Black Subway Rider Won’t Back Down From Rant Against Orthodox Man
A black woman who was filmed going on a rant against a Jewish man aboard a New York subway car said she regrets dropping f-bombs — and nothing else.
Shauntaye King, who last week berated Yossi Wolfe over his Jewish identity, said she erupted because he and other riders would not give another black woman a seat on the Bronx-bound No. 4 train, the New York Post reported.
With the exception of expletives, “I didn’t say anything that would be considered derogatory or hurtful,” said King, a project manager for a construction company.
In the video, she is seen screaming at Yossi Wolfe, an observant Jew wearing a kippah: “You guys think you’re so f—king smart, but guess what? I’m gonna teach you a lesson on this f—king train today.”
Wolfe can be heard saying: “No, ‘you guys.’ I am a person. You are a person.”
When Wolfe, a Wall Street software engineer, asked why King was bringing up race, she said: “Because you’re Jewish and I said if a Jewish family got on here, somebody would have got up. That is not a racist statement. That is a factual statement.”
In the interview with the Post, she also said that during the exchange, she also told Wolfe: “You guys are a bunch of a—holes for not getting up for this woman and if a Jewish family came on this train with their carriage and their children, I can guarantee some of you would have gotten up for them.”
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO