Public transport can be pretty stressful, especially when it’s overcrowded and you’re traveling at peak times. This can occasionally lead to verbal altercations between agitated passengers. On the New York subway recently, a pair of women were caught on camera having a heated argument, and the situation quickly became racially charged. The reason why they both crashed out? Because one woman didn’t move over far enough when the other went to sit down.
The one-minute clip takes place on a busy New York subway train, and sees two women sat on a bench-like blue seat. The video takes place mid-way through the verbal altercation, so the buildup before is a little unclear, though it appears like the commuter on the right — who is sporting a black Nike hoodie and holding a creme and red striped handbag — is annoyed at the passenger sat next to her because she didn’t move over enough and give her enough space when she tried to sit down.
“Where you came from? Where you came from?” exclaims the Asian-American woman on the right. “I’m living in New York,” replies the other lady, pointing at the ground, indicating that the incident does indeed take place in the Empire State. “Are you sure? Are you sure? Prove it. Prove it.” fires the irate passenger sat next to her.
“Shut up! Shut up!” yells the woman on the left, as the argument begins to devolve into name-calling. The Asian-American passenger on the right then shouts, “Shut the f*ck up! You’re a**hole. You’re more a**hole than me! Look at you. Where are you came from?” Meanwhile, the lady on the left responds, “You look like a piece of sh*t. Where you come from? China?“
As tensions continue to escalate, the Asian-American commuter then brands the other female passenger as “racist“, though it’s worth noting that it was the Asian-American lady who kept asking the other woman “where she was from?” which is quite a xenophobic and loaded question to ask in the heat of an argument in public.
The lady on the left then casually brands the Asian-American passenger as “racist” as well, declaring, “You’re a racist, you f*ckin’ a**hole. You asked me where I come from.” Defensively, the other lady replies, “I was just asking where you were from!” The heated altercation then turns to accusations about “pushing“, before we get to the heart of what caused the issue in the first place.
The Asian-American lady fires, “You know, I’m sitting here. You should have moved your a**.” although the woman on the left does claim that she did move over. As the argument continues to intensify, other passengers attempt to intervene and one man asks them to, “Chill out.” while another simply yells, “Shut up.” At the end of the clip, a train conductor asks the Asian-American lady to sit in another seat, in a bid to defuse the situation.
It didn’t take long for social media reactions to come pouring in. Over on Reddit, one user expressed, “Nobody here has to prove they’re from New York.” while a second commenter wrote, “Typical NYC“. A third person added, ““You’re more a**hole than me!” Broke me.” and a fourth joked, “I see that these two ladies have assimilated well in to the American’s society and culture, if it werent for the accents you could swear that they were red blooded Americans.”
As the heated disagreement continues to garner attention online, it speaks to the way small conflicts in crowded public spaces can reflect the larger stresses of urban life.
