SikhAmerican woman becomes victim of hate crime in New York

A Sikh-American woman was allegedly harassed on a subway train in New York after a white man mistook her for a West Asian and allegedly shouted “you don’t belong in this country” — the latest in a series of hate crimes against people of South-Asian origin.

Rajpreet Heir was taking the subway train to Manhattan when the white man began shouting at her, said a report in the New York Times.

She recounted the ordeal in a video for a Times section called This Week in Hate, which highlights hate crimes and harassment since the election of Donald Trump.

Heir said she was looking at her phone when the white man shouted at her saying, “Do you even know what a Marine looks like? Do you know what they have to see? What they do for this country? Because of people like you.”

He told Heir he hoped she was sent “back to Lebanon” and using expletives said, “You don’t belong in this country,” before he left the subway.

Heir said she was born 30 miles from Lebanon — not the country in the Middle East, but a namesake city in the American state of Indiana.

Heir said as the man left the train, she saw a young white woman in the train staring at her “with tears in her eyes”.

“What had just happened provided evidence of what I had sensed beneath the surface for a long time - racism that can turn violent and lately does,” she said.

The report added two fellow passengers stepped in to help her after the incident. One woman tapped her on the shoulder and asked if she was all right.

“That meant something because when you’re a minority, you’re so used to just experiencing things on your own,” Heir said.

HEIR RECOUNTED THE ORDEAL IN A VIDEO FOR A TIMES SECTION CALLED THIS WEEK IN HATE THAT HIGHLIGHTS HATE CRIMES AND HARASSMENT AROUND THE COUNTRY