Sabotabby, Scourge of Racist Drunkards

[sabotabby]

Yesterday afternoon, the class having wrapped up, I found myself on a patio sipping beer with my classmates and one of the instructors. I was the youngest person in our group, and the only woman. Behind us, a group of rowdier and older drunks were conducting their own inebriation session. Construction on the road provided a steady soundtrack of industrial-level pain.

A woman walked by, dressed all in black, wearing a niqab. As if to prove that street harassment happens no matter how many clothes a woman is wearing, one of the guys behind us started shouting at her.

"Terrorist!"

"Go back to your own country!"

"What's wrong with you?"

I stood up, turned around, glared, and in my best teacher voice, asked one of the men, "And what's wrong with you?" The guys at my table turned around to stare at the offenders as well.

The men at the other table hastily started making apologies for their friend: "He's drunk!" "He's crazy!" I sniffed disdainfully, sat back down, and returned to my beer and lively conversation.

Comments

[ghostwes.livejournal.com]

I hope he learned his lesson. He actually might, since it sounds like his friends weren't interested in defending him so much as apologizing for him being an asshole. That's gotta be embarrassing for the guy, drunk or not. Maybe embarrassing enough for him to take it to heart. I've witnessed similar epiphanies first hand, so who knows.

I also hope the woman heard this exchange so she knows that there are Canadians who aren't willing to tolerate this racist crap.

[sabotabby]

I don't think she heard anything. I actually didn't notice her at first—I was facing sideways and minding my own business, and it's not like she had two heads or was walking a capybara down Bloor St., or anything else that would have differentiated her from any other passerby. People wearing niqabs aren't uncommon either where I live or where I work. So by the time I realized that the drunk was shouting at a particular person, she had almost passed by, plus there was the noise of the construction.