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I sat next to black man on the the tube. He was big and took up a lot of space the way that men sometimes do. Overspilling themselves into other people's personal space. I felt threatened by him. I made assumptions about him because he is black and he is a large man.

A woman got on the tube. She was small and white and wearing a head scarf. She started to beg. She made her way down the train carriage asking for money. Everyone else near me was white. They all ignored her, including me. The man next to me, the black man, took his wallet out of his back pocket and gave her two one pound coins. He got off at the next stop. He was the only one to acknowledge her, let alone give her money.

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