What do I do when I see racism?

We received this letter as part of the reader response our Racism in Paradise series has garnered:

Dear sirs: I have had an experience to relate that shocked me, and made me wonder what the right procedure would be to express my indignation.

I am a 70-year-old woman. I was riding transit, something I seldom do, in North Vancouver a couple weeks ago.

There were two young women, probably Filipino women, one with a baby. They were chatting, having a good time and getting louder and louder. But their conversation was just two young women enjoying life, not at all offensive.

Suddenly a man about 40 years of age approached the women, telling them that they were speaking too loudly, that they were like monkeys in the forest and should return there and eat themselves like monkeys do. At least that was the gist of the tirade.

I was embarrassed, and wanted to speak up and say that he had the right to ask them to please quiet down a bit, but he did not have the right to speak to them as he did.

I would like to know what one does when one sees something like that happening. If I were younger, I would not have given it a second thought to remind him that we live in Canada and all nationalities are accepted here and that we do not have the right to be rude to anyone.

But, I am a relatively healthy 70-year-old, and would like to stay that way as long as I can. I felt that he had no respect for them, and he probably would have no respect for me as an older “Canadian” woman.

It bothers me that I did not speak up and say something, but frankly I was very uncomfortable and intimidated by the man. It appears that everyone on the bus was as well, with the exception of one woman who applauded him for his actions, as she disembarked the bus.

Would you have any suggestions? I really need to know how to deal with a situation like this.

Thank you,