A woman in her fifties recently harassed an Indian-American family by passing racist remarks while travelling on a shuttle bus in Los Angeles. She was later removed by United Airlines staff.
The incident, captured on video, went viral on social media after being shared on Instagram on 24 November by Pervez Taufiq, the victim himself and a well-known photographer.
“Mortified we just went through this. This lady was harassing our son on the flight, unbeknownst to us, asking him if he was Indian and making comments,” Taufiq captioned the video post.
“When we landed in LA and got on the transfer bus, she told our son to ‘shut up’. I told her she doesn’t have a right to speak to my son that way, and her husband got in my face trying to tell me to not speak to his wife.”
As Taufiq began recording the altercation, the woman flipped both her middle fingers at the camera.
“Your family is from India, you have no respect for the rules, you think you can push everyone… that’s what you think you are. You guys are f*g crazy,” she said.
In response, Taufiq asked her, “Are Indians insane? You advised me to eat more curry, correct?”
The woman replied, “I’m going to record your fg tandoori a… your tandoori stinky a.”
“You’re not American. Not originally, no, you’re from f*g India,” the woman further said.
“I was born in America,” Taufiq replied. “No, you weren’t; that’s not on your passport,” the woman retorted. Taufiq said, “Yeah, you want to see my passport? Is that going to make you happy?”
A United staff intervened and began speaking with the woman, while other passengers urged her to leave the bus.
“We need her off the bus because she is drunk and out of the queue,” another passenger told the staff. “On the bus, she has been yelling and swearing, and she has started using racist epithets to describe this pleasant family,” he added.
Taufiq said, “I’m thankful United @united got her off the bus ultimately and a few fellow passengers stood up for us. Blown away these types of people still exist. As photographers, we have seen a lot, but this is one we could have done without.”
