In a recent video uploaded by an anonymous Toronto resident, a white man was captured hurling racist insults at another passenger on the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).
What happened: At around 9:50 p.m. on Oct. 30, an Asian woman and her fiancé boarded the train at Union Station after a Toronto Raptors game. They witnessed a man in a blue jacket making derogatory comments about an Asian passenger who had allegedly taken an empty seat in front of him.
“Man in blue jacket proceeded to lean over him saying he was a lazy piece of sh*t, weak and other degrading things for sitting in front of him,” the woman detailed in a post on Reddit. “Nothing else happened, there was no prior interaction between the two. It started because the Asian man was sitting in a chair he wasn’t even sitting on.”
According to her, the man alternated between English and French while making racist comments targeting Asians. He also allegedly directed some of these comments at the woman and her fiancé, who are both of Asian descent. The Asian man who was the initial target of the insults remained quiet, but the woman eventually decided to record and confront the aggressor.
“Who are you talking to? You’re calling Asians a piece of sh*t?” the woman can be heard saying in the video.
The man then denies, saying he wasn’t talking to anybody while pointing to something on top of the Asian man across from him. He then tells the woman to “relax.”
“Of course when he was called him out, he was quick to deny,” the woman wrote on Reddit. “The Asian man who was very quiet, thanked us once the man and his partner had gotten off our train. What’s crazy to me is he’s a gay man in a relationship with a Black man but still racist? I don’t get it.”
“It was a full, busy train but no one else said anything although I could see everyone was looking,” the woman expressed. “After all that’s happened on TTC trains I get the reluctance, but at what point would you think to yourself, I can’t not say anything?”
It is not clear whether the woman has reported the incident to authorities.
Reactions of viewers: Some viewers of the clip expressed understanding for the reluctance among other passengers to intervene, citing concerns about unprovoked violence on the TTC. However, others encouraged standing up against hate and discrimination, expressing disappointment in the fear that prevents people from speaking out.
“I think many people nowadays are more scared to speak up,” one Reddit user wrote. “Mostly because we never know if the other person is dangerous or may pose a threat in any way. I think if you can evaluate the situation well and come to the conclusion that nothing extremely bad might happen (like a physical fight), it’s good to speak up. Good for you for speaking up.”
“I applaud you for speaking up for our fellow Asian human beings, and I wish a lot more people would do the same,” another person said. “I am sad that Toronto/Canada has come to this that most people are afraid to stand up and help others, when blatant POC aggression happens to another fellow human being, in broad daylight, in front of so many people.”
