‘My parents would remain silent’: Indian-American family presses charges of racism against woman

An Indian-American family that experienced racial harassment last month plans to press charges against the woman who verbally abused them.
The victim, Pervez Taufiq, mentioned that they planned to press charges because the woman had not taken responsibility or expressed remorse. However, taking legal action was difficult because he didn’t know her name at first.
“Now her family and friends have come to us and contacted us and said, ‘We want to apologize… we need to give you her name and we need to tell you what’s going on.’ That was obviously huge for us,” Taufiq said.

The incident occurred in November when 50-year-old famous photographer Pervez Taufiq was traveling by bus with his wife and three children from Mexico to Los Angeles. A passenger launched a racist tirade against her family on board a United Airlines bus.
The whole situation was published on the Internet by Taufiq, which shows the woman abusing them and making offensive gestures towards them. He can be heard saying: “Your family is from India, you have no respect. You have no rules.”
In an interview to PTI, Taufiq said, “Our thought process is that we have to capture her and make her accountable in court. United unfortunately were unable to help us with anything.”
Tuqik also reported that the woman was identified as Arlene Consuela, a name of Mexican origin. He added that “that’s the irony of it all: ‘So one immigrant is basically telling another immigrant that he’s not an American.’
In an interview, the woman claimed that her behavior was caused by a brain injury. Taufiq responded by stating that while brain injuries can cause speech impairment, “it certainly doesn’t make you a racist.”
As video of the incident hit the internet, Taufiq expressed gratitude for the outpouring of support he and his family have received, both on social media and in person.
“We have received calls and texts from people in China, France, the UK, Australia and all over the world who have seen the film… and we have reached out to them to say, ‘We just want you to know that we are with you.’ . .’ “It’s the most touching thing that could ever happen,” he said.
“There is, of course, a minority of people who are hateful and want to spread division. But I think it’s actually a minority. And there are more of us than them,” he added.