US military veteran captures driver's racist taunts
Raw video: Korean-American military veteran is racially harassed in an apparent road rage incident in Fremont, California.
In a rant captured on video, a driver is seen taunting a Korea-American U.S. military veteran during an apparent road rage incident, using her fingers to make slanted eyes and shouting racist comments.
The veteran, James Ahn, posted the video to Facebook on Monday of his encounter in Fremont, Calif., with a driver whom he said wanted to pass his vehicle.
“This is my country, not your country,” the woman is heard yelling in the video while using her hands to slant her eyes, then shouting, “Chinese ugly!”
Ahn wrote that the incident happened last week.
“(T)he lady started the racial harassment while threatening me on the road only because I wasn't driving fast enough for her,” he wrote.
He noted that he was driving the speed limit.
Ahn is a naturalized citizen who immigrated to the United States with his family in 1992, before joining the military in 2012, the Mercury News reported.
The Fremont Police Department confirmed the incident on Twitter, but said “It was determined that both parties yelled hurtful comments to one another during their argument,” the newspaper reported.
“They said there was nothing they could do about it, so that’s when I decided to post it on my Facebook, hoping it reached people in the Fremont area, to warn other people,” Ahn told the paper Thursday.
Fremont Mayor Lily Mei weighed in on the incident, writing on Facebook.
“(M)ost disappointing is how the ignorance and reaction of one individual can reflect negatively on our compassionate, welcoming community,” Mei wrote.
Facebook apparently froze Ahn’s account after sharing the video on the social media platform, but as of Thursday Ahn said it has been restored and the company apologized for removing it.
The video has been shared nearly 5,000 times as of early Friday morning.
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