US: Woman arrested for hurling racial slurs, assaulting Indian women
A woman was arrested for assaulting and racially abusing four Indian women in Dallas, Texas in the United States (US) on Wednesday. The accused woman (58) identified herself as a Mexican-American, boasting that she was born in the US and was apparently furious at the women for speaking in an Indian accent. She could be heard in the video saying, "I hate you Indians."
Why does this story matter?
The US has been drawing flak for frequent hate crime incidents. A 2020 report by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) showed hate crimes had risen to the highest level in over a decade, as reported by BBC. The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at the University of California reported growing hate crime incidents in the first half of 2022.
Accused worked as a realtor for California Federal Bank
The accused was identified as Esmeralda Upton of Plano in north Texas and is a realtor who worked for the California Federal Bank, now owned by Citigroup. The women had gone to have dinner and were in the parking lot of the restaurant when Upton allegedly accosted them saying "go back to India". She is heard screaming, "Everywhere I go, you Indians are everywhere."
The accused was arrested the next day
'She had a gun and wanted to shoot'
Rani Banerjee, one of the women who recorded the incident on camera, said that she has been living in Dallas for 29 years and it was the most humiliating, threatening and fearful encounter she had, the Daily Mail reported. Reema Rasool, a politician from New York and organizer of immigrants, said Upton had a gun and wanted to shoot them because of their accents.
See Reema Rasool's tweet
Upton was arrested on a $10,000 bond
She was charged on two counts with Class A and Class B misdemeanors for bodily assault and terroristic threats, respectively. The incident is being investigated by Plano Police's Crime Against Persons Unit as a hate crime. The report said additional charges could be added.
