A disturbing video of a woman ranting racist slurs against an elderly couple on a trail is going viral. Her racist outburst stunned passengers, but several people, including a young boy, stood up against her.
The video shows a senior woman berating an elderly Filipino couple and telling them to “go home” and “speak English”. Paula Correa, who caught part of the incident on video, said she was riding on Vancouver’s Skytrain public transit system in the middle of the day, when she saw the woman interrupt the couple’s conversation and tell them to be quiet because she felt they were talking too loudly. According to Correa, the man apologized, but that’s when things got ugly.
“This is probably the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen,” Correa captioned her video, which she later posted to Facebook. “Unfiltered Vancouver racism. Shout out to the kid up front.”
In the video, the woman can be heard telling the couple to, “Go back to the f—ing Philippines.” She also tells them to “learn how to speak English”.
As the woman continued her tirade, Correa said other passengers stepped in to defend the couple. She said one passenger confronted the woman and another man “also started defending the couple and he was defending them quite aggressively so she started attacking him as well.”
Of note is a young boy somewhere in the front of the train, who also stood up for the couple.
The woman left the train cursing, and Correa went over to the couple afterwards to try and comfort them.
Note: the video contains some foul language and may be disturbing to some viewers.
Correa, who is of Filipino descent, spoke with Global News afterwards and points out that Filipinos are bilingual. “We speak both English and Tagalog or whatever dialect we speak. It’s ridiculous how ignorant people are. The couple was replying to [her] perfectly well in English.”
Transit police released a statement that the woman is a 75-year-old woman is known to them for documented anger-related issues in the past, but that “there is nothing documented that would indicate there is a concern for public safety.” However, they are investigating the matter. The elderly couple were spoken to by the officers but advised they were fine and didn’t want any police involvement.
One person commenting about the incident on reddit said the woman was known to him. “This woman is crazy AF. I took the bus with her once and a whole load of Chinese tourists got on and she started doing the same thing to them. I told her to pipe down – bus driver did absolutely nothing. She should be banned from transit.”
Another person pointed out she has a red compass card [transit card] in her lanyard which is provided as part of disability assistance, which many with mental health issues do receive. Still doesn’t absolve her of responsibilities or actions…”
A disturbing incident, to be sure. But Correa and others take heart that many passengers intervened. “I’m so glad that there were so many people who stood up against this kind of hate,” she said.
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