Noor Fadel with Jake Taylor,
who intervened in a Skytrain attack in Vancouver
He said,
"Go home to your country",
but this is my country.
He yelled, threatened me,
struck me,
tried to shove my head
in his crotch.
He tried to remove my hijab.
The other passengers
sat in silence.
No one helped
except one young man,
who stood between me
and the attacker
and told him to leave.
My protector."
"What does it mean
to be a Canadian?
It's not just by
how you look."
On December 6, on a Skytrain in Vancouver, B.C., an eighteen year old girl was threatened, struck and sexually assaulted by a 46 year old man, while a car full of passengers sat in silence. Only one young man came to stand between her and the assailant, after she was struck, telling him to "get the f off". Thankfully, Noor was able to take photos with her phone and the man was apprehended, arrested and charged. As appalling to me as the assault is the car full of people sitting in silence. "It is a dangerous world for a girl child in a world of men," says Alice Walker in The Color Purple. I am proud of the young man who intervened. Good for him.
for my prompt at Real Toads: Me, too, the Silence Breakers. So many stories. So much darkness. But thankfully, also a lot of light.
I hope that I would not look on if I ever saw something like this... but many of us are scared... but it would leave me shamed.
ReplyDeleteThis story reminds me of so many here in the states...the woman who was raped and stabbed 60 times while neighbors turned up their tvs. Why are so many people afraid of one person? I can't figure that out.
ReplyDeleteSilence gives consent. I, too, applaud the man who used his voice against abusive behaviour.
ReplyDeleteWhew. Giving Noor voice, and giving bystanders a model behavior. Good.
ReplyDeleteMay we raise more young men like that one. May we provide fertile ground for their continued strength.
ReplyDeleteWhat does it mean to be human?
ReplyDeleteI think that is the question we need to be asking. And then start acting like it.