Hidden Brain - My Unsung Hero: Sanaa Kerroumi's Story

Episode Date: January 29, 2022

Sanaa is on her train ride home when an angry man begins threatening her. Before he gets too close, a stranger intervenes. Please share the story of your unsung hero with us! To do so, record a voice memo on your phone and email us at [e-mail].

I'm Shankar Vedantam and from Hidden Brain Media, this is my unsung hero. Stories where one person reached out to help another in a time of need. Hi Shankar, my unsung hero is a Frenchman. She had given me exactly what I needed in that time. I was fortunate enough to survive with the help of this man, this doctor, who went out of his way to help save my life. Today's story comes from Senna Kerumi. Some years ago, Senna was living in France, working on a PhD. One cold winter weekend, she and her friends took a break and

spent the day at Disneyland Paris. They stayed as long as they could until it was finally time to catch the last train home. She calls it the tram. One by one, all of Senna's friends got off at their stops until she was the only one left. And I noticed that the tram was super empty, like there were just two people in there, two guys. Both of them friends, and I wear the hijabs, so I really stand out. And whenever I go, I do stand out.

One of the men was in the front of the tram. The other sat a few rows behind Senna. She didn't feel like either of them were paying her or her headscarf much attention, so she put on her headphones and looked out the window. Something like maybe the switch like the time between music or something like this when you have the small silence. I heard something and it turned and I saw this guy just being very agitated and he was waving his hands and swearing and just pointing in my direction and I wasn this guy just being very agitated. And he was waving his hands and swearing

and just pointing in my direction. And I wasn't sure if it was me or the other guy because I didn't do anything that may trigger him to do that. So I assumed that he was probably talking to the guy behind me. I took my head's phone off and that when I heard like all those very harmful words that he was saying, that we took the jobs, that we are making Europe and civilized, that we are everything that is wrong with Europe and friends. At that woman I was like, yes, this is about me, this is differently about me. I wasn't scared. I was just numb and shocked.

I didn't understand why is this happening. I didn't even cross my mind that I would be in danger, but I was like, why? Why? Why? What did I do? Why? Just a set up began to stand. The man who had been sitting behind her rushed to the front of the tram and placed himself between her and the angry man. A few seconds he was up front of me and he kept on pushing the guy to the door of the tram. He kept on saying, you don't touch her, you don't say those words to her. She's just a student. Everything that's wrong with Europe is you.

This phrase I remember is very clearly. Everything that is wrong with Europe is people like you. Not her. The man defending Senna kept the angry man from getting close to her. At the beginning, he kept pushing him toward the tramway door. And same time, yelling at the beginning, he kept pushing him toward the tram my door. And at the same time, yelling at the driver,

stopped the tram, this guy needs to get off the next station. Once the tram stopped, he pushed the man off the tram, and then stood by the doors to make sure he couldn't get back on. He stayed there, didn't talk to me, stayed by the door, it's like watching me. This happens a lot when you are veiled, and especially in France, like, when they see you as veiled,

they really don't know how to interact with you. They don't know what are your boundaries. So I'm assuming that's why he didn't come and talk to me. Although it would have not been a problem at all, I probably would have welcomed it, but I'm pretty sure that that's the reason. Santa was too shocked to say anything either. She and the man stood in silence on the tram

until her stop came. When she got out, the man followed and made sure she got into her building safely. Santa was still in too much shock to turn around and say thank you. It was the very first time that I encountered something like it in my entire life. I heard stories, of course I did, I knew that it happens, but I never assumed that it would happen to me. At the moment, even what the nice guy did didn't register, I was still so focused on what the bad guy said. Why was he attacking me? What did I do?

And then somehow I was like, oh, but wait, I wasn't alone in this. There was another guy who kind of knew that I didn't do anything wrong, that I didn't deserve the hatred and the violence. And he actually defended me. And then I said, wait, he had no reason to defend me. He wasn't sharing the same beliefs and the same culture. And yet he was there, he actually put himself in danger by doing that. He could have gotten hurt, he could have gotten in so much trouble and he didn't think about that. Every time Sana experienced Islamophobia after that day, she remembered the man who defended her. Ana experienced Islamophobia after that day. She remembered the man who defended her.

His kindness and courage gave her the strength to remain in France. I don't remember it as the day where I was attacked by a stranger. I remember it as the day where I was saved by a stranger. And that made all the difference. All the difference. Listener Sena Kirumi. Some years after the incident, Sena finished her PhD and moved back to our home country of Morocco. When we spoke to her, she was working as an international management consultant.

We'd love to hear about your own unsung hero. Use your phone to record your story in five minutes or less and email it to us at myunsunghero at hiddenbrain.org. You can hear many more stories like this on our sister podcast, My Unsung Hero. Subscribe to that show and you never have to miss an episode. I'm Shankar Vidantam, see you soon.