On Saturday a man in Calgary spat on a Chinese Canadian woman while she was skateboarding, Yahoo News reports.
Jessica Lau was skateboarding in the Inglewood neighborhood of Calgary, Canada when a man on a bike spat on her and called her a racial slur. Lau said she didn’t here the slur at first but her boyfriend did.
“I didn’t actually even realize he had said that to me, it was more so just shock he spit on us during a pandemic,” Lau told Yahoo News. “By the time we kind of realized what went on and tried to turn around or something he was already gone.”
A video of the incident went viral after Lau’s brother posted it on Reddit. The man was identified as Justin Williams, a former manager of the University of Calgary men’s basketball team. The University condemned his identity in a statement and condemned his actions, according to CBC News.
“We strongly condemn the actions in this video and join the community in extending our support to victims Jessica and her boyfriend,” the University of Calgary wrote on Twitter. “Justin Williams has not been an employee of UCalgary since February and his past social media comments were reported to CPS by our staff.”
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According to CBC News, Calgary police have confirmed that three assault charges have been laid against Williams. Lau is not the only person he has spit on.
“During the incident, the offender, while unprovoked, allegedly spat on at least three separate individuals and used racial slurs,” said police in a written statement.
Police also say that Williams threatened a witness who tried to confront him with a weapon.
Lau told Yahoo News that she hopes Williams gets the help he needs while also facing the consequences of his actions. She wants to use her experience to raise awareness about racism in Canada.
“It’s really sad, especially in Canada, everyone here thinks they’re not susceptible to racism, but it’s 100 per cent not true,” she said.
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