On a trip from Swansea to Newcastle, north of the NSW Central Coast, an Indian-origin bus driver Sanjay Patel was racially abused.
The bus driver told 9News that a woman got on the bus with a small child and started yelling that somebody was smoking on the bus.
Sanjay said:
“She got to her stop, got off and as she got off she said… ‘Why don’t you go back to where you came from, Africa?'”
11-year-old Brock Keena, who was sitting on the front seat of the bus, witnessed the incident and decided to show a little kindness to the shaken bus driver.
Sanjay recalled that after a couple of stops later, Brock comes up and said:
“You shouldn’t be treated like that, I hope you’re OK.”
Sanjay recalled that he came to Australia when he was around Brock’s age, and spent most of his life in Western Sydney.
“Nobody’s said that to me before when I’ve been racially abused in Australia.”
Transport for New South Wales shared CCTV of the incident, showing Brock speaking to Sanjay and offering a handshake.
Brock’s kind act of for taking a stand against racism has been praised by NSW Premier Chriss Minns.
Brock’s parents told the media they are proud of their son’s ‘beautiful’ gesture.
Mark Hutchings, acting COO of Transport for New South Wales, told local media that they are looking to take more cases of abuse of bus drivers to the police.
