Maura Moynihan says the incident was a dispute over a cab and denies making any racist comments.
A white woman accused of hurling racist remarks at an Asian American man has been identified as the daughter of late U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Maura Moynihan, a human rights activist, says the incident was a dispute over a cab and denies making any racist comments.
“Did you just say, go back to China, b*****? Is that what you said?” the man asks Moynihan in a widely circulated video of the encounter.
“You are assaulting me!” Moynihan yells back.
“No I’m not,” the man says back. “Say that racist s*** again. You said communist China?”
“Well, isn’t that where you’re from?” Moynihan says.
“No it’s not, b****,” the man says back.
Maura Moynihan also denies the dispute stemmed from anti-Asian sentiment. “I have devoted most of my life to working with and for Asian people,” she said in a statement.
The allegation Maura Moynihan faces comes amid an increase in anti-Asian attacks across the country. In response to those attacks, volunteers are providing escorts to anyone in Manhattan’s Chinatown who feels unsafe.
“We all deserve to feel safe in this country,” Safewalks volunteer Vicki Niu told Inside Edition.
Police say recent attacks include a man who they say punched a 75-year-old woman in the face in San Francisco. The woman says she fought back with a stick, sending the attacker to the hospital.
Another Asian man was attacked in a San Francisco laundromat. And a travel agent was blinded in one eye during an attack on a street corner.
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