Race Relations

I experienced my first brush with blatant racism today. I grew up in a relatively diverse environment, having attended elementary school and most of 6th grade in a well-mixed area. I've always been generally comfortable around people of different ethnicities, and was raised to be kind and open-minded, because everyone has their own story. I won't sit here and say I've been a saint, because everyone makes the occasional race-charged wisecrack -- or has at least laughed at a racial joke.
Phil and I were waiting at a bus stop to go to a grocery store this afternoon, and there were quite a few other people waiting, as well. London is a very diverse area, equivalent to NYC...there happened to be a Muslim woman and her two girls waiting for the bus, also. As the bus arrived, suddenly, this very dirty, scruffy, middle-aged man pushed his way to the front of the crowd and started talking to the Muslim woman (she was wearing the black headpiece that covered her whole face). I didn't hear what he said at first, but I did hear what he said last: "And I hope you're not a suicide bomber." I became paralyzed with shock, anger, hurt, and disappointment. My jaw dropped, and I muttered to Phil, "Oh my God." As we filed onto the bus, I immediately felt guilty for not speaking up and telling that guy what a piece of racist shit he was, but I was just frozen. I had never witnessed such audacity.
We carried on our journey, and I watched the guy as he stared a hole right through the lady the entire time he was on the bus. It was strange that they ended up sitting across the aisle from one another in the front of the bus, but both in window seats. If looks could kill, she'd have dropped dead before the bus made its first stop. Phil and I were near the back of the bus, but not so far back that I couldn't keep my ears on the scumbag. We finally got to his stop, and as the bus came to a halt, he slowly got up out of his seat, and as he walked toward the exit, started aggressively degrading her again. His speech was a little slurred, but I managed to catch the last of his sentence: "You're a cunt."
I became so angry, almost irate, and before I realized what I did, I yelled, "Hey, buddy! Why don't you FUCK OFF!" He looked at me and flipped me his middle finger as he exited the bus, and it was a good thing I was in a window seat with Phil on the outside, because I'd have been liable to get up and chase after him and give him a good solid earful. Some of the other passengers turned to look at me, to see where this American voice came from. Phil grabbed my leg and turned to me, wide-eyed and in shock, and said, "Robin, calm down, calm down." I was shaking and tearing up, so appalled at the vicious hatred that man was so adamantly feeling. This poor woman was just trying to go to the store with her kids, and this ignorant douche bag had to feel like he was King of the Patriot Castle and openly defame her in public. After I had said what I said, one of the two girls kind of giggled and dropped her jaw, and I heard her ask if anyone heard what I said. Phil jokingly said, "That's the difference between America and England." I just couldn't keep my mouth shut twice. Had I not been so frozen the first time, that moron would have been on the butt-end of a bollocking (as they'd say here in the UK.)
Speaking up instantly alleviated the earlier guilt I felt because I stood up for someone who needed standing up for. I took my first real stand against the racism that is so deadly to the human race. It wasn't a world-changing event, but in a way, I feel like I did my part today.