A Black woman on the London Underground was racially attacked, resulting in clumps of hair being ripped from her scalp and bite marks, during a recent trip on the British subway system.
She also said that despite an off-duty police officer sitting nearby, the incident was not stopped before she was injured.
Selma Taha, director of Southall Black Sisters, reported an incident on Sept. 29 around 11:30 p.m. BST. She and two friends, one of whom was also attacked, were on a Northern line train from Camden Town to King’s Cross.
The British Transport Police identified the 30-year-old female suspect and locked her up for the attack. She was arrested on suspicion of assault and a racially aggravated public order offense. The woman is no longer in custody after being released on bail.
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Taha claims a woman pushed a suitcase toward them, and when they asked her to remove it, she launched a racist tirade, including calling them “slaves” and making derogatory comments like “It’s not my fault you’re lesser than me” and expressing how she didn’t have a “like for Black women.”
The aggressor then went on to make monkey sounds to invoke an age-old race-based mockery.
She did not stop there. The woman then physically attacked Taha.
“The woman then started taking out clumps of her real hair; it was everywhere,” the director said. “Then she went for my hair. She bit me through my clothes. I could feel burning and was screaming, ‘She’s biting me.’ ”
Taha said she thought the woman had “come away with flesh in her mouth.”
Passengers spoke up but didn’t intervene, including an off-duty detective constable who identified himself later. Taha thinks earlier intervention by the officer could have prevented the escalation.
“I was livid, I was furious at him. I was screaming at him and swearing, saying: ‘You let this happen… it’s because of you I was attacked!’” she…
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