gets visibly angry and is seen shouting at her.
“This man was on the same PATH train as me along with 100 other passengers, I had my headphones on and it was like any other day. Next thing I know he is yelling on my face (Did not bother to listen/react),” Desai wrote on social media. She said she did not react but the man continued shouting and questioned why she was taking his photo.
Several people have reacted sympathetically towards the woman after the video was posted online.
Desai said she reported the matter to police authorities, who allegedly said the man appears to be “emotionally unstable” and she should be careful.
She then contacted Kundan Srivastava, a Human Rights activist and founder of The Voice Raiser, who said the US government should “punish” the man for “harassing and abusing women and also insulting our nation.” “We would also like to say that being a girl does not make anyone less capable or helpless. As you can see in the video, people are just standing as a mere spectator. He yelled disgusting things and used unacceptable words. A person should abide by the civic rules and does not slut shame a woman. Keep Fighting!,” the organisation said.
The incident comes close on the heels of the shooting in Kansas of Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla.