‘Go back to your own country’: A Black woman confronted the passenger who said it, then refused to let her walk it back

A video posted by a Black Scottish TikTok user going by Court shows her confronting a fellow train passenger who told her to “go back to your own country,” according to Atlanta Black Star. The footage, originally posted in August 2025 and recirculating now, shows other passengers backing Court up before the other woman admitted, “I am indeed” being racist, when Court challenged her directly on it.

“I was born here,” Court told the woman. “I’m mere Scottish than you are probably.” Court says the woman kept going once most passengers had gotten off at a stop, telling her, “I’m trying to stay calm after a very long day.” Court didn’t accept it.

“I’m trying to stay calm after you said really mean things to me,” she responded. “Telling me to go back to my own country when I’m born here. Because of the color of my skin.” When Court pointed out she was recording, the woman denied making the comment because Court is Black, then fell back on saying she’d had a difficult day.

She wasn’t interested in an apology built on flattery

The woman told Court she had “no respect for your elders,” to which Court replied, “I have no respect for people who are racist. Do I respect you? Hell no! I’m not respecting you.” The woman then pivoted to compliments about Court’s appearance, at one point saying she’d “had a hell of a f**king day.” Court closed the video without accepting it: “It doesn’t justify being racist; that’s all I’m saying. You get on with your life, and I’ll get on with mine.”

In Scotland, telling someone to “go back to your own country” because of their race can fall under Section 3 of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021, which took effect in April 2024 and makes it an offense to pursue a racially aggravated course of conduct amounting to harassment, or to act in a way that causes, or is intended to cause, alarm or distress.

A single incident can qualify if it’s intended to cause alarm or distress; a repeated pattern must involve at least two separate occasions to count as a “course of conduct.” The offense carries up to 12 months in prison if tried summarily, or up to seven years if prosecuted on indictment.

A similar exchange happening on public transit in the United States would land very differently under the law. The First Amendment generally protects even openly racist speech, and the U.S. Supreme Court has held in cases like Brandenburg v. Ohio and Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire that words can only be criminally punished in narrow circumstances: when they amount to a true threat, incite imminent lawless action, or qualify as face-to-face “fighting words” likely to provoke immediate violence.

A remark like “go back to your own country,” standing alone with no threat attached, would almost certainly fall short of those exceptions and remain legally protected speech, even though a private business like a train operator could still remove or ban a passenger under its own conduct policies. No indication has been reported that police were involved in this incident or that either woman has been identified or charged.