Racial discrimination on my way home, now scared to go out - please help.

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NC because it is quite private and painful to write down.

I am a single woman from East Asia living in London. A homeless man, in his 60-70s, near where I live and work. When I walk passed him, he usually mutters something like "fucking XXXX(my ethnicity)", and I usually see them once or twice a month. This does not bother me much as I pity him and don't see him often anyway. However, on Friday evening, around half ten, I walked past him on my way home, and it was quiet, and only two of us were nearby. Maybe because no one was around, he just shouted, "You 'my ethnicity' cxxt", "so fxxking uneducated".

Two days have passed, and I am still in shock and scared of walking the same route, the only route home. I talked to my friends, which helped a lot, but this feeling is constant as it happened around where I live. I revisited the street corner on Saturday to get used to facing the same environment again, but I cannot lie to myself, I am scared of seeing him, and I don't know what to do.

I am writing this down for support and advice on handling this situation.

Thank you all very much.

Phone 101 that is the non-emergency police line.
Say you want to report a race hate crime. Use those exact words.
They'll ask you to describe the man, where it happened, dates and times. Give as much detail as you can.

Yes, he might be homeless and have a disturbed mind, possibly drunk, but there is never an excuse for racial abuse.

God op how horrible. I’m not surprised you’re shaken.

it seems to me that many many men seem to think they can comment at / to / about women in the street whenever they like. He has also added in the extra delight of some pretty vicious racism to make it even more upsetting.

I would definitely report it. It’s vile.

This is not something you are expected to endure, please do report it on the online form as a hate crime.

If he were not picking on you, doubtless he would torment someone else he feels he can intimidate, someone disabled, someone pregnant, someone old, anyone he feels power over - it is not you, it's his own lack of control over his life and circumstance dosed out as a poison on everyone around who he can hurt.

@Imissingrid - thank you very much for the advice. I did call 101 but the only way to report a crime is online using this link. I am concerned that it will just be a drop in an ocean. And on the other hand, I am still worried that I will see him again.
https://www.met.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/af/how-to-report-a-crime/

Hi OP,

I am so sorry that you've had to be a victim of this. One of my closest friends had something similar in london back when homeless people would sit on the Waterloo station bridge. She got called an effing p and got berated about how the homeless man was on the street and she was here 'stealing the jobs.'

My friend is an incredibly successful IFA in london. She had to walk past him so many times as it was part of her commute. She reported it to the police and he was moved on, and thankfully the bridge is shut now. It really effected her. In the end she called his bluff and asked him 'what job have I stolen from you?' 'Do you want to be a financial advisor?' Or something along those lines.

I don't know if she saw him again, but the fact that this still happens to innocent people just going about their lives commuting to work just shows we have a lot of fucking work to do still.

I don't care if someone says it under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Nobody I know when they get drunk starts making horrendous racist comments.

I hope this comes to a stop soon OP. I really do. It's awful and you shouldn't ever have to go through this.

You need to report him to the police.

Sorry this happened. Don't be blaming yourself! I would bet anything her wouldn't have had the nerve to abuse a big bloke or the same ethnicity.

actually ANY bloke!

HE not HER🙄

Report it online. If we all ignore abuse it’ll never go away. Chances are the man is already known to police so this gives them more information.
A strategy you could use is having a response ready, practice it. “ I won’t abuse you, don’t abuse me. Good day” or something similar.

Sorry op, I hope you are doing better.
Glad to hear you've reported it, maybe you should get some stock responses ready, if you felt confident enough to say something back to him.

So, so sorry to hear this, OP. Hope you are ok.

@purpleboy Thank you so much.

I really don't know what shall I say but I am worried it will get worse if I just keep my head down and walk away, I probably will hate myself for not standing up for myself afterwards....Shall I tell him that I reported him to the police? He has this 'I am an old homeless man, people pity me, and I can get away with everything, no one will believe you" attitude.

Me too, OP my blood is boiling in anger. I'm so sorry there are these people in the world. 100% report it to the police, it's repeated racist harassment.

Oh God don't tell him you've reported him though OP, I just saw your comment about that. That might make him worse. Let the police handle it.

Definitely report to estate management. I also live in an apartment complex. I am also Asian. Someone has left their dog poo on my doorstep three times.

Management tried to argue that it was an accident, but 3 times can't be. I have reported it and asked them to look at their CCTV.

I'm so sorry this has happened to you. As pps have said, this is a crime and I see people up in court for it all the time.

Report it online every time it happens, it helps to build up a picture. I would try and avoid engaging with him directly as it could be risky.

Don’t worry about reporting online, we had to do that and it was followed up very quickly.

It doesn’t matter what problems this man might have in his life, you do not have to put up with feeling afraid and abused because of it.

Police and security can’t seem to act unless there is a complaint, sometimes we have to be strong and be the person who complains, but I know it is very tempting to do nothing.

Good luck

Report it OP. It's a hate crime and you shouldn't have to feel scared just walking home. Maybe if enough people complain about him police will have a word and move him on/get services involved.

It's not you. There are a lot of drunk,/angry/disturbed men about.
I wish I d reported the one who shouted abuse at me when I was taking a short cut through a housing estate but I lost my temper with him instead which could have been risky and made me feel worse.

I m a middle aged white woman nothing remarkable about me at all

@Mercy1968 - thank you so much for sharing the story. I am so sorry that it happened to you too. ..

@TonTonMacoute

I will definitely report it online after reading your girls' comments. Thank you so much.

But what shall I do if I encounter him again (i.e. tonight) before the police taking any actions.

Hi OP that’s awful, I’m sorry you feel unsafe, I would too. Seeing as you mention you live in Canary Wharf, which is a private estate, you should be able to talk to estate security. They can tell him to leave the area, in fact I’m surprised this man has been allowed to enter, they’re usually very strict.

@Bet01
Hi, he does not go to the shopping mall, but usually stands at top of the bridge to the foundation, and sometimes near the flower shop next to CW DLR. This time, he was outside cineworld. I live and work around canary wharf which make the ordeal worse. Shall I email Canary wharf estate?