Photo: Rabblefish (Flickr/Creative Commons).
Two very sad news articles involving South Asians in the US and Canada caught my attention this evening. A woman in New York City allegedly pushed an Indian immigrant man off of a train platform and onto the tracks, where he was crushed by an oncoming train. The woman told police:
“I pushed a Muslim off the train tracks because I hate Hindus and Muslims ever since 2001 when they put down the twin towers I’ve been beating them up.”
She was arrested and charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime.
On Twitter, Piali Roy said that this incident reminded her of an incident from Toronto in the 1970s, when a South Asian man was pushed in front of an oncoming train there. This coincided with a rise in “Paki-bashing” when the arrival of South Asians expelled from Uganda made all South Asians more visible in the city:
The NYC train murder reminds me of what happened in Toronto in 70s. That stupid fear of other people on the subway platform. #pakibashing—
Piali Roy (@PialiRoy) December 30, 2012
I had to take the subway for high school – yrs after the Toronto subway incident. Mother drummed it in me to be on guard on the platform.—
Piali Roy (@PialiRoy) December 30, 2012
.@stepfordTO yup. We even had raw eggs thrown at our house in 70s Toronto. Used to be afraid to cycle around the block.—
Piali Roy (@PialiRoy) December 30, 2012
