#IllRideWithYou: Sydney Stands Up To Racism And Bigotry With One Beautiful Hashtag

Sydney was thrown into disarray yesterday, after an armed siege in the the busiest part of the city. It’s over now, but the tragic hostage drama has sparked anti-Muslim sentiment across the city, following reports that the incident may be politically motivated.

In a move that has completely floored me, Sydney’s and Australia’s social media users have united under one hashtag banner, pledging their solidarity with those who fear racially motivated and bigoted reprisals on public transport. This is #IllRideWithYou, and it’s beautiful.

It started last night with a simple tweet from Michael James, surrounding an incident involving two women on Sydney’s public transport network.

From there, @sirtessa decided to put her hand up, and offer to take a ride with anyone on public transport who was uncomfortable or expecting a bigoted response following today’s siege.

Within two hours, tens of thousands of people have since put their hand up to ride with those who may be frightened to just catch the bus, train or ferry to work or school, in what is probably the most moving thing I’ve seen all day.


If you see racism or bigotry, speak up. We don’t stand for that here.

Keep being excellent to each other, Australia.

Train image via Shutterstock


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.