On a United Airlines shuttle bus, an Indian American photographer is speaking out about a video he took of a woman using racist epithets to verbally abuse his family.
The week before Thanksgiving, fifty-year-old Pervez Taufiq was flying from Mexico to Los Angeles with his wife and three kids when the woman harassed him, calling his family “tandoori” and “stinky.”
Among his many publications are Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. Taufiq is a well-known wedding photographer.
According to him, the woman started harassing him in the air when she went up to his 11-year-old kid, who was seated apart from the family, and asked him about his race, including whether he was Indian and where he was from (NBC News). The interaction on the aircraft could not be independently verified by NBC News.
He claimed that the abuse from the woman persisted after the passengers disembarked and boarded a shuttle bus to the main airport. According to Taufiq, the mother started yelling at his kids to stop talking as they were playing and chatting among themselves, apparently without warning.
That’s when I obviously lost it. Don’t ever tell my child to stop talking, I told him. At that moment, she began to discuss race, and we thought, “Oh no, something’s going to happen.”
He claimed that the racial outburst against the children escalated into a tirade against Taufiq, who started filming as she was ranting. In the video, she can be seen making fun of the family’s history and giving them the finger.
In the video, she said, “Your family is from India, and you have no rules or respect.” Then, while disparagingly referring to him as “tandoori,” she pulled for her phone and declared she was going to videotape.
Taufiq told her he is American, having been born in the United States. She said, “You’re not American.” You’re from India, f.
Thousands of his Instagram followers came together to support him after he uploaded the video there last week. Even more well-known figures, such as journalist Katie Couric, left comments on the post or shared the video on X, the former Twitter, while South Asian influencers defended him in the comments.
According to the video, the woman—who Taufiq and social media have not named—left the bus and spoke with United staff, and another traveler can be heard endorsing the family. Taufiq later claimed to have seen the woman again, glaring at them at baggage claim, but it was the last time he had heard or seen her.
He claimed that he has not heard from United since the incident, which he had hoped would take action against her or seek to make amends in any way. Although they don’t know the woman’s name, he claimed the family was thinking of reporting the incident to the FBI because the harassment started while the jet was in the air.
He said, “We don’t really know where things are.” I have not received any communication from United.
United chose not to respond to the footage. According to an email from its staff, we don’t have any more information to share.
Explaining racism to his children for the first time has been the most difficult aspect of the experience, according to Taufiq. Although his 8 and 4-year-olds haven’t properly understood it, he claimed his 11-year-old, who was the intended target, has been the most distraught.
However, he added it has been encouraging to see the amount of support he has received from the South Asian community and beyond.
He was perplexed as to why Indians were despised. In reference to his eldest kid, he stated, “There’s really no way to make sense of it.” Although it’s somewhat overwhelming, I must admit that our community has bonded quite rapidly. It was shared by celebrities. They truly stood up for us. I am aware that there are more decent individuals in the world than bad.
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