Disturbing video captures a traveler harassing a hijab-wearing Muslim woman at a Florida airport – calling her a terrorist and photographing her for a report to the FBI.
Salma Khan, 27, told the Miami Herald she was about to board a flight to Phoenix at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Monday night when she noticed a man staring at her.
“I am a visible Muslim woman. I wanted to make him comfortable, so I introduced myself,” Khan told the news channel.
She said the man told her he was “glad this happened,” but seemed to want to take off his hood so she asked him to leave her alone.
Two unidentified men then rushed in and sat on either side of the woman to protect her from the menacing man, who continued to call her a terrorist and claimed she and other Muslims hate the US.
A video posted on TikTok showed the man pointing his camera at Khan, two people by his side — a white woman and a black man — and a third Good Samaritan, who said they were just “celebrating Thanksgiving.”
Two unidentified people came to Salma Khan’s defense as the man continued his Islamophobic rant.TikTok / @mrsramonaflowers
Khan told the Herald he was frustrated by how long it took authorities to help him.
After 10 minutes, a Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy escorted the man out the gate before he was booked on a later flight, according to the news outlet.
Khan complained that the police never took his name or statement.
“It’s quite painful, in a time of powerlessness, people in power don’t step in to help,” he told the Herald, saying it was instead left to the public to help.
The man filmed Salma Khan while she waited for the authorities to arrive.TikTok / @mrsramonaflowers
“I am [didn’t] wants to give power to his hatred,” Khan told the Herald.
She added that people later told her that the man had followed her around the airport as she shopped before her flight.
Ramona Flowers, who posted the three-minute video on TikTok, told the newspaper she started filming after noticing the man reaching for Khan’s face.
She said she also overheard him making Islamophobic comments.
In the video, Flowers can be heard yelling for the man to sit down, but he continues to take pictures before sitting right next to the group.
Salma Khan noticed the man staring at her so she introduced herself in an attempt to make him feel more comfortable.TikTok / @mrsramonaflowers
Three Spirit Airlines agents were busy boarding the flight at the time of the incident, but one attempted to contact security, Flowers said.
A TikTok user who identified the person caught in the video while in public and has nearly two million followers has helped the video go viral.
“This, unfortunately, is nothing new,” the influencer, known as Danesh, said in his video. “I remember as a kid 20 years ago and this was normal.”
The Post has contacted the Broward Sheriff’s Office and Spirit Airlines.
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
