Black woman goes on angry rant against Jewish man on subway
A black woman went on a rant against an Orthodox Jewish man aboard a crowded city subway train after he called her racist, video of the incident shows.
The nearly two-minute clip, posted last week by Twitter user @Chrisfrench_, begins in the middle of the heated morning confrontation between the pair on a Bronx-bound 4 train at 8:53 a.m.
“You said I’m racist so you tell me what I’m being racist towards … because you’re Jewish and I said if a Jewish family got on here, somebody would have got up. That is not a racist statement. That is a factual statement,” the woman can be heard yelling at the man as they both stand on the moving train.
Israeli national broadcaster Arutz Sheva identified the man as Yossi Wolfe, a 31-year-old Wall Street Journal software engineer.
Wolfe told the TV station the hubbub began after another African American woman – with three small kids – boarded the crowded train last week and no one gave up their seat for them.
“So this other lady started screaming at everyone around her, saying ‘Why are you guys not getting up? This lady’s here with her three kids,’ ” said Wolfe, who had been standing, “and then she finally said, ‘If it was a Jewish family y’all would have gotten up!’ At which point I said to her, ‘Can we please not make this a racist thing?’ ”
And that’s what set off the sunglasses-wearing woman, according to Wolfe.
She could often be heard in the video shouting over Wolfe: “You need to learn the difference between race … Judaism is not a race. It is a religion.”
The man can then be heard quietly telling the woman to “calm down.”
“No, I need to calm down now because I’m schooling your a–,” the woman says. “You guys think you’re so f—king smart, but guess what? I’m gonna teach you a lesson on this f—king train today.”
Wolfe then interrupts and says: “No, ‘you guys.’ I am a person. You are a person.”
Wolfe then interrupts and says: “No, ‘you guys.’ I am a person. You are a person.”
“No! No!” the woman replies.
“We are different. Understand that. You know why? Because your people treat my people different in our community! The f–k you talking about,” the woman shouts as she thumps on her chest with her hand.
Wolfe — wearing a yarmulke and his tzitzit, or traditional Jewish fringes — then says: “That’s not true.”
Another straphanger on the packed train can be heard voicing support for the woman, saying, “She’s right.”
The woman continues her rant, saying: “You treat us different in our community. You don’t even rent to us. What the f—k are you talking about?”
In an attempt to defend himself, Wolfe says: “I don’t own a house.”
“Your people!” the woman shouts. “You said I was racist, so I’m addressing your people. You said I was a racist, right? Because I brought up Judaism, right? You wouldn’t have called me racist if I said a Mexican family came on here, right? You wouldn’t have called me a racist then, right?”
Wolfe then calls the woman “hateful.”
“No, I am not hateful. Let me school you,” the woman says. “Did I say Jews are dirty? Did I say they stink?”
“And learn the difference between racism and prejudice-ism!” she shouts.
The man responds and says, “that is racist.”
“How? Judaism is not a race! Judaism isn’t a race!” the woman shouts before the video cuts off.
The identity of the woman in the video was not immediately known.
Since it was posted, the tweet by @chrisfrench_ with the caption “MTA, you never disappoint” has been viewed more than 102,000 times on Twitter and was shared on YouTube.
Wolfe said he felt the need to stand up to hate.
“And to me it just seems like a no-brainer, when someone is attacking your people you have to do something about it,” he told the Israeli broadcaster.
“We say ‘Never Again’ but do we mean it? That’s something that’s stuck in my mind.”
Additional reporting by David K. Li
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