A Filipino-Canadian experienced racial discrimination in a subway train in Toronto, as seen in a video circulating online.
In the shocking footage the teenager is also seen stealing the phone of the Filipina passenger who recorded her during her racist rant.
According to a report on CTV News Toronto, the victim, Marilyn Quijencio, was riding a TTC subway train with a fellow Filipino-Canadian coworker when they were approached by two teenagers, male and female, last July 28.
Quijencio said that they were on their way to work at a nursing home when the two teenagers came to them asking for money and cigarettes.
“We didn’t even finish our conversation and this girl and a guy came close to us,” CTV News Toronto quoted Quijencio as saying.
The two Filipino-Canadians turned down the two teenagers and asked them to leave.
“I said, ‘Go and find work so that you have money.’ That’s what I said,” Quijencio said.
The female teenager began screaming at her on the train. She then called Quijencio an “immigrant” who should “go back to China”.
The Filipino-Canadian narrated that she just chose to listen to some music during the racially charged confrontation. She then held her phone up to change the music leading the female teenager to assume that she was filming her.
“When I stood up, that’s when she grabbed my cell phone out of my hand and ran away,” she said.
Another passenger, Margaret Anthony, filmed the entire incident where it can be seen that a girl wearing a black shirt started running after taking Quijencio’s phone.
Anthony began reprimanding the girl asking her to return the phone and to stop assaulting Quijencio.
“I just want her to delete the video,” the suspect can be heard saying in the video.
The teenager then started running to get out of the train as Anthony threatened to call the police.
The suspect who was later identified as Tashia James surrendered to authorities last Wednesday, as per the report.
James, who has no fixed address, was charged with robbery and failure to comply with probation.
Anthony’s video, which was uploaded on YouTube, has now garnered over 300,000 views.
