Woman tells man of Middle Eastern decent that 'some of you are terrorists' after car collision

An honour student from Portland State University was subjected to 'racist abuse' by a white woman after she allegedly hit his car in a car park in Portland, Oregon.

In a video uploaded to Facebook on August 21, Bassel Hamieh shows the woman in question ignore his request for her insurance details while she claims that he isn't from Portland.

As the clip continues, despite asking her not to bring race into the debate the woman makes fun of his name and accent and makes an assumption about his ethnic origins and states that "some of you are terrorists."

In the video, the exchange between the two goes on for over three minutes but Hamieh told The Oregonian, that the encounter lasted for close to 10 minutes.

The woman, who had reportedly sideswiped his car, only handed her details over when an Oregon Health and Science University public safety officer intervened and defused the situation.

Speaking to the Oregonian, the 23-year-old, who was born in Portland, filmed the incident to show the racism that some people in America have to deal with on a daily basis.

She made the wrong decision to speak to me the way she did, but the issue is a systemic one.

I ultimately decided to post the video to show that people like me have to deal with this kind of hate all the time for no reason other than we exist.

The incident is said to have taken place after a chemistry exam, when his friend came to pick him up in the car park.

Hamieh's friend was driving his car when the woman collided with their mode of transport, leaving it covered in heavy scratches on the left-hand side.

The woman apparently tried to carry on driving but Hamieh managed to stop her by getting out of his car.

He adds:

At first, I didn't think this was going to be an issue at all. I explain that she hit my car, show her the damage, get her information and we both move on with our lives.

But then when she started bringing up my race and making this about more than what it was, I decided to record it because I didn't feel safe, and I felt I needed something to protect myself in case she later said it didn't happen.

Hamieh who had lived in Lebanon for 11 years with his family was reminded of other moments where he had suffered racist abuse because of his Middle Eastern ancestry.

These included being beaten up in school and a moment where a high school teacher told him he would 'grow up to be a terrorist' in front of his classmates.

That being said Hamieh hopes that the woman doesn't receive any backlash after the video was viewed hundreds of times on social media and hopes that she can learn from her mistakes and can help other people make ethnic minorities feel safe in local communities.

He concludes:

It's all about what she said and the fact that people seem to feel more and more comfortable saying these things every day.

HT Daily Mail

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