A NEWLY ordained bishop targeted in a race-hate attack on the bus she was travelling in says she has previously been singled out.
Bishop Hilda Abban was speaking after a brick was thrown at the window of a bus carrying black passengers on the loyalist side of the Cupar Way peace wall in west Belfast on Saturday.
The PSNI is treating it as a "racist hate crime".
No-one was hurt although an outer pane of glass was smashed and passengers were left shaken.
The visitors had been in Belfast to attend the consecration service of Bishop Abban, of the Rock Family Chapel Ministries, which is based at Nutts Corner, near Crumlin, in Co Antrim.
Bishop Abban later took part in a tour of Belfast with her guests, all of whom had travelled from England.
Originally from Ghana, Bishop Abban lived in England for 40 years before moving to the north four years ago.
The cleric said the incident has had an impact on those who were on the bus.
"We saw four or five young boys standing and about half a minute later someone had thrown a brick," she explained.
"It (the window) shattered but it didn't fall down.
"Everybody was surprised and traumatised, nobody expected this and people were shaken."
Bishop Abban said there were around 11 passengers on the bus who were all black.
She said Saturday's racist incident is not the first she has encountered and revealed she has previously moved home because of prejudice.
"While in Belfast I encountered a few incidents," she said.
"In Belfast I did feel a lot of that and stopped working there to come to Antrim.
"I was a mental health community nurse and people would come to my office and I would give them therapy and advice and some would open the door and say 'I'm sorry' and walk out.
"I had to stop that job."
The bus is operated by a community interest company, Six Counties Bus Preservation, which is also based at Nutts Corner.
Driver Nigel Glenholmes said the damage caused could cost up to £2,000 to fix.
"I heard the bang but didn't realise the window had gone at the time," he said.
"I basically put the foot down and got out of there to make sure everybody was safe."
A spokesman for the PSNI said: "Police received a report of criminal damage after a brick was thrown at a coach in the Cupar Way area of north Belfast on Saturday night.
"A window was broken during the incident, however no-one was injured."
The spokesman added that "enquiries are ongoing into this incident which we are treating as a racist hate crime".