Have you ever been a victim of street harassment?
No matter the details, the experience is always an unpleasant one. Because these moments usually pass between strangers, whatever is said is based only on surface-level judgments. These issues can be about gender, class, race or any other superficial difference.
One such situation happened recently in Bradford, England, though it had an unexpected outcome.
It was just a normal day for Aminur Chowdhury before a man started shouting at him. The sounds were coming from Ben Gallon, a local homeless man who was making offensive comments about Chowdhury’s race and appearance. According to Chowdhury, his first instinct was to ignore the man.
“Initially I turned the other cheek,” Chowdhury said. But after a moment, he changed his mind.
After the shock wore off, Chowdhury decided to challenge Gallon on what he had said.
“I was challenging Ben about what he had said to me,” he said. “I stopped and had a chat with him for about 15 minutes.” After speaking with him, Chowdhury realized that Gallon was unhappy with his position in life and was dealing with the stresses of homelessness.
After the talk, Chowdhury pledged to get Gallon a job and the two exchanged contact information.
Although Gallon didn’t believe him at first, he was shocked when Chowdhury followed through on his promise:
“The next day he gave me a call, said ‘Can I come pick you up, Ben? I’ve got an interview for you.’ That same day, he came around to get me, drove me down to the place on Canal Road and then within ten minutes I had been offered the job.”
Though they had a productive conversation, Chowdhury also helped Gallon to find an apartment.
After everything, Gallon said that he feels serious regret for his words:
“There was no justification for me using those words. Kudos to him for forgiving me. I regret it. A positive thing has happened out of this situation. I’ve learned my lesson. What I said was completely out of character for me, I’m not a racist.”
For his part, Chowdhury said that he took the experience as a teaching moment. “I was targeted for racist abuse but a great way of overcoming racism is to show some tolerance,” he said. “I realize I can’t put the world to rights but I can try to educate people.”
In all, this story is a great example of how far empathy can go—though it’s also a lesson not to judge others on first appearances. How would you have reacted in the same situation? Tell us in the comments below!
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