On Friday night I walked down to the trainstation to meet my girlfriend who was coming back home from Uni for the weekend, but spending Friday night at mine. Her train was set to arrive at 11.30, and because she always complains I'm constantly late I made an effort to get there on time but ended arriving about 11.15 so I sat down on a bench on the opposite side her train would arrive on to wait.
On the opposite platform, on a bench abit further down from opposite of where I was sitting there were two lads. They looked to be around the age of 18-21 and were being a little loud, and giggling quite a lot but not being offensive or any real nuisance. Anyway, 2-3 minutes later a guy with a ridiculous-looking green beany hat stepped on to the platform with a black lady. I don't know if she was his girlfriend or friend or what but they walked past me, up the steps and over to the other platform where the two lads were sitting. They walked down the platform and sat on the bench furthest down from the two lads. As they walked past I noticed the lads were having a little joke and a laugh, and I assumed it was about the guy's beany hat, because as I said, it did look rather silly. A little cruel but harmless I thought as they hadn't directly said anything to the guy.
Anyway, another few minutes passed and the two lads started to get a little louder and one of them started shouting something. At first I couldn't make out what it was, it just sounded like a long drawn out sound, kind of like 'NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHHHHHHHHHHHHA'. It wasn't until they'd shouted it a few times more, and for the fact that everytime they did they kept laughing hysterically and looking down the platform at the black lady sat there that I started to think it was '******' they were shouting. I still wasn't 100% sure that it was '******' they were shouting until one of them quickly said 'golliwog'. Then after that what they were saying became a lot clearer and they just kept shouting it again, again and again. There were even some monkey noises too. It was very uncomfortable and I could tell the black lady was very uncomfortable and her friend/bf seemed to be trying his best to chat to her as much as he could, trying to keep her distracted but I could tell he was affected by it too.
My girlfriend's train was about 2-3 minutes from arriving by now and on my side of the platform a female station worker came out of one of the buildings and crossed the platform. I was sure she was going to tell the lads to stop it or leave, or even just plain kick them out on the spot but it turned out she was just crossing over to wait for the imminent arrival of the train. What is even more amazing is that the lads carried on hurling racist abuse while this station worker stood literally 3-4 yards directly infront of them.
At one point one of the lads even got up and had a word with the worker, although I couldn't hear what it was about.
My girlfriend's train was seconds from arriving now and in a way I was regretful of that because entering the platform on my side was a black couple, of which the male was rather built and looked like the type that wouldn't take any crap. I really wanted to see those guys taught a lesson. Anyway, unfortunately as the black couple were crossing the bridge to the platform the racism was happening on, my girlfriend's train arrived and the lads got on, aswell as the couple they'd been hurling abuse at. The black couple also got on the same train. I'm sat here wandering whether those lads would have dared say anything with the black guy there. I'm regretful that the train couldn't have been delayed 5 mins or so. I'm also wandering whether anything might have kicked off on the train, as the train was very small, only two carriages long so it's not unlikely that everyone previously mentioned might have been sat in close proximity in the train.
Dunno why I'm posting this to be totally honest, just wanted to share it. It was really uncomfortable witnessing it and it made me very angry. I think if it had got any worse I might have gone up to the lads myself, which kind of brings me to my next point. What would you have done in a situation like that? Not necessarily your friend/girlfriend being racially abused, but just being insulted/abused continuously and so blatantly? No doubt about it, if it was my girlfriend I'd be over there in a second to give them a knuckle sandwich, regardless of the consequences of no doubt being caught on a camera doing so. It's just not right.
On the opposite platform, on a bench abit further down from opposite of where I was sitting there were two lads. They looked to be around the age of 18-21 and were being a little loud, and giggling quite a lot but not being offensive or any real nuisance. Anyway, 2-3 minutes later a guy with a ridiculous-looking green beany hat stepped on to the platform with a black lady. I don't know if she was his girlfriend or friend or what but they walked past me, up the steps and over to the other platform where the two lads were sitting. They walked down the platform and sat on the bench furthest down from the two lads. As they walked past I noticed the lads were having a little joke and a laugh, and I assumed it was about the guy's beany hat, because as I said, it did look rather silly. A little cruel but harmless I thought as they hadn't directly said anything to the guy.
Anyway, another few minutes passed and the two lads started to get a little louder and one of them started shouting something. At first I couldn't make out what it was, it just sounded like a long drawn out sound, kind of like 'NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHHHHHHHHHHHHA'. It wasn't until they'd shouted it a few times more, and for the fact that everytime they did they kept laughing hysterically and looking down the platform at the black lady sat there that I started to think it was '******' they were shouting. I still wasn't 100% sure that it was '******' they were shouting until one of them quickly said 'golliwog'. Then after that what they were saying became a lot clearer and they just kept shouting it again, again and again. There were even some monkey noises too. It was very uncomfortable and I could tell the black lady was very uncomfortable and her friend/bf seemed to be trying his best to chat to her as much as he could, trying to keep her distracted but I could tell he was affected by it too.
My girlfriend's train was about 2-3 minutes from arriving by now and on my side of the platform a female station worker came out of one of the buildings and crossed the platform. I was sure she was going to tell the lads to stop it or leave, or even just plain kick them out on the spot but it turned out she was just crossing over to wait for the imminent arrival of the train. What is even more amazing is that the lads carried on hurling racist abuse while this station worker stood literally 3-4 yards directly infront of them.
At one point one of the lads even got up and had a word with the worker, although I couldn't hear what it was about.My girlfriend's train was seconds from arriving now and in a way I was regretful of that because entering the platform on my side was a black couple, of which the male was rather built and looked like the type that wouldn't take any crap. I really wanted to see those guys taught a lesson. Anyway, unfortunately as the black couple were crossing the bridge to the platform the racism was happening on, my girlfriend's train arrived and the lads got on, aswell as the couple they'd been hurling abuse at. The black couple also got on the same train. I'm sat here wandering whether those lads would have dared say anything with the black guy there. I'm regretful that the train couldn't have been delayed 5 mins or so. I'm also wandering whether anything might have kicked off on the train, as the train was very small, only two carriages long so it's not unlikely that everyone previously mentioned might have been sat in close proximity in the train.
Dunno why I'm posting this to be totally honest, just wanted to share it. It was really uncomfortable witnessing it and it made me very angry. I think if it had got any worse I might have gone up to the lads myself, which kind of brings me to my next point. What would you have done in a situation like that? Not necessarily your friend/girlfriend being racially abused, but just being insulted/abused continuously and so blatantly? No doubt about it, if it was my girlfriend I'd be over there in a second to give them a knuckle sandwich, regardless of the consequences of no doubt being caught on a camera doing so. It's just not right.
