WARNING: The above video contains course language and racial slurs and may be considered offensive to some viewers.
Racial hate flowed unabated on a Sydney bus at lunchtime on Wednesday when Lindsay Li, a Chinese-Australian woman, was verbally abused for the duration of her journey, while her pleas for help fell upon deaf ears.
Ms Li was waiting in Willoughby for the city-bound 273 bus when she says an older woman came up to her, spat on her and struck her with a shopping trolley, before pushing ahead of her to get on the bus when it pulled up.
When the woman turned around on the bus and began hurling racial insults at Ms Li, the younger woman took out her film and began filming.
“I was just sitting there waiting for the bus, and this woman crosses the road, she approaches me, like she’s seen me as a target,” Ms Li said.
The woman began “screaming in a racial tirade, just calling me every name under the sun”, Ms Li told Fairfax Media, “I’m feeling so threatened at this point … I’ve gone to the bus driver: ‘You need to stop and call the police.’ And he has just completely ignored me and kept driving and I’m screaming at him, going: ‘You need to stop the bus now.’ “
No one intervened, Ms Li said.
“I was completely terrified. No one was standing up for me. This woman was so unstable I thought she could physically attack me at any time.”
Ms Li posted the 90-second video to Facebook on Wednesday.
The video shows a woman with a strikingly similar appearance, accent and voice to a woman who made headlines in August when footage emerged of her launching a racist rant at a Chinese-Australian couple eating lunch in Wynyard Park, accusing the couple of “taking all the jobs”. Ms Li doesn’t respond in her video, while the woman calls her a “f—ing ugly f—ing c—k” and accusing her of selling drugs. “We all know what you are, China … Take your f—ing language and piss off, f—ing c—k,” she says.
“I’m Jewish from Israel and you are f—ing nothing.”
“It just makes you lose a little bit more faith in humanity,” Ms Li wrote on her Facebook page.
When Ms Li got off at her usual stop in Crows Nest, the older woman followed and continued her screaming rant. Ms Li reported the incident to NSW Police, who confirmed they had received a report of alleged offensive behaviour on a Sydney bus on Wednesday and the incident was under investigation.
A spokeswoman for State Transit said that racism on the buses in any way, shape or form was not condoned.
“We will be investigating this matter further and if required, will take appropriate action,” she said in a statement. “State Transit works closely with the Police Transport Command and Police local area commands to reduce instances of antisocial behaviour on our buses. We encourage customers to report acts of racism to NSW Police.”
On Friday, a spokeswoman from the Australian Human Rights Commission told Fairfax Media the commission would offer to meet Ms Li.
If you or others you know are a victims of racial vilification, contact the Speak Out Hotline 1800 131 555 FREE.
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