Here is a YouTube video showing a Chinese woman fighting with a black woman on a San Francisco Municipal Railway (MUNI) bus on October 7, 2009.
The video has garnered a great deal of attention online and in the news. Below is a rough transcript that provides an English translation of the Chinese spoken at the incident. This is not a verbatim transcript, as some of the comments made in the video–both in English and Chinese–are unintelligible. The ellipses below indicate words or phrases that could not be transcribed. Even with a rough transcript, viewers who do not speak Chinese should now be able to understand better what in fact transpired. So far, KRON 4 News and MUNI officials have condemned the fight as an act of violence on MUNI and grouped it together with a robbery that occurred on MUNI days before this incident. From the news coverage, it appears that neither the KRON 4 reporters nor the MUNI officials understood–or bothered to seek clarification for–the Chinese spoken in the video before issuing their condemnations. Other Bay Area media sources, including CBS 5, KTVU and SFGate.com have also reported on the incident but said nothing about the cause or the racial subtext of the fight. Given that more than half of the incident took place in Chinese, the transcript below will hopefully help straighten out some of the muddled facts.
Transcript:
Chinese woman throws her bag down on the seat.
In the background, a male Chinese passenger says (in Chinese): “…Hit her back!”
A female Chinese passenger says (in Chinese): “No, don’t hit her…”
Chinese woman to black woman: “Fuck you!”
Black woman: “Put yo’ hands on the [unintelligible].”
Video man: “Just another day on MUNI…fucking MUNI.”
Chinese woman turns around to the other Chinese passengers and frantically says (in Chinese): “…She hogged the seat and refused to let me sit down.”
Black woman waves her hand in the air and yells at Chinese woman: “I guarantee you won’t walk off this bus.”
Female Chinese passenger in the sunglasses, sitting in front of the two screaming women says (in Chinese): “Don’t hit her. Just talk to her. But let me tell you, don’t let her bully you.”
Chinese woman to black woman: “You are stupid! Fuck you!”
Black woman says, repeatedly: “Put yo’ hands on [unintelligible].”
Chinese woman to black woman: “You are stupid! Fuck you!”
Black woman: “No more spitting in my face….”
Chinese woman complains to the other Chinese speaking passengers (in Chinese): “…When I sat down she started yelling at me. I’m the one who should be yelling at her. I asked her to let me sit down. I said “excuse me” but she didn’t move one inch.”
Black woman (simultaneously): “….I’m gonna beat yo’ ass.”
Chinese woman to black woman: “Fuck you! Fuck you!”
Black woman: “Say it again.”
Chinese woman: “Fuck you!”
Black woman punches Chinese woman in the face.
Chinese woman chases after the black woman.
In the background, male Chinese passenger yells (in Chinese): “Hit her! Hit her!”
Female Chinese passenger yells (in Chinese): “Harder, harder!”
Other Chinese passengers, all screaming (in Chinese): [Kick her ass!]
Chinese woman repeatedly hits black woman on the head. Black woman retreats to other side of the bus. Chinese woman kicks her.
Asian woman who is not Chinese and does not speak Chinese says (in English): “Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Somebody grab her!”
Chinese man yells (in Chinese): “Hit her! Kick her!”
Asian woman (in English): “Stop it, stop it, stop it.”
Chinese man yells (in Chinese): “Hit her until she’s scared!”
A female Chinese passenger who is sitting down pats the Chinese woman in the fight gently and says quietly (in Chinese): “Stop fighting now, stop fighting now.”
Asian woman screams (in English): “Get her back! Fucking stop it! Immature!”
Chinese woman in the fight points at the black woman and screams (in Chinese): “You’re trying to bully us Chinese people!”
Black woman attempts to get off the bus. More fighting ensues.
Asian woman (in English): “Stop it, stop it. You guys gotta go. Get off the bus.”
Black woman gets off the bus.
Chinese man (in Chinese) yells: “Hit her!”
Chinese woman in the fight angrily complains to the other Chinese passengers (in Chinese): “I asked her, please, could you please move. She refused to move. I asked her, could you let me sit down, but she refused to move and started yelling at me.”
Chinese crowd: “…Okay, okay, forget about her, just sit down now….”
Chinese woman in the fight screams (in Chinese): “She was walking all over us because we were Chinese. I asked you politely and you think you can walk all over Chinese people.”
[Video ends.]
Good work!
Thanks for doing this.
Small clarification: I had assumed so as well, but the young woman trying to stop the fight was not Chinese.
http://www.munidiaries.com/2009/10/15/woman-who-broke-up-muni-fight/
Thank you for the clarification. I’ll make the appropriate edits.
Thee woman also says “inmature, stopit” not “get her back”
Thanks, she did say “immature,” which I’ve now added, but she also said “get her back.”
This MUST be made into a musical. An EPIC musical. Live on a real muni bus.
This is awesome, thanks!
Obviously this was a fight that should never have happened. but it’s sickening that these Chinese people are egging on the fight. that screaming chinese woman instigated the fight by continuing to scream fuck you. either case, they both got what they deserved
While I appreciate the extensive translation, I don’t see how this changes things. We all knew the racial subtext–which I would argue was so clear was actually the text of the fight.
How many times have any of us–regardless of our descriptions–been subjected to similar humiliating treatment on MUNI?
I just found the entire video, and the fact is that the Chinese woman asked the black woman to move her purse so that she could sit. And the black woman essentially told her to go to hell. That’s not humiliating treatment on Muni; that’s one person being an asshole. That woman is probably an asshole to anyone she thinks she can victimize, and she punched someone in the face for asking her to move her purse, and she got hit back. Maybe she’s a victim of abuse or hasn’t been attending her anger management classes regularly or whatever, but it’s not unreasonable for someone to ask you to move over so she can sit down, and it is unreasonable for you to punch that person in the face for asking.
I think Tony Koo is right: regardless of our nationalities or ethnicities or whatever, the way to stop a bully is to stand up to him. That woman is very possibly going to think again before she punches a stranger in the face.
“That’s not humiliating treatment on Muni; that’s one person being an asshole.” I’m happy to see this point being made. It’s not the MUNI, it’s the riders who make for a pleasant or unpleasant ride.
“I think Tony Koo is right: regardless of our nationalities or ethnicities or whatever, the way to stop a bully is to stand up to him.” Here is a link to a similar bus story: http://www.nypress.com/article-19453-8-million-stories-bus-justice.html
Just goes to show that Chinese people, though normally polite and humble, WILL whip open a real nasty can of whoop ass if they feel they’ve been pushed to the point of no return.
If more of us did things like this, then maybe we wouldn’t be picked on and humiliated so much.
Just a thought…
It’s interesting to me that all the facts and details that help one determine the real story here were established in the blogosphere rather than in the conventional news media.
Were the news folks sloppy? Lazy? Covering up? Just putting in their 40 for the paycheck? Seems like the only valuable function of the conventional media anymore is an alert that something happened somewhere. And if you want to know what, head for the web.
Ying,
I love it. Great job!
I’ve been following your internet publishing and for the most part it is complete bias based in hate.
I am truely sorry for your childhood but I assure you African Americans dont hate Chinese people. I took Chinese for 2 years in high school and had 2 chinese girlfriends in the short 21 years I’ve been alive.
I love Chinese Culture, I very often reference it in my art (im a student graphic designer). As for my romance with Chinese women in the past, I alway treated them with respect and unlike most whites I didnt fetishize them. Futhermore where I grew up there was always a healthy mix of nationalities, this greatly help form my world views at large. I live in a two family house and the people I share with are Viet (I love them like family because to me they are.).
My high school was full of filipinos who never face any type of harrassment at the hands of African American. We just got along expect for the ones who stuck with their own with no intention of interacting outside their race (and that was ok, not everyone prefer a melting pot culture).
I really would like to see better Afro-asian relations in the global scene but this won’t happan if people spread mass hate for a race over the actions of afew (admittingly ignorant and low on the eco-scale) people.
Actually take race out of the picture and look at eco-class doesnt it make scene the poor are the most ignorant. Sadly many immigrants move into poor areas so they get put into tough situations.
Ignorance is a problem but are Chinese people so without ignorance that they are mere victims to big black americans like you make it seem?
[...] PS: Just saw an update on the last muni brawl. Fucking Chinese people man… they are RAW. Transcript is here. [...]
“Put yo’ hands on the RAIL”. her voice is unintelligible because of the background noise but that seems to be the most reasonable translation.
I’ve been living in Asia for four years and so I find this topic interesting. I’d like to know what you think about dating Asian women, as far as how well they adapt to moving to a Western country. I’ve thought about bringing my Chinese girlfriend back to Canada with me but I am not sure if she would acclimate to the new environment. I’m wondering if anyone here has experience with dating Asian women overseas and bringing them to another country?
My wife who is a Cantonese and not Toishanese speaker, said that at one point near the end, she thought that the Toishanese lady was getting after the non-chinese asian girl for intervening on the side of the black perpetrator. Frankly, that’s the way it seemed to me too. Can anyone shed light on this?
I am an african american woman and it saddens me to see that people are so into something so meaningless as color. I work with mostly chinese people at my job and i have found that people are people. our cultures are different and our food taste vary sometimes and when they get together they speak in chinese and i don’t have a clue as to what they are saying. i have met some that are the sweetest people that you will ever meet. i have had relationships with black people that i cannot stand and black people that i love to death. i know white people that i would not give the time of day to and then there are the ones that have helped me get every promotion that i have ever had, because i work hard. One of my best friends is fighting cancer and i try to be there for her as much as i can. she just happens to be phillipino. people, stop putting so much emphasis on color and just treat people accordingly. with love and respect. Martin Luther King, Ghandi, Mother Theresa all treated people with love and respect.
This is a quentisential example of why females should be prepared to defend themselves from an attacker. The victim in this case is lucky the attacker, the black female, didn’t have in her possession, a weapon, such as a knife. No matter what people say, when the black female responded to the verbals made by the yellow female, by punching her in the face, she ultimately provoked the fight. The yellow female, was then, in her legal right, to fight back.
The chinese women were right in this case. The black women falsely under estimated the yellow woman’s response to this matter. she thought the yellow woman was going to walk away. The woman did the right thing, she kicked her ass, and all bullys need to meet the same demise.
Yes, Martin Luther King, Ghandi, Mother Theresa all treated people with love and respect. But this black bitch, needed her ass kicked, and thats what she got.
wow, this is crazy! Thanks for the transcript, I wasn’t entirely sure how the argument got violent until I read that.
Ms Ying—-You should move to a State like South Carolina or Texas where you would be adored and loved. Race relations in those Southern “backward” States are far better then New York or California (where you have lived).
I have been to China and my wife is from the Northern Philippines. I thank you for your magnificent contributions to the USA!
chinese are mean and they lie alot … killing blacks in area of guangzhou on police hand cuffs is no big deal to them …. all we get is that blacks are troublesome …gaddam it ……………..5 chinese against 1 black man may GOD FORGIVE CHINA