Transgender Woman Attacked On Crowded Train, Other Riders Do Nothing To Help [Video]
A transgender woman was verbally and physically attacked by a total stranger on a New York City train last Thursday. The woman, Pearl Love, recorded the attack, which began as a series of vulgar homophobic, racist, and transphobic slurs and quickly escalated to physical assault. Later, she posted the encounter on social media. Throughout the attack, other passengers on the train can be seen looking on, but not a single one came to Love’s defense in what she described as a slew of “all bad things, for five minutes.”
Disturbing video surfaces of transgender woman being attacked on train: https://t.co/zJ43G3RwIX pic.twitter.com/LcJ2i5xpGS
— AOL.com (@AOL) May 5, 2016
As Fox 13 Now reports, the transgender woman tried to ignore the onslaught of insults and vulgarities spewing from the mouth of her assailant. Unfortunately for Love, the verbal attack (which began as the openly transgender woman took her seat on the Manhattan-bound train), became physical and impossible to ignore within a matter of minutes.
“She gets even louder and even aggressive and I did not say anything. I don’t even know who she is, she doesn’t know who I am and [finally] then she stood up, got so mad and hit me.”
The video ends with the transgender woman being hit by the aggressive attacker, but according to Love, the attack continued for some time after the recording stopped. The transgender woman says that her assailant even chased her when she tried to escape the violent attack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3hMYrFSr7A
Love said that she posted the video of the April 28 attack to her Facebook page reluctantly. The transgender woman says that attacks such as the one she’s seen enduring in the video are so commonplace that she feels like “that’s the way it is.” However, friends advised her to share the video and her story with the world, and since it was posted to social media it has racked up about a quarter of a million views.
“No one around me is helping me basically because that’s the way it is. It’s everyday life I mean, [it happens] at least a few times a week.”
According to the transgender woman, she is attacked like this so frequently that she didn’t even consider taking legal action against her foul-mouthed attacker.
Trans woman attacked on NYC train for riding while trans by @mathewrodriguez https://t.co/oGQgZ8ldIr via @MicNews
— Jamilah King (@jamilahking) May 4, 2016
In fact, this is one of the least violent attacks that the transgender woman has been forced to endure in the last few years. As a result of strangers’ intolerance and transphobia, Love says that she was viciously stabbed in 2014. A year later, along with a friend, she was attacked in the East Village. In both of those incidents, Love says that she was specifically targeted for violence because she is transgender.
In the video, you can hear the transgender woman being verbally berated both because she’s transgender and because she’s Asian. Love is reportedly a native of Taiwan, but has been in New York for nearly two decades. She came to the Big Apple to get her hands on a piece of the American dream, but her plans didn’t work out as she had hoped. According to the transgender woman, this is primarily due to the fact that she openly identifies and lives her life as a transgender woman.
@jamilahking @Lavernecox @mathewrodriguez @micnews this is infuriating. And it appears no one did a thing to help Pearl. I'm so sorry.
— Reggie Aqui He/Him (@reggieaqui) May 4, 2016
@jamilahking @Lavernecox ?Wow you lose faith in humanity when you read a story like this the bystander effect is very much alive sadly
— • (@SamanthaHTown) May 4, 2016
Love says that the violence and harassment that she (and all members of the trans community) endure every day make even the simplest parts of life virtually impossible. Currently, the transgender woman’s goal is to simply find work.
A native of Taiwan, Love came to New York nearly 20 years ago, seeking a piece of the American dream.
Harassment and violence are unfortunately part of the daily struggles for her and members of the trans community, like that of finding a job.
“I just want to work, I just want to get my own money and that’s very difficult. I cannot talk about it because I start to cry.”
At the time of this report, she had not filed a police report relating to the train attack. As such, it is not being actively investigated by authorities.
The transgender woman did tell the press that she has more video of the violent attack, which continued even after she disembarked the train.
Love says she has no plans to publish the rest of her recordings.
According to the transgender woman, she finally chose to post the initial video of her violent attack to bring attention to the deplorable treatment those in the trans community face every day.
[Image Courtesy Of ibreakstock/Shutterstock]
