Things got ugly (and bigoted) when a heavily inebriated white woman broke out into a rage against two Black men on a subway platform in midtown Manhattan on Sunday night.
According to video captured by one of the men, the drunken woman began berating them near the turnstiles at the Columbus Circle subway station, even going so far as to try and prevent them from passing through.
Now #BlackTwitter what would y’all done in this situation. Enough is getting Enough drunk or not this lady need to be held Accountable. pic.twitter.com/yD1rjlsqEO
— Fake Woke Black Person (@D0ugLyfe) December 1, 2019
“Your mama’s a b***h,” she said to one of the men as she stepped in front of him at the turnstile.
The woman then repeatedly asked “Why you following me?” before continuing her offensive comments.
“Your mother’s a whore like you. Why are you a follower? Follower, follower,” she said.
Seemingly egging him on to get a reaction, she continued verbally attacking them, saying, “What are you gonna do? You gonna f**king fight me?”
At one point, the belligerent woman tried to smack the cameraman’s cell phone, hitting him with her scarf and inciting the man to clap back.
“If you hit me, I’m going to smack the s**t out of you,” one of the men said.
“Oh really, n***a? Like, whatever. You have no money, b***h,” she replied.
After the cameraman, whose Twitter handle is @D0ugLyfe, shared the clip to his page, flagging Black Twitter to respond, many flooded their timelines with opinions about the incident.
Why am I not surprised that none of the white people chilling in the station intervened or tried to help you? Just disgusting.
— THEEE SPV (@stefanipaige) December 3, 2019
You did a great job of avoiding her and de-escalating the situation by remaining quiet and moving away. She kept coming to you and trying to incite you, and you stayed calm and did not respond. You handled this incredibly well.
— Susan Basko (@SusanBasko) December 3, 2019
If there was an agent in the booth that person should have called the NYPD and reported the harassment. They always expect black people to just take it and walk away. Sad for many a new day is coming. Folk are tired and gonna start retaliating.
— CallmeMrCowan (@thecccowanshow) December 3, 2019
According to the man who recorded the incident, officers refused to take any action after the encounter was reported.
“Wow So I just left my local police station the 44th police precinct to be exact and White Officer Jocaby told me this is not assault and she wasn’t racist she only called me a n***er one time and I was following her ????????????,” he wrote.
This incident is just one of the multiple absurd events that has taken place at various MTA stations over the past few months, including excessive policing measures.
Under the call of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, the MTA declared that they would increase police presence at several stations throughout the city to crack down on passengers who evade fares and jump the turnstiles. The Gothamist also reports that the new subway police officers will not be required to wear body cameras.
In response, thousands turned out to protest the governor’s measures, calling the “emergency action” an excuse to inflict violence against Black and Brown people, particularly the youth.
“You see all around the world similar things happening," said activist and Decolonize This Place organizer Amin Husain. "It's about civil unrest. If the city isn't going to listen to the people, then the people are going to assert their legitimacy."