Trans Woman Films Extreme Verbal Assault Against Her That Turns Violent
For those who assume places like New York City don’t harbor extreme anti-LGBT bigots, this stunning video should change your mind. Pearl Love, a transgender woman says she was riding the subway last Thursday afternoon when a woman sitting across from her started verbally assaulting her. After several minutes she says she started to film the encounter. The short video below – less than two minutes – ends in what appears to be physical assault. Love says the woman hit her.
Love writes on Facebook that when she changed trains at 125th Street, an unknown woman sitting across from her started to verbally abuse her.Â
As you can see from Love’s comment, the verbal assault got ugly quickly.
“Make lot of shit comments about how much she hate Trans people and want me to suck her dick. She also made racist comments,” Love writes. “I ignored her and kept reading my book. When the train got to 86 st she start getting so loud and crazy yelling at me so I started to record her on my phone can- she start getting even louder and start assault me and hit me. As you can see it’s definitely a hate crime. She attacked me inside the train,” Love says.
It’s important to note that Love apparently, at least during this video, did nothing except film herself being assaulted and abused. She did not respond, she did not attack, she sat there and documented the entire exchange – up until there appears to be some form of contact.
“When I retreated she threw all my stuff on the floor and chased me around the train and say she is going to find a stick to hit me. It was a crowded train and everyone heard it but no one helped me. Guys acting like nothing happened. For 5 min. Then when the train stop on 42 st. She got out of train but keep yelling at me, I recorded 4 videos around 3.5 min. Thanks to an older guy who helped me pick my stuff up and put it back my bag, and said sorry to meðŸ‘. So now you can understand what’s happening in my everyday life. That happens all the time. But it’s my first time recording it. 😅
Gawker‘s Rich Juzwiak posted the video today, and transcribed some of the unknown woman’s disgusting comments:
The video opens with Love’s attacker pointing out her “woman’s bag†that she’s carrying while “living in a man’s penis…and body with women’s makeup on.†When the woman notices she’s being recorded, she asks Love, who’s Asian, “What you gonna do? Send it to China? What the fuck they gon’ do?†The woman also refers to Love as a “transvestite†and a “homo, fuckin’ gay motherfucker in some fuckin’ women’s products and whatnot.â€
“Do you do this on the weekends or is this an everyday event for you?†the woman asks Love. “Like, you sit up and get on the train everyday, like, ‘What do people think about me?’ one day, and then you cut all your shit off, put your extensions back in and go back to work, like…who are you really under all that makeup? Where’d you come from? Are you the emperor of China? Or like how are we supposed to act with you? What should we do about you? ‘Cause this shit right here ain’t appropriate for my child. I’m sorry, I don’t give a fuck. I don’t give a fuck. I’ll fight you right now, I don’t even feel comfortable with you right now.â€
Juzwiak says that it’s “as though this woman wants to make it extremely explicit that she’s committing a hate crime before approaching Love and hitting her twice, as she does at the end of the clip.”
The, “What should we do about you?” actually also sounds extremely threatening, because what are the possible answers to that question?
And also stunning: almost no one helped her, not until the end. No one stood up and asked the woman to be quiet, apparently no one tried to get help.Â
“So now you can understand what’s happening in my everyday life. That happens all the time,” Love said. In New York City. In 2016.
According to Gawker, no complaint has yet been filed with the NYPD.Â
Watch – Caution: Trigger Warning:
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Image: Screenshot via Pearl Love/YouTube