BOSTON – A family from the greater Boston area says they were the victims of a racist tirade by a stranger on a United Airlines bus last week. Pervez Taufiq captured the incident on his cell phone as he says a woman started yelling at his four-year-old son.
United Airlines passenger on racist rant
“She’s yelling at him, the four-year-old, and says ‘shut up, just shut up,’” Taufiq said. “And I snapped, and I said, ‘don’t you ever speak to my son that way. You have no right.’”
Taufiq and his wife Nicole are both wedding photographers who travel the globe. He says they were flying to California on a United Airlines flight with their three kids when they first noticed the woman’s bizarre behavior. She was seated next to his 11-year-old son in business class.
“She asked if I was Indian, and I said yes, I was Indian,” Taufiq says his son told him.
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After landing, passengers on the flight were driven to the airport on a United bus. That is where Taufiq says the woman started using racial epithets about his family. The video posted to Taufiq’s social media shows the two going back and forth.
Pervez and Nicole Taufiq
CBS Boston
“You’re from India. You have no respect,” she is heard saying in the cell phone video. “I’m American,” she says.
“So are we,” Taufiq responds in the video.
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“No, you’re not American,” she says back to him.
The video also shows the woman referring to Taufiq and his family as “Tandoori.”
“That’s brutal to have someone tell you that because you don’t look like them, you’re not American,” Taufiq told WBZ-TV.
Taufiq says United Airlines staff asked his family if they would like to leave the bus, and he replied that he wanted the woman removed. The video shows the woman walking off of the bus to talk to staff members, and Taufiq says she did not return.
Hopes people will speak up in future
Throughout the incident, Taufiq told WBZ-TV that one man spoke up for his family. He hopes this ordeal will help others speak up if this happens to anyone else.
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“This is not acceptable and if you see it, stand up, say something, be with the person that’s going through this,” he said.
Nicole Taufiq says their 11-year-old son is processing what happened. The couple and their children have traveled to 34 countries for their work. They say they have never had to explain racism to their kids before.
“He’s dealing with it in different ways. Like, everyday is a new question, a new angle. I think he’s still trying to process this whole experience in his own way, and I think that’s just hard to watch,” Nicole said.
The couple hopes to identify the woman in the video and press charges.
“I certainly would love it if someone found her, and we could press charges against her and then realistically for her to get the very loud message that she’s one of very few and there are a lot more people like us,” Taufiq said.
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WBZ-TV reached out to United Airlines for a comment and was told the company did not have any additional information to share.
Louisa Moller
Louisa Moller is a general assignment reporter for WBZ-TV.
Up the road from Gillette Stadium, a town neighboring Foxboro is pressing for funding to meet public safety demands arising from the World Cup, with the first match just over a month away.
Walpole’s state delegation has written a letter to the state Office of Travel and Tourism requesting approval of the town’s request for nearly $200,000 to support “essential public safety personnel,” as officials expect “significant spillover impacts” from the premier soccer tournament.
As the Walpole/Foxboro town line on Route 1 is a handful of miles north of Gillette Stadium, officials are expecting increased traffic congestion and pedestrian activity to amount to “heightened public safety demands.”
“As outlined in the Town’s proposal,” the state delegation wrote in the letter it sent to the state last week, “Walpole will play a critical role in ensuring safe and efficient operations for both residents and visitors.”
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“This funding will help close a critical gap and ensure that Walpole can safely support this internationally significant event,” the delegation added.
The state Office of Travel and Tourism confirmed to the Herald that it received the letter from state Reps. John H. Rogers, Paul McMurtry, Ted Philips and Marcus Vaughn and Sen. Mike Rush. The office said it will announce decisions in the coming weeks about round two of the $2 million grant program that supports municipal public safety needs tied to the World Cup.
The first round of the program, a $10 million competitive initiative, awarded funding earlier this year to 17 communities to support tournament-related events, including fan festivals, watch parties and regional activations.
This comes after the Foxboro Select Board battled the Boston Soccer 2026 nonprofit host committee and Kraft Sports & Entertainment, which operates Gillette Stadium, for months to ensure it received full funding to cover all security personnel and equipment.
In mid-March, the David vs. Goliath fight concluded, with Boston Soccer 2026 and the Krafts agreeing to cover Foxboro’s $7.8 million request.
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Gillette, which will be rebranded as “Boston Stadium,” is set to host seven matches – five in the group stage and two knockout games – between June 13 and July 9. The World Cup is considered a SEAR 1 event, the highest risk level for public gatherings in the country.
“These matches will bring an excitement that this town has never seen,” Foxboro Police Chief Michael Grace said before the Select Board voted to grant an entertainment license for the matches to go on.
Gillette Stadium. (Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)
No other city in the country boasts more championships than Boston, giving Massachusetts a sporting pedigree unlike any other.
What’s unique about many of the state is that several of the stars from those championship-winning teams were Massachusetts natives.
Before they were winning the Stanley Cup, the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, World Series or a gold medal, those athletes were high school standouts.
Which high schools in Massachusetts are considered the best for athletes today?
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According to a study conducted by Niche, which accounts for survey feedback from students and parents—accounting for “reviews of athletics, number of state championships, student participation in athletics, and the number of sports offered at the school”—and data from the U.S. Department of Education, these are the top 25.
BOSTON (WHDH) – It was a powerful moment on Friday during the annual Law-Enforcement Memorial Ceremony at the State House, as the ceremony remembered those lost in the line of duty, including State Trooper Kevin Trainor.
Trainor was killed in a wrong-way crash this week. Trainor’s family was in attendance.
“We’re here today with the Trainor family as another tragedy and agonizing time in policing has found us,” Larry Calderone, Boston Police Union President, said.
The day brought a moment to pause and remember the 30-year-old who is being hailed a hero after he was struck and killed Wednesday morning on Route 1 in Lynnfield.
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“We’ve lost a brother,” Massachusetts State Police Col. Geoffrey Noble said.
The fallen trooper’s fiancée spoke out for the first time since losing the love of her life. She posted to social media, “I am beyond proud of the amount of love you have been given by those who loved and cared about you shows us who you really were, a friend, a partner, a brother, a son, and a hero. You weren’t just a hero to me but a hero to all.”
(Copyright (c) 2026 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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