Image: Facebook/Bassel Hamieh
A Portland State University student’s car was sideswiped by an unnamed white female driver who later inquired about his race. When he told her he was of Middle Eastern descent, she remarked, “Some of you are terrorists.”
“Today was the day I had to confront a racist lady, in Portland, OR, who hit the side of my car, denied the fact, proceeded to call me a terrorist, and finally accused me of harassing her,” wrote Bassel Hamieh on a Facebook post he shared on Aug. 21, alongside a video of the altercation.
Hamieh’s post, which had gone viral, has garnered over 76,000 views, 1,700 likes-and-reactions, 780 comments and 1,100 shares, as of this writing.
“I was in my car when she hit it and kept driving,” Hamieh said. “Thinking she would stop I waited but soon realized that she wouldn’t, which prompted me to run after her to let her know what she had done. ”
“You don’t look like a Portland guy,” the woman noted in the video. Hamieh asked the woman for her I.D. and insurance information to make an insurance claim but the woman refused to hand her identification details, implying Hamieh will steal her identity to illegally live in the United States. Hamieh insisted that he was an American citizen and that he was born in Portland.
The woman wasn’t having it, though. “You are not born here, we have a huge accent. I have an American accent. I’ve been all over the world my own self, don’t you go there with me,” she said.
Later, she asked Hamieh what his name is. When Hamieh told her what his name is, she said, “I knew it. I knew where you’re from.”
“What’s wrong with Middle Easterners?” Hamieh asked. The woman replied, “What do you think? Some of you are terrorists.”
From then on, the woman was adamant for Hamieh to keep a distance from her. At one point, she even threatened to call the cops, which Hamieh told her to proceed with, as he was certain the security footage will reveal that the woman was in the wrong.
“People who are haters like you need friends actually,” Hamieh remarked. The woman retorted that she is not a hater, highlighting the fact that she is a Christian.
“My mom’s a Christian just FYI,” Hamieh replied. “You’re a racist and you have to keep your heart open and love people because it’s disgusting.”
“Unbelievable. People like you are what the problem is in this world,” Hamieh said in the end.
The police came not long after the woman gave her insurance information, Hamieh told The Oregonian last Saturday, Aug. 25. The woman went as far as to report to the police that Hamieh and his friend, who was driving the car when the incident happened, were harassing her. The police neutralized the situation and the woman went on her way to the appointment she was talking about in the video.
“I am making my peace with the fact that I will never feel safe here and will just live, hopeful, that one day we will all love one another and live to make others feel this love,” Hamieh said in his post. “I will live each day feeling proud of who I am and not shame. Feeling lucky to be who I am and not unfortunate. I will not let people like this woman define me.” JB
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