As sad as it is, I believe that everyone practices a little bit of racial discrimination. We have all had a moment where something has happened with a single person or group and we have attached a label to the entire country they came from. I'm guilty of that, you probably are too. Don't go and deny it too quickly...
Today I was on the tram coming home at about noon. There was a group of guys that came on and I knew right away that they were going to be trouble. Some of them were visibly drunk and that lead to loud and obnoxious banter between them. As long as they kept to themselves it would have been fine. Things turned when an Indian man came on the tram and made the mistake of sitting near them. Obviously not realizing his mistake, he would soon learn it. At this point, one of them went up to him to harass him and started to say things like, "You're not from here" and touched his turban. He then proceeded to take out his penis and shove it in the guys face and ask if he wanted to touch it. The man tried to push him away. I felt so bad for him. Partly for not saying anything, and partly because no one helped him. Had the drunk guy been alone, maybe someone would have stood up to him but when there is a group, it's automatic fear (on my part anyway) that they'll do something worse to you. We were at the front of the tram so I'm certain that the driver knew what was happening but didn't say anything. The other people were generally over 60 and probably just didn't want to get involved. He finally left the man alone but then proceeded to walk around and cause a scene anyway, play fighting with his friends, climbing on to the handrails pretending to do things to ticket machines as if they were a person. Imagination is yours, his zipper was still down and I just didn't know where to look.
A few minutes later, I was happy to hear that they were getting off. Sadly, the Indian man got off at the same stop. I think he was on his way to a job interview, suit, clipboard in hand. As the tram moved away I looked out the window and saw that they were still walking around him. I felt sad for him. What that guy did was obscene, his friends not stopping him was awful as well. I wish I had said something. Unfortunately, fear gets you sometimes.
