An Indigenous Filipina nurse sustained physical injuries after getting assaulted by a couple while distributing protective face masks in a New York subway on Aug. 10.
The attack: Potri Ranka Manis, who works at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, was attacked after she handed out masks to the couple who sat next to her, along with their child on the stroller, reported the Inquirer.
- According to Manis, the man grabbed the masks, threw them away and started yelling racial slurs at her.
- “Mind your own business, ch**k! Get out of this train, you Chinese, go back home to your dirty country,” the man allegedly shouted.
- The man failed an attempt to grab her bag, but then the woman next to him started physically hurting her.
- She tried to call 911, but the man also snatched her mobile phone.
Manis’ routine: Manis, who belongs to the Maranao tribe in the Philippines, shared that it has become her routine to distribute face masks to subway passengers in the city to combat the rising COVID-19 cases.
- In an interview with a Philippine radio show, Manis revealed that many passengers appreciate the masks she hands them, “except for this recent incident.”
- The incident remains under investigation, according to GMA News.
Who she is: An online profile on Manis describes her as the “daughter of a sultan from the southern Philippines” and an “award-winning poet and playwright” who founded the dance company Kinding Sindaw.
- She has performed Mindanao’s classical and tribal dances and other Filipino dances solo and with Kinding Sindaw throughout the Philippines, the Middle East, Hong Kong and the U.S.
