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An incident of racism against a Filipino couple in Vancouver is under investigation after going viral on social media.
Videos posted on Facebook of a woman verbally attacking the elderly couple and passengers caught the attention of the Metro Vancouver Transit Police.
The heated tirade occurred in August 21 on the city’s Skytrain while in transit along Burnaby.
The woman, 75, told a couple speaking in their native language to lower their voices.
After the couple apologized and said they were used to speaking loudly because they were from the Philippines, the woman fired racist remarks.
According to a witness, Paula Correa, the woman also told them to learn English even if the man spoke to her in the language, reports Huffington Post Canada.
Meanwhile, YouTuber Ashley Klassen shared a video of the incident, remarking, “This is probably the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen. Unfiltered Vancouver racism.”
“I was born and raised right here,” the woman yells in the video. “Go back to the fucking Philippines.”
“Don’t say that,” says a passenger.
“No I’ll say what I want,” barks back the aggressor.
“Get the fuck off the train,” a teenager tells the irate woman. “You’re racist.”
“I am not racist. I asked them to talk a little lower,” she shouts back.
She also insults the teen after he tells her she has a problem: “I have a big fat ass and a brain, much more than you have little boy. You f***ing little boy.”
She eventually gets off the train, but not before mocking the couple again.
Passengers apologized to the couple for the woman’s behavior, Correa said in a report by News 1130, adding: “Social media provides an illusion that these things happen in other places, in other countries — in the USA, for example. But it can happen in the very place we call our home and it does happen and it did happen.”
According to the police statement, the couple did not want police involvement after the incident and will interview the witnesses who took the videos.
They also identified the aggressor as someone documented with anger-related issues.
“There is no place for offensive language, of any kind, on our buses, trains, SeaBuses or in our stations,” said the statement. Niña V. Guno/JB
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