A Black man says he is the victim of racist abuse after encountering a white subway rider who gestured at him while imitating a monkey.
The Evening Standard reports Mohammed Dirir was riding London's subway when a group of five white men entered. Dirir says one started making "monkey chants and monkey movements," climbing on poles and swinging from side-to-side in his direction.
The 27-year-old told the paper he tried to ignore the group and assumed the man was just being rowdy until he until he made eye contact with Dirir and gave a thumbs up. At that point, Dirir began to record the incident on his cellphone.
“I asked him, ‘Are you good mate?’ and as you can clearly see in the video, he said to his friend, ‘Oh he’s dumb, he didn’t get it,'" Dirir said.
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Dirir encouraged the man to continue his imitation, telling him to "do it for the 'gram." The man obliged, jumping on the seats and aggressively jumping toward Dirir's camera.
Dirir posted the video to Instagram with the caption, "Racism is still alive, to all my people of color around the world stay strong! Let’s end this epidemic once & for all!” In it, one can hear other passengers interacting with Dirir, stating their disapproval of the man's actions.
"He was really racist," Dirir said. “I was raised to show love rather than hate. I had to set an example, I had to show class."
The British Transport Police released a statement regarding the issue, Yahoo reports.
"We do not tolerate any acts of racist behavior on our network and take all reports like this extremely seriously," Siwan Hayward, the transport police's director of policing, said. Hayward urged anyone with information about the man's identity to come forward.
“We need to stop the hatred around the world, it's nonsense," Dirir said. “But ignorant people like that need to be guided and I pray to God that he guides them.”
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