Go back to Lebanon: Sikh-American girl told on NY subway
Rajpreet Heir was taking the subway train to a friend's birthday party in Manhattan this month when the white man began shouting at her, according to a report in the New York Times.
In the latest of hate crimes against people of South-Asian origin, a Sikh-American girl was harassed on a subway train in New York when a white man, mistaking her to be from the Middle East, allegedly shouted 'go back to Lebanon' and 'you don't belong in this country'.
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Rajpreet Heir was taking the subway train to a friend's birthday party in Manhattan this month when the white man began shouting at her, according to a report in the New York Times.
Heir recounted the ordeal in a video for a Times section called This Week in Hate, which highlights hate crimes and harassment around the country since the election of US President Donald Trump.
Heir said she was looking at her phone when the white man shouted at her saying, "Do you even know what a Marine looks like? Do you know what they have to see? What they do for this country? Because of people like you." He told Heir he hoped she was sent 'back to Lebanon' and using expletives said, "You don't belong in this country," before he left the subway.
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Heir,
a
Sikh,
said
she
was
born
30
miles
from
Lebanon,
not
the
Middle
Eastern
country
but
a
namesake
city
in
the
American
state
of
Indiana.
Heir
said
as
the
man
left
the
train,
she
saw
a
young
white
woman
in
the
train
staring
at
her
'with
tears
in
her
eyes'.
Rise in reports of discrimination
"What
had
just
happened
provided
evidence
of
what
I
had
sensed
beneath
the
surface
for
a
long
time
--
racism
that
can
turn
violent
and
lately
does,"
she
said.
The
report
added
that
two
fellow
passengers
stepped
in
to
help
Heir
after
the
incident
on
the
train.
One
woman
tapped
her
on
the
shoulder
and
asked
if
she
was
all
right.
"That
meant
something
because
when
you're
a
minority,
you're
so
used
to
just
experiencing
things
on
your
own,"
Heir
said.
Another
woman
reported
the
incident
to
a
police
officer
at
a
subway
station.
The
report
said
that
as
New
York
works
to
respond
to
a
rise
in
reports
of
discrimination
and
harassment,
subways
have
emerged
as
a
source
of
special
concern.
It
said
the
anti-harassment
group
Hollaback
has
received
nearly
double
the
usual
number
of
reports
of
harassment
on
the
subway
and
more
than
usual
involve
racist,
Islamophobic
or
anti-immigrant
comments
since
the
election
of
Trump.
Heir's
case
is
a
yet
another
disturbing
incident
of
racial
discrimination
in
which
people
of
South
Asian
origin
have
been
targets
of
abuse
and
hate
crime.
Last
month,
Indian-origin
woman
Ekta
Desai
had
posted
a
video
online
of
an
African-American
man
racially
abusing
her
and
calling
her
inappropriate
names
as
she
was
travelling
on
a
subway
train.
Fear and anxiety had gripped the Indian community following the tragic shooting in Kansas of 32-year old Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla, who was killed when 51-year old US Navy veteran Adam Purinton opened fire at him and his friend Alok Madasani before yelling "get out of my country."
Purinton had assumed the two Indian men were 'Middle Eastern'.
PTI