
Last week my seventy year old mother, who walks with the aid of a stick, was deemed a security threat by a bus driver.
The driver had already failed to stop for her once, yet was very quick to call the police when she tried to board the bus on her second attempt, using her stick to keep the back door open.
Yes, it was naughty, and she shouldnât have done it, but waiting for half an hour for a bus when youâve recovering from a knee replacement operation is not exactly a pleasurable experience. Watching it drive past you twice is painful.
This isnât just an everyday sorry tale of an inconsiderate driver and a disabled passenger. My mum wears a headscarf; and in the current political climate she has become a target for a whole range of prejudice and racist stereotyping.
âYou could be a terroristâ barks the bus driver.
âDo I look like a terrorist?â my mother asks.
Sniggers from driver and the three racist old ladies who have been most outraged at my mumâs petulant behaviour.
Their sniggers meaning that âyes actually you do; you look like one of âthemââ.
âIâm tired of watching you lot break the lawâ, snipes one of the old ladies.
âYouâre being racistâ my mother retorts, âI just wanted to get on the bus!â
âMe a racist?â shouts the bus driver. âWell we shall see what the police have to say about that!â
And so the police were called. They asked my mum for ID, and took her address and date of birth.
âThe bus driver said I was a terrorist. Sheâs being racist!â My mum complains to the police officer.
âNo sheâs not!â The policeman snaps back. âThatâs the terminology thatâs used these days, loveâ.
My mum is confused, upset and angry for being treated like a criminal.
âWell Iâll close the case and put it down as a misunderstandingâ says the PC.
A misunderstanding? A woman who has spent two days crying in front of her T.V, watching terrorist bombers rip apart her native Pakistan is then herself accused of being a terrorist! A misunderstanding? A woman who has used Londonâs buses for forty years and who today couldnât board a bus without being subject to suspicious glances and accusations of being suicide bomber!
A misunderstanding? You could call it that. Or you could say it was a sign of the racist and bigoted times we are living in.