Woman Racially Abuses Man On Train

[Noomi]

Freedom of speech? Some would say so, but should innocent commuters have to put up with something like this?

POLICE have praised commuters who came to the defence of a man being racially abused on a Melbourne train.

Furious passengers who united to take a stand against a woman who exploded in a hateful rant on Wednesday night.

In a show of force against the vile diatribe, in which she called an African man a "black ----", one of two commuters who had been shoved by the thug publicly denounced her racist taunts.

Senior Sergeant Dearne Dummett praised the commuters who defended the victim.

"I commend the persons on the train for the way they came to assist that person," she told reporters in Melbourne on Friday.

Mahmood Sereaph Reza, 27, who was on his way home to Altona after attending a life coach workshop, said he boarded the train with his friend at Parliament station and was “gob-smacked” when the pair were immediately greeted by the woman taunting them with racist remarks.

Read more: Late-night commuters unite against racist and hateful rant on Melbourne train | News.com.au

You can view the video at the link. The woman was apparently shocked when no one agreed with her disgusting opinions. The media is trying to track her down, hopefully to plaster her face all over the papers and let everyone know what a despicable person she is.

Would you class this as freedom of speech or not? Does it cross a line into racial vilification? If so, what punishment should the woman receive?

I hope we find out who she is, because I want her to explain herself.

 

[malikc6]

That woman can barely speak English. Why is she talking crap when she talks like a kid with down syndrome?

 

[aplcr0331]

What's there to explain? She does not like someone based on how they look. Seems simple enough.

 

[Noomi]

What's there to explain? She does not like someone based on how they look. Seems simple enough.

Is it freedom of speech, or does it cross a line, is my question?

 

[Saigon]

That woman can barely speak English. Why is she talking crap when she talks like a kid with down syndrome?

You've just defined about 10% of this board!


To answer the question, I don't think racial abuse fits into freedom of speech laws, and I think she should be banned from using public transport for a year or so, and perhaps given some community service time.

 

[ThirdTerm]

In Australia's major cities such as Melbourne, foreigners are sometimes verbally or physically abused on public transport for no obvious reason and there was a high-profile case involving French exchange students who were threatened by some passengers for singing a French song on a bus. Some Aussies have anger management issues, which we have to show some compassion, but this particular episode is a good story because other commuters intervened on the victim's behalf.

 

[emilynghiem]

What's there to explain? She does not like someone based on how they look. Seems simple enough.

She is taking some unresolved issue from the past
(conflict between groups where her father fought on one side of a war
she associates with that)
and then projects the anger verbally at someone
she sees as representing that group by class or race

the original hurt and anger was coming from her
if she doesn't forgive heal and release that
then it get projected as blame and anger at someone else
and ends up hurting an unrelated person

the point is still to heal the roots of
conflict blamed on race or class

if she doesn't solve her issues
it becomes someone else's problem

 

[Noomi]

In Australia's major cities such as Melbourne, foreigners are sometimes verbally or physically abused on public transport for no obvious reason and there was a high-profile case involving French exchange students who were threatened by some passengers for singing a French song on a bus. Some Aussies have anger management issues, which we have to show some compassion, but this particular episode is a good story because other commuters intervened on the victim's behalf.

Her family apologised for her behavior, but the two men she abused say that because she's an adult, she needs to say sorry herself.
Apparently she is going through a hard time in her life. Well, too bad.

 

[MondoBongo]

Freedom of speech? Some would say so, but should innocent commuters have to put up with something like this?

Would you class this as freedom of speech or not? Does it cross a line into racial vilification? If so, what punishment should the woman receive?

I hope we find out who she is, because I want her to explain herself.

The last time I checked, Melboure was in Australia. You posted this in the US forum on race relations.