Racism on public transport

[LiquoriceWheel]

I yelled at a man on the bus today who was making awful remarks about some people on the bus. 'Go back to Pakistan', 'Where are you from? Africa?' 'Go back to Africa' 'f word this, f word that' etc etc. We were all commuting home from work, so all very tired and grumpy. The idiot was sticking his feet in the aisle and I believe he may have actually been placing them on another commuters legs. He was politely asked to move his feet then started his stupid, racist tirade again (to other people nearby). I was sitting close by and was so damn angry I yelled at him to stop being so rude and disrespectful. He started swearing at me and then other commuters around me started yelling at him to cut it out and to shut up etc. He was muttering racist, imperialist crap to himself for a while then was silent. Before he left the bus he turned around and said something which made lots of people shout at him to get off the bus.

I feel so drained and shit to be honest. I did all I (realistically) could and it was just shouting. Is this the only way to stop this racist bullshit? Just yell at the mean man who then gets to go away unpunished. What else can we do? The man next to me who was being abused, thanked me for backing him up, and that made me sad. I also yelled at another man two days ago (I'm in customer service) because he called my friend a vile, disgusting word (she is Indian). Honestly, I am an absolute Pollyanna most of the time but this is really depressing me. Feel so glum. How should I handle racism on public transport in the future. Hate having to type that, I really do Please advise me

It's not happened often with me but I have been in situations when I felt I just had to act. I think this would have been one of those situations. Things like this make my blood boil. Its completely unnecessary.

Well done you for sticking up for the people being abused.

I think the only thing I would have done differently is asked the bus driver to tell the guy to get off.

But he would have got a mouthful off me.

Good for you, OP. These people need to be called out every time. I guess the only other possibility might be to ask the driver to throw him off, but I suspect they wouldn't want to get involved.

It's kind of you to step in at all, most people would pretend they didn't hear.

It's getting worse, I don't know what to advise. Except I'd appreciate the intervention if I were being targeted by that kind of behaviour too.

Thinking about it differently - I wonder how many of these types get off on getting a reaction? Maybe being ignored by everyone might have a longer-lasting effect? (Though granted for those that it would there are probably more that wouldn't) Or a quiet but witty put-down (always assuming you can think of them at the time)? If you shout at them (tempting as it is) are you just giving them the 'excuse' to be even more offensive and louder?
The best solution might be to get the bus stopped and the oaf thrown off (easier said than done) - if it happens consistently the hassle of walking might outweigh their desire for attention?

Surely shouting racist abuse at someone is illegal? If something like that happens again you could call the police?
Hope you feel a bit better now

From what you said, one man was a racist prick. A whole bus load of people shouted at him and stood up for the people he was abusing.
Well done for standing up to this wanker.

Good for you. They are the minority. Where I live they would have been thrown off the bus.

Also this kind of thing happens everywhere. I had a customer service adviser from the AA actually laughing down the phone at my surname and saying 'bloody 'ell' because it's forrin. And my husband was called a 'fucking paki' by someone - he's not Pakistani but whatever 😂

It is illegal kaytee but it was probably not practicable to call the police in the time frame and situation OP was in.

I would probably just have yelled at him too.

You did the right thing but next time record him on your phone, put it in the public domain and inform the police

I would have done the same, well done OP it needs people to stand up to this sort of crap.

Thanks for your replies and reassurances everyone, I've calmed down massively. Phew . I've contacted the bus company to ask about their policy about kicking off really awful passengers. We were also on the motorway when this happened so definitely no chance driver could have got rid of him. I don't want to react the same way I did if something like this happens again. I agree with other posters that there were more calm and collected ways to have dealt with this without giving him the attention he wanted. Thanks again

You've done the right thing. The more that people stand up to people like this the more the less likely it is to happen. Well done.

It's difficult because it might be that some racist idiots enjoy the attention and getting a rise out of other passengers. Some good advice I read recently about dealing with this sort of thing is to pointedly ignore the racist and go sit next to or near the person being abused and engage them in just normal, everyday conversation (the weather, chat about families, whatever). The point is to minimise/dismiss/belittle the racist nonsense being spouted by just being a normal human being interacting with another normal human being, ifykwim.

This post explains it better than I did m.facebook.com/uditisen/posts/10101753514774500?pnref=story

Well done op
Did you report it to the bus company? The bus will have cctv and they can pass that on to the police
People have been prosecuted for similiar situations
I don't agree with the poster who suggested ignoring
Racism should always be challenged because ignoring it is kind of condoning it

It would be a racially aggravated public order offence, definitely illegal. I second recording and reporting to police but definitely challenge. You did the right thing even if shouting didn't feel good. This type of behaviour needs challenging and it sadly seems to be on the rise.