Just not the face, please!

Internal security memo sent to all students today:

Sarah Lawrence College
Department of Public Safety & Security

I am writing to tell you about an off-campus incident which occurred on Thursday,
January 8 at approximately 12:50pm. A Sarah Lawrence student was walking toward the Fleetwood Train Station on Midland Ave. between Kimball and Bronx River Rd. when he was confronted by 7 to 8 young males. One of the young males punched the student in the face and another threw a cup of soda at him. Fortunately, the student was not seriously injured and did not require medical attention. He was not robbed during the incident. The victim believes that the incident may have been racially motivated because he is of Asian descent. The young males had made several remarks, but the victim was unable to make out what they had said.
The perpetrators were described as 15 to 16 year old, dark-skinned males wearing
baggy sweat pants and sweat shirts with hoods. They were thought to be between 5’8” and 5’11”. Also near them were two 18 to 19 year old, taller, dark-skinned males, but the victim was not certain whether these two older individuals were partof the group. The college notified the Yonkers Police Department about the incident and asked that they pay special attention to the area.

So yeah, that was me actually. I was punched in the face yesterday. Kinda surreal, as these things sorta are (I feel, anyway). So there's this long straight path that I walk from my dorm to the Fleetwood train station, where I take the metronorth to Manhattan. Yesterday, I was walking down that road to the train station as usual, on my way to the city to catch a bus to Pittsburgh, where I'm writing this. It was 1250pm or so. My train was arriving at 1257pm, so I was in a hurry.

As I stepped onto that path, I noticed in front of me a bunch of African American kids, aged about 15-16. There were 6-7 of them. Immediately, they noticed me too. As they continued walking, they periodically turned around to look at me, laughing and making comments which were obviously about me. I ignored them, thinking it was just harmless insults.

Soon, because of my brisk pace, I overtook these guys, cutting through them to a clear path. As I did so, they were again making remarks, sniggering at me. I did not catch what they were saying because I was really only thinking about making the train. I pulled ahead of those guys by some distance. But there was still some way to go on that path before I reached the train station. There was nobody else on that path at this point, and the road next to it was empty.

Suddenly, someone from behind grabbed my shoulder, turned me around and punched me in the face, or more specifically, in my right cheekbone. I was stunned more than anything else. It was luckily a light jab more than anything, so it didn't hurt much. It was one of the African American kids who had punched me. The rest of them were behind him, all looking half amused, half threatening.

I am kinda wondering now why I reacted the way I did, but I did not run away immediately. Instead, I merely continued on with my brisk pace of walking, while turning my head towards them and saying, "Dude, what the fuck? Why the fuck did you do that?" They didn't answer and merely continued to make those taunting faces while continuing to follow me. So, I continued walking, all along turning behind and saying to them, "WTF?"

Then, another of those guys' face suddenly turned angry and he threw the cup of soda he held at my hands towards me. It hit my back, and wet my bags. Again, weirdly, I did not run, but continued walking quickly and just trying to ignore them. I was also just really thrown off, I suppose, just wondering why in the world someone would do such a thing. By this time, I had reached a traffic junction which I crossed. Once across the junction, I saw that the guys had stopped before crossing. There was a bus stop before the crossing, and I think they were actually walking there to catch the bus. So home safe, I thought. A few more steps later, I turned around, and as I did so, they noticed me turning around, and suddenly, they all ran across the junction and started to chase after me, this time looking really menacing. So yeah, I ran now. And I screamed, "Help!". Thankfully, I was near the train station by now, so I soon caught up to a guy on his way to the station. I turned around and saw the guys had stopped chasing, obviously noticing that I had nearly reached the train station where there were people. Finally, they turned back and headed for the bus stop. Phew.

So yeah, not a god day in all. For sure, I felt that the incident was racially motivated. Another thing I could sense from their sniggering was the way I dressed, I think, which was sorta 'nice' with a peacoat, scarf and all, whereas they were in more typically 'street' getups of hoodies and baggy sweats. I guess the combination of being Asian and 'well-dressed' made me an easy target of bully/abuse/whatever. I feel like they did it more out of a perverted sense of fun more than anything, given how the punch was seriously more like a boxing jab, rather than some roundhouse punch. So, I guess I should be thankful for that. So I only had very slight swelling and redness, which now is all but gone now, leaving only a slight pain when I touch my cheekbone.

In talking to someone about the incident later, I believe that my reaction actually helped me from getting a thorough thrashing. I really did not show fear immediately, because the punch was sorta light. I was seriously more shocked and annoyed than anything, with half my mind still sorta thinking: Shit, am I going to miss the train because of this? Because I think these bullies (who are still kids, given that they're so young) thrive on fear, they were confounded and did not know how to react when I reacted the way I did, doing the whole WTF routine towards them. And the cup of soda didn't really faze me, except that I was hoping it did not strike my new peacoat! Evidence in this theory is seen in later, when the shock had subsided a bit, and I started to really think: shit, I could really be in trouble here. This was as I was crossing the road, and I began to quicken my steps and break into a light jog. I think the guys senses my fear, and thus began to chase after me too. Good thing my fear struck me late then, since I did not have far to run.

The stupid thing now is that: I've walked up/down that path a trillion times, many times at like 2am in the night, and felt perfectly alright. And this happened literally in broad daylight. So now, I just wonder, how am I going to feel when I walk down that path? Should I start to run whenever I see a group of people (racial profiling sadly comes in too)? I really hope it doesn't mess with my sense of security. Because I need my Manhattan sojourns!

And I also wonder: These kids are only 15-16. They're so young! So they got away with this. Does that mean as they grow older, they graduate to 'bigger and better' things? Or is there a chance that this is mere teenage immaturity which will go away? I don't know... I hope it's the latter....

So I guess that's that. My first NY assault experience. Part of the quintessential American experience? LOL. Fingers crossed it's the first and last.