Disturbing video captured a traveler harassing a Muslim woman wearing a hijab at a Florida airport, calling her a terrorist and taking photographs of her to report to the FBI.
Salma Khan, 27, told the Miami Herald that she was about to board a flight to Phoenix at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Monday night when she noticed a man staring at her.
“I am a visible Muslim woman. I wanted to make him feel comfortable, so I introduced myself,” Khan told the media outlet.
She said the man told her he was “happy this was happening,” but seemed to want to take the covering off her head, so she asked him to leave her alone.
Two strangers then ran in and sat on either side of the woman to protect her from the threatening man, who proceeded to call her a terrorist and claim that she and other Muslims hate America.
The video posted on TikTok shows the man pointing his camera at Khan, the two people next to him (a white woman and a black man), as well as a third good Samaritan, who said they were simply “celebrating Valentine’s Day.” Thanksgiving”.
Two strangers came to Salma Khan’s defense as the man continued his Islamophobic rant.TikTok / @mrsramonaflowers
Khan told the Herald she was upset at how long it took authorities to help her.
After 10 minutes, a Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy escorted the man out of the gate before he was booked on a later flight, according to the news outlet.
Khan complained that the police never took his name or made a statement.
“It hurts a little, at a time of such helplessness, that the people in power didn’t step in to help,” he told the Herald, saying that help was instead left in the hands of civilians.
The man filmed Salma Khan while she waited for the authorities to arrive.TikTok/@mrsramonaflowers
“YO [didn’t] I want to give power to their hate,” Khan told the Herald.
She added that passersby later told her that the man had followed her through the airport while she was shopping before her flight.
Ramona Flowers, who posted the three-minute video on TikTok, told the newspaper that she started recording after noticing the man reaching for Khan’s face.
She said she also heard him make Islamophobic comments.
In the video, Flowers is heard yelling at the man to sit down, but he continued taking photos before sitting down next to the group.
Salma Khan noticed the man staring at her so she introduced herself in an effort to make him feel more comfortable. TikTok / @mrsramonaflowers
Three Spirit Airlines agents were busy boarding flights at the time of the incident, but one attempted to call security, Flowers said.
A TikTok user who identifies people caught on video while they are in public and who has almost two million followers has helped the video go viral.
“Unfortunately, this is nothing new,” the influencer, known as Danesh, said in his video. “I remember he was a kid 20 years ago and this was very normal.”
The Post contacted the Broward Sheriff’s Office and Spirit Airlines.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn