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Twitter user @AimaNiqabae was verbally attacked by this stranger.
A woman going by the name Aima Niqabae, was wearing a niqab when a Caucasian man started arguing with her and yelling Islamophobic insults. A niqab is a veil that covers the face but leaves the eyes visible.
Aima described the passenger as being hostile from the start.
In her caption to the video above, the woman said that the man was harassing "2 kis" for speaking Spanish before turning his attention to the her. The man said he was happy that she was recording him before going into a disturbing and hateful diatribe.
The man was ready to use the opportunity to "help European people wake up," apparently to the flaws of Canada, saying:
"I'm part of an experimental society. No one asked me if I wanted to be part of a f***ing experiment in my own country. You wouldn't know though – you came from a monolithic homogeneous society."
He then declared that Aima was failing to conform to Canadian standards, adding:
"Now that you're in our society, adopt our norms and customs, or you should leave, go back to your country where you can practice your own norms and customs. I would never go to your country and say: 'Be more Canadian.'"
She asked him what exactly makes someone a true Canadian, to which he replied:
It means you speak English, respect gender equality, believe in parliamentary democracy. You like hockey, basketball, and baseball..."
The woman pointed out that she was speaking English, or else they wouldn't be having the exchange, but the logical statement made the man even more aggressive.
He accused her of being "born into an oppressive totalitarian society." When Aima revealed she was actually born in Canada, he began to mock her niqab:
"It's amazing you were born in this country and have no guts to show your face."
Wearing a niqab has nothing to do with fear. Muslim women may choose to wear a niqab as religious garb or for cultural or fashion reasons.
Niqabae stood up for her personal fashion choice.
She told the man that he didn't get to have a say on how she wanted to present her body. The man claimed he didn't care about her, despite it being clear that her niqab enraged him.
In the second video, the man silently glared at her before going off once again.
He hurled more insults at her, likening the niqab to a costume:
"It's not normal to run into people who hide their face unless it's Halloween. That's our cultural tradition, it's once a year. Learn the holiday and f***ing adjust to it."
The man grew more irate, claiming that racism was invented in Russia, and started yelling more profanities.
An onlooker finally stepped in.
A man who appeared to work on the subway train told him to calm down and asked him to leave. The angry man then left, making sure that everyone knew that he was doing so for the employee and not for the sake of the woman he had been harassing.
Twitter users praised Niqabae for how she handled the confrontation.
People felt horrible about how the man treated her.
Still, some felt that the man might have had mental health issues and hence deserved a pass. But Niqabae wasn't having it.
Mental illness is not a free pass to be cruel and violent to other people.
Unfortunately, Islamophobic attacks on Muslim people do happen, and Canada has seen its fair share of incidents.
Last year, a woman in Montreal was assaulted by a man who tried to rip her niqab off. Another Muslim woman from Montreal was refused a ride by a bus driver, and when she looked him up she discovered his disturbing anti-Muslim posts.